BlackBeaut

Really wouldn't recommend that. I used to run 245s on an 8.5" rim and they were pretty stretched. The tyre monkeys had a nightmare just getting them on. You're either going to need wider rubber or narrower rims. I'd go with narrower rims personally as that will keep rim and rubber weight down, low-pro tyres don't half weigh a bit! Cheers, Rob

Looking good! Did you do a custom wiring set up to use LEDs as back lighters or were you able to find some straight plug in types? BTW I'm pretty sure it's illegal to complain about snow if you live in Alaska Cheers, Rob Sunny(!!!) England.

Hmmm! There has to be a Nissan car/truck/van in the US that uses a 3.69 R200V (48 tooth ring, 13 tooth pinion) that you can get hold of at a junkyard and just do a straight swap. Giving the guys at Courtesy Nissan a call (or your local dealer) though might not be too bad an idea as they might be able to tell you what model car you need to find at a JY. Did you guys not get the 200SX variant - not the SER front wheel drive thing but the RWD using either the 1.8 CA engine or the SR20DET? Somebody somewhere must know!!! I'm just not familiar enough with the Nissan range in the US to be able to say "go grab a '97 Maxima blah-de-blah model with the QX94TY engine". I really can't imagine it being possible to cut down a long nose pinion shaft, I would have though the areas where the bearings mount would be different and you'd also have to re-spline the end for the input flange to grip on. Plus doing a ring & pinion swap is not easy, especially as you're changing ratio. You'd need to reset all the bearing preloads and change the spacers used on the ring gear end to ensure correct wipe patterns etc., etc. etc. Cheers, Rob

Just got the '98 240SX FSM from carfiche.com and it's showing a short nose R200 for that year. Now as it happens I have got a short nose R200V from an S14a with a 3.69 ratio but considering the cost of just the shipping I'll not even suggest making me an offer! I've absolutely no doubt that there is something closer to home that will do the job though. Cheers, Rob

This is what Dave said to my identical question!

Superb, thanks guys! Now I can get it all put back together and my girlfriend can stop moaning at me about the nasty smell Cheers, Rob

Come on guys, someone's got to know this?!!! BTW turns out the ring gear bolts are 12mm, it's just that the ones from the LSD diff are 13mm which made me think it was the old 10mm/12mm setup - nothing like a bit of consistency eh?!!! Cheers, Rob

Hi folks, I'm in the process of swapping an lsd in to an R200, any guidelines on the torque settings for the ring gear bolts (10mm) and the bearing cap bolts. BTW would I be right in guessing that some form of thread locking glue is used on the ring gear bolts? They were an absolute pita to undo and there seems to be some residue in the bolt holes. Cheers, Rob

Hi, You can get a solid from mount from ArizonaZ: http://www.arizonazcar.com/diffmount.html As you'll see they also do a moustace bar. BTW I don't think you'll need to redrill your bar if it's already an R200 bar, I think you only need to redrill if you're using an R180 bar for an R200 diff or either bar for an R230. Cheers, Rob

Hi all, Vaguely related to this topic, are any of you guys fitting diff coolers? I'm going to have a go at fitting a R200V from an S13 200SX - 'cos they're cheap and plentiful in the UK and the 3.92:1 ratio is pretty good. The one I picked up came with the cooler rad and pump, so I'm thinking if Nissan thought it was worth it then maybe I should get that in place too. Yay/Nay? BTW great thread, it's been giving me plenty of ideas and pointers! Cheers, Rob

Sorry I can't offer anything positive but I believe the R180 is also used on some Subarus - I'm thinking Imprezza WRX - so it might be worth checking out what they use for half-shafts. Cheers, Rob

That's a very useful table, thanks Eric. Can anyone tell me the big end dimensions of the L series rods (bore and width) in inches please. Cheers, Rob

You should be able to do this swap. If you take the bellhousing off your S130 T5 and bolt that to the Z31 T5 then you can mate the tranny and engine. I'm doing this swap (Z31 T5 to my 240Z L6) and have got hold of a bellhousing from a 280ZX Turbo. Can't help you much on the clutch front I'm afraid. I was thinking about just grabbing the clutch from the Z31 and seeing if it will mount to my L6 flywheel. Good luck with it, keep us posted! Cheers, Rob

