Ezzie

The fixed joint you pull back the boot, mount the shaft in a vice and tap the rim of the joint with a soft faced mallet to knock the joint off the shaft ( thats what it says in the book but the ones I've done have taken a good hard whack to dislodge the joint off the internal snap ring). Now the book says that the joint cant be dismantled, but it can, you rotate the cage till it is nearly vertical to the joint and procede to remove all the balls in turn by prying out with a small screwdriver. the cage has 2 larger holes opposite each other, with the cage vertical and the large holes horizontally opposed, remove the cage with spider, then rotate leg of spider into one of the large holes and remove. Note when reassembling a shaft always make sure that the spiders are aligned exactly with each other ie leg for leg or ball for ball otherwise the joints will fail in use. Neil, thanks, this is exactly what I needed to know, I'll give it a try and if it is a pain, I'll just repack them as Doug suggested.

Yes - that's it!! Except mine are not quite as "used" looking as those.

Nope - that's not what I mean. I have them off the car. I'm trying to figure out how to take the race & balls out of the stub axle /CV joint at the diff end so I can clean it out and repack the bearing (underneath the rubber boots). I can get the wheel flange end apart easily but not the diff end. The type I have is the one with the six steel balls (Burfield??).

Decided to repack the bearings in my half shafts while I am turning around the races in the outer ends. Got them all apart except for the CV joint at the diff end (stub axle). Do these come apart and if so how??? (Don't have the proper manual). I looked up the parts list in Nissan FAST and they don't even show the race & balls in the exploded view.

My objective is to do a mod to the stock 300ZX CLSD to get more durability and a slightly higher breakaway torque (65 lbs. seems about right for my application). The 300ZX diffs. I have bought used and taken apart all seem to have failed first by burning out the single friction disc on either side of the pressure rings. By looking at the Nissan Competition AND the stock BNR32 (Skyline GT-R) setups of the R200, they seem to be using 4 friction disks (2 on either side of the pack) instead of the 2 (one on either side). Both of the "street" versions seem to use a different part for the friction discs and plates as do the Nissan Competition ones. 300ZX: Qty Part # 4 38432-N9000 friction plate (?mm) 2 38433-N9000 friction disk 1.75mm - or alternate - 38433-N9001 friction disk 1.85mm 4 38435-N3210 spring plate 1.75mm 2 38437-71S00 diff spacer 3.2mm BNR32: 4 38432-N9000 friction plate (?mm) 4 38433-N9000 friction disk 1.75mm - or alternate - 38433-N9001 friction disk 1.85mm 4 38435-N3210 spring plate 1.75mm 2 38437-71S01 diff spacer (?mm) So it raises these questions: 1. What are the differences between the 38432-N3210 and 38432-N9000 friction plates? (BTW - the N3210's are cheaper than the N9000's) 2. Ditto for the 38433-N3210 and 38433-N9000 friction discs? 3. If I were to add the extra 2 friction disks to the 300ZX pack - I would also have to change the diff spacers to the BNR32 one as well? 4. Is it better to have 4 friction disks (as used in the Nissan Competition and Skyline BNR32 clutch packs) as opposed to the 2 only used in the 300ZX pack? 5. And if so, why?? 6. Would I be able to get about a 65 lb. breakaway if I merely subbed in the thicker friction discs (either the N3211 or N9001)? 7 Neither the 300ZX nor the BNR32 use the spring discs (38436-N3210) in their packs like the Nissan Competition ones do - instead they seem to use the spacers. Is this to get enough room for the extra discs and is this better? Anybody know the answers to any of these questions??

Has anyone ever shimmed the R200 clutch type LSD diff from the '88 300ZX Turbo for a higher breakaway setting?? I think stock it is rated at 47 lbs. of torque. If so, how did you go about it. I looked up the P/N's of all the bits in the clutch pack for both the Z31 and the R32 on Nissan FAST JDM and it looks like the R32 diff (short nose) uses an extra friction disc on either side as compared to the Z31 variant (long nose) but they are the same P/N. The Nissan Competition CLSD retrofit is also different (uses a spring disc instead of a diff spacer at either end of the pack).

