tranny swap concerns

[spencer]

I have an 80 and 82 zx, both are na's. . . the 80 is a 5 speed and the 82 is an auto. the 80 is my parts car. ive got both the engines and trannys out and im swappin the transmissions. ive done quite a bit of research on and off the site and from what ive read i needed to use the driveshaft from the 5speed because it was shorter. but when i got them out they are the same size. im also pretty sure the 80 has the r180 and the 82 has the r200 with the 3.90 gears. are these different length diffs? and thats why the drive shafts are the same size. or should everything bolt up jus fine no matter what drive shaft i use. i had everything all researched and it just threw me off because i was expecting a shorter drive shaft. any help appreciated

[ArchetypeDatsun]

The diff's should be the same size, other than one being R180 and the other R200 all you have to do is look under the car.

 

Don't know about the auto & manual driveshafts being longer or shorter than eachother.

Edited August 1, 2011 by 280zx@541

[roger.svoboda]

R180 tranny is about six inches across horizontally (sort of a rectangle) while the R200 is about eight inches across and looks more like a square. Easy to see when sitting side by side but not so clear when mounted. The splines on the drive shaft for the tranny output may differ between the auto and the manual. The mounting flange for the input to the diffy probably differ. you can easily put the R200 diffy in the 80 if you want. you need to reverse tHe u bolt looking piece that mounts the diffy and goes up into the car under the carpet behind the seats. Once you demount it you will see what i mean.