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Unfortunately, I don't have the adaptor or the axles yet. I am putting on Ross' billet stubs and don't have a measurement for that either. Trying to get ahead of the curve can be tough Jody

When ordering my axles, Ross has the specs from the Q45 and we were going to try them to see if they will work for the R230. Now I am having doubts and want to see if I can get better information to avoid returning and re-ordering.

I am still waiting for my billet stubs, adaptors and axles, but I mounted my R230 and put the stock stubs back in and measured, the drivers side is ~14" and the passenger side is ~13.5" from the stock stub flange to the rear... based on the axle lengths Tim gave for the Q45, I'm a little concerned that the R230 width will be an issue. Does anyone have the flange to flange width for the Q45 rear installation? Jody

My R230 (300ZXTT) weighed in at over 120 lbs... that was just the pumpkin, no axles or CV's.

I ordered the billet stub axles with a chevy bolt pattern from Ross. The delivery has been pushed back and the latest info is that they are expected the second week of February. Jody

Mike.... PM

Mike, Jeff Creech will be up next week and he's tuning in Frederick, Md. There is still space at the Dyno. He's tuning on Friday, 1/28 all day. Let me know if you'd like to do that instead of driving to NC. Jody

I recently got my uncoated 5205's from SS and have yet to test fit the motor/headers in the car. I was planning on tweaking the headers and sending them back for coating, but if a "better version" is made, I'm in.

Northern Virginia Supply in Springfield makes driveshafts. I had a steel DS shortened and balanced there once and they did a decent job. I don't believe they do aluminum. I am planning on having mine make by Denny's Driveshafts. http://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/ He made my Aluminum DS for my Camaro and numerous other people that I have known and I've never heard of a problem. I twisted the splines in my slip yoke drag racing and he replaced the yoke, U-joint and re-balanced the DS for $45. If you get the nitrous ready DS from him, it's guaranteed 100%. He does great work and very easy to deal with. Jody

More progress on fitting the rear. I replaced the stock mustache bar bushings with poly bushings, welded the original holes in the MB, cleaned things up a little, cut the stock rear brace and bolted up my home made brace so I could get a better look at the fit of the R230. The mustache bar clears aluminum the brace easily. The pumpkin is very close to the frame but it actually will clear. I don't know how much movement the rear will make with a high RPM launch, but once I space the rear forward slightly and clearance that top frame rail, there should be no problem. At least it won't take a major amount of clearancing. The TL still looks like it will hit the CV flange. The companion flange just clears the TL. I think a gusset and some grinding will fix that problem. (Lousy picture) I am also taking a look at doing a frame out of 1" square tubing, because the roll bar tubing is just too large to clear the rear. I am wondering if 1" tubing will be strong enough to support the front of the rear. Next thing I need to do is move the fuel pump mounting bracket or trim the bracket so I can get the pinion up where it belongs. At least I am making some progress.

Look here. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=97369 The rear is obviously larger, but only needs a little more room at the bottom of the rear for the fins.

With the holidays, construction project on the house and work... I have not been able to get under the car and make much progress the past couple of weeks. But I was able to cut out and finish the rear brace. I will admit that I sort of copied the brace that many have used. Block of 6061 aluminum After the first pass. After a little clean-up and holes drilled.

Mike, For a little inspiration..... here is a good friend Wayne's web site for his '03 Z06. http://www.ls6.net Jody

For a driveshaft flange for the R230, http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=93863&page=2 I called and spoke with Powertrain Industries and you can buy the adaptor from him or have your local driveshaft guy buy it from him when you get your driveshaft built. maichor writes

Tim, The TL trim that you did looks about what would be needed with the companion flange clearance on my test fit. I think that I'll try and notch the frame above the rear and trim the TL a little and there should be plenty of room. I like the 300zx mount too. I've been thinking about the cradle you built and I have some roll bar tubing left that may work perfectly. As far as clearance with the cradle, maybe a notch for the exhaust would be helpful. I am planning on using the stock tank and having a 3" single pipe out the rear. The pictures really help... keep them coming. Jody

Building the cradle is a very interesting idea. Looks like it will really tighten up the rear. Where did you get the front mount piece from. Looks like a stock piece that was cut out. Jody

BBZ, I think the swap is very similar (Q45 vs 300zxtt) but the Q45 rear is slightly smaller and there are precious few inches to spare. The larger piece just makes the fit that much tighter and that is sort of the point that I have been trying to make in my questions and posts regarding the differences. Unfortunately early on there was some confusion, and still is to some extent, between these two rears. I am hoping to help clear some of the misconceptions. Tim, Good idea on trying to line up the flange centers and the rear with string. The rear really needs to be as close to centered as possible and if that means clearancing/reinforcing the frame to make it happen, it'll be worth it in the end. Maichor, I see the notch you are referring to and I will start looking at clearancing and reinforcing. It does make sense and thanks for the pics. Your rear TL is completely different than the piece that I have though. What is your frame/TL from? I am making a billet rear support and will be cutting the stock rear support up so the stock saddles will be re-used. In the process, I think I'll cut a couple of billet spacers from the scrap (MB to rear studs) that can be trimmed to align the rear if necessary. Jody