I see you've been keeping up to date there Dave and have even got my 'in development' mount in your pics I'm currently working i on this front mount idea: Concept is that it's just a simple bolt in replacement for the OEM mount but offers a more solid approach yet with compliance from poly bushes still, plus lowers the front of the diff for better drive UJ angles and it shouldn't interfere with brake cables. Only real downsides at the moment are costs. Currently all in costs are pushing £250 (including all high tensile bolts and the bushes) but that's way to high I'm sure. However I'm looking at having the top cross bar being made up an ali casting rather than welded up mild steel and also simplifying the lower cradle by making the channel section from a single bent piece of steel rather than multiple parts welded together. Another slight downside is that I'm based in the UK whereas America/Oz are the obvious large markets so annoying issues like shipping costs come into play. We'll see, maybe it'll just remain a little pipe dream of mine with only a few being made now and again. Cheers, Rob

You've just made my ears prick up here. I didn't realise the PP from a Z31 would fit on the L flywheel, mainly 'cos I know nothing about clutches. I've just got hold of a Z31 to break, grabbing the T5 box out of it for my 240Z. If I get a 240mm flywheel would I also be able to use the friction plate from a Z31 turbo? At the moment I've only got a very asmatic 2.4 but plans are well underway for a 3l stroker so I'm going to need a decent clutch system at some point. Cheers, Rob

Ah well, it was worth a thought! Thanks for the info Steve. cheers, Rob

Erm, dumb question alert! I'm going to be breaking an '86 Z31 turbo manual in the not too distant future primarily to grab the BW T5 box. I was wondering though whether I could also grab the flywheel and clutch assembly and use them. Alas I can't find a pic on the net anywhere of a stock Z31 flywheel so I don't even know if it uses 6 bolts to mount to the crank, let alone what diameter it is or whether the ring gear teeth will match. Any ideas/info folks? Cheers, Rob

As in the moustache bar studs? Guess so there ain't anything else sticking out M14x1.5 on mine. A damn awkward size. I managed to get some very nice stainless steel nylocs for them though - you don't want to know what I paid though! God, I'm turning in to a nut geek Cheers, Rob

I've been thinking about doing this too. More of an interim measure until I can get my individual TB system set up and a programmable ECU in place - time and money, same old story! - just makes sense to me to get the car switch over to EFI sooner than later, especially as my SUs suck - or rather don't do a very good job of sucking. I've just had a major Ebay success and got hold of a manifold, injectors, loom, TB, AFM and ECU for £5.50, that's around 10 bucks so I could hardly say no! I've been trying to find out more about the swap and there isn't much documented. The tricky part seems to be notching the inlet ports so the injectors have got somewhere to squirt. I believe the notching can be done with a Dremel as we're not talking a huge amount of material. But my question is, can the notching be done with the head still on the engine? The main concern I can see is swarf getting down in to the cylinder. I would imagine stuffing the ports full of tissue before cutting is a pretty sensible method but is the idea just dumb and should I pull the head? Cheers, Rob

Hi All, Does anyone know if the TKO bellhousing bolt pattern is the same as the T5 box? As in can I just bolt a 280ZXT T5 bellhousing straight on to a TKO or would some pain be involved? Cheers, Rob

Hi All, I want to look at the alternatives out there for gearboxes. I realise that given enough of the green stuff anything can be made to fit, but I'm hoping for a more bolt on option. I know that the '84 to '86 Z31 Turbo box can be used if you have the 280ZXT bell housing but what about the other boxes used with the Z31 and Z32, are any of them T5 based? How about a box from an RB engine, am I moving into smoking the bad stuff to think that they would be a straight forward fit? Just trying to keep my options open at the moment. The gearbox will run to a 3.7 R200 so I'm hoping to get back some of the acceleration lost by going from a 3.9 R180 to the 3.7 by matching the gearbox ratios. Any general thoughts? Cheers, Rob

Just want to bump this as I'm interested in this conversion. I've already got a 280ZXT bellhousing and input shaft, would like to know some figures on the Z31 T5. Believe the output shaft is also different though, whether it's just a matter of swapping it for a 280ZXT output shaft or modding the prop-shaft I don't know, I'm not a big man in the transmission world Cheers, Rob