Yes, I am using the clutch pack type R200 LSD. There is no "thrust block" in the spider cluster, just a hole in the middle of the spider holder thingy.

I think I got this figured out. I dug out another set of spare 300ZX turbo shafts (from an '88 I think) that I have and compared them side by side as well as measured everthing. They are exactly the same as the ones I am using so I must NOT have Shiro shafts here. I think the problem is that there is nothing to prevent the stubs from going into the diff too far (as in past the circlip detents). I think when I installed them, either the pressure of getting things lined up with the companion flanges or not enough clearance may have pushed them too far in. Then the natural spring effect of the rubber boots just kept them there and they didn't pop back out far enough to snap into the circlips. Can see no other way this could have happened as the side gears in the clutch pack are identical on either side and all the spacers in the diff are in the right spot. I pulled my spare apart to check this to be sure and I had the diff together correctly. I also found this on Ross's website: "300ZXT 4 bolt outerflange CV shafts (not the 6 bolt type) require the end cap removed, and inner CV race reversed, this effectively shortens each CV shaft 3/8" and results in correct rear geometry for your Z. This modification can be done with typical tools and we can supply guiding pictures to help (easily done in 1/2 hour). They work with stock rear control arms, if you've shortened yours or any similar effect be sure to check for adequate travel without binding in compression." Anybody else ever had this problem?

I upgraded some 510 rear control arms to use the Z31 stub axles and brakes. I did this by cutting out the whole cylindrical bearing housing (that contains both the inner and outer bearings) and welding in the ones from the 300ZX in the same place. It actually wasn't as hard as it sounds as it was fairly easy to get them back in the same place. At the same time, I slotted the mounts on the cross member so I could align for toe and camber.

I'll take some pics and post them. For some reason my access does not allow me to post attachments on this forum. How would I get this changed??

Are there different CV shafts used on the various years of the Z31?? I have two types here, one set with 6 bolts (3 clusters of 2 bolts) where they bolt up to the companion flange and one set with 4 larger bolts only. Are they interchangeable with the R200 clutch LSD from the 87+ turbo or will only one type work? I put the 4 bolt ones in but there seems to be a clearance issue where they snap into the diff (tears the seal apart).

You mean the passenger seat area in a LHD car?? The drive-shaft for the front diff is on the left side of the tranny (looking at the engine from the front). How far would the tranny tunnel have to protude into the passenger's side of the interior??

Some of the US/Canadian 240SX diffs were LSD's (short nose R200) but were all of the "viscous" type - sometimes referred to as VLSD's. The "long-nose" version of the R200 LSD's found in the 87-88 Z31 Turbo & NA V6 S12's (200SX in North America) used a clutch pack type LSD unit. These were the ONLY clutch type LSD's that Datsun/Nissan ever sent to North America installed in cars. This center section can be removed and installed in the 240SX "short-nose" R200 to replace the VLSD unit. Then, voila, you have an R32 Skyline diff!! The R32's used a "short-nose" R200 with clutch type LSD. Nissan Competition also sells replacement "beefier" LSD clutch packs to retrofit these R200's (either short or long nose) but they are almost as expensive as a Quaife, Kaaz, etc.

Thanks for the link. A lot of good info on that forum but still not quite the info I am looking for to answer my questions. Is the EPROM in the BNR32's ECU removeable? Is it similar to the Z32's ECU (ie. can be reprogrammed or used with a ROM emulator)? Is the BNR33's ECU unuseable because the CPU and memory are in the same chip package or something that would prevent it from being hacked/remapped??

I have been researching Skyline GT-R ECU's that can be reprogrammed without having to use a company like JWT or going to an aftermarket engine management system (I'm cheap and want to do it myself). I have not been able to find out much info on this subject. Has anyone on here ever done their own reprogramming of either the R32 or R33 ECU's? I have been told by a couple of people that the R33 ECU is very hard to work with (something about the chip architecture) and to try and stick with the R32. I have used the BadBiki daughterboard setup for the S13 ECU's (SR20DET engine) and would like something similar to this for the RB26DETT. Any info would be most appreciated - doesn't seem to be a lot published about this.