That page has a bunch of good pictures, but the rear he's using is a Q45 R200, not an R230 from a 300ZXTT. Jody

I suspect that keeping the axles as square as possible is critical, so cutting into the frame makes sense. I have no problem cutting/welding but looking at what someone else has done successfully is always helpful. Maichor... Do you have any pictures of your frame mod? I'd like to see how much you took out.

The rear came from a '90 300ZXTT. I have 4 axles from 300ZXTT's and I will be using the 4 inner CV's, like everyone else. I had Tim send me pictures of the CV dissassembly and I took the first one apart in about 10 minutes, it's pretty easy, just messy as hell! I bought the billet stub axles and adaptors from Ross at Modern Motorsports with Chevy bolt pattern, but they are not here yet. I also bought the Moser axles. I discussed the width issue with Ross at length and he will work with me if the axles are too long. (His prototype was the Q45 rear for the axles.) I still need to figure out rear brakes yet.

Try a gear/speed calculator like this http://pw1.netcom.com/~sgalaba/mph.htm

I drilled out a mustache bar with wider spaced holes and raised them as per suggestions found doing searches and raised the R230 in place. I have already purchased a billet 6061 aluminum plate that I am going to make a rear support out of and I have not cut the upper Transverse Link bushing perches off of the stock support yet since the stock rear support won't clear the cooling fins, but I bolted the support up on one side to test fit the TL for clearance. There are a number of issues that are showing up. With the rear bolted up tight to the mustache bar, a small spacer will be needed as the curve of the cover hits the mustache bar, but I just bolted it up tight for the trial fit. In this position, the top of the rear hits the upper frame. By moving the rear forward about 1/2 inch, (my custom cresent wrench spacer) , the rear clears the frame, but not by much. I thought I read that someone flipped the mustache bar to push the rear forward, but that seems to me to be too extreme to keep the axles lined up properly. The next issue is the transverse link contacts the axle flange. I mentioned in an earlier post http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=96702 that the R230 is wider than the Q45 rear. This may be another issue of the wider flange spacing. It's hard to see in this picture, but even with the rear pushed forward 1/2" the flange touches the TL. I think that maybe the end of the TL can be ground to clear, but it is TIGHT. I did not bolt up the TL tight, because it won't clear as it is. I still have to deal with the CV flange width added to whatever clearance issue that exists too. The stock fuel pump (78 280) is on a plate that is hitting the front mount, and when you push the rear forward, it's worse. But maybe after clearancing the mounting plate and getting the front of the rear up where it needs to be, the TL issue will either correct itself, or it will require less grinding. This was just the first trial fit to see what issues I will have to deal with. I have energy suspension bushings coming for the mustache bar and once they are here, I can bolt the mustache bar tight and begin spacing, clearancing and fabricating the front mount. I would love to hear how far others positioned their R230 off of the mustache bar, and if anyone had to clearance their TL or any other fittment issues. Jody

I received my billet adaptors from Skulte Performance Engineering for the fronts yesterday and promptly installed them. What a nice piece! I got 2.5" adaptors so I could fit my stock Camaro wheels. (89 Camaro hubs/rotors and Toyota 4x4 calipers) I just received my Ground Control coil-overs today so I will be tearing it all apart to install them and the Illuminas.

It is possible to swap over an LT1 T56 to an LS1, not necessarily practical though. You need to change the front cover and the input shaft (4th gear). Also the bellhousing and fork are all different. The parts are all pretty expensive since there are no true aftermarket parts. I would suggest that you sell the LT1 version and buy an LS1 version. You should be able to do that at nearly an even swap.

HuH??? 93 and earlier can be reprogrammed by changing a chip. 94 and up computers need to be re-flashed. Use Tunercat or LT1-edit. f-body 94-95 are OBD1, 95 uses the OBD2 ALDL plug on OBD1 computer. 96/97 are OBD2. OBD2 can be re-programmed with LT1-edit (OBD2 version), but it costs alot more than the OBD1 version and the cable is vehicle specific. If you are going to run a 4L60E transmission with a high stall converter, invest in the OBD2 set-up, there are issues with the OBD1 computer and high stall converters, the transmissions don't shift right at WOT no matter what you change the shift points to and people are burning up the transmissions. OBD2 controls the transmission much better. You can easily swap an OBD1 computer into 96 and 97 OBD2 wiring harnesses. Just change the knock sensor and leave the rear O2's unplugged. Jody