Namor Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Alright, I am getting ready to drop an L28et from an 82 into my 77 280z. I am also using the BW T5 but I am keeping the original 3.54 R200. It has the round input flange on it, but almost any swap I have read says to swap to the rectangular one and have the driveshaft shortened or a new one made. I plan on having a driveshaft made and figured I could just have it made with the proper ends to match the T5 and my round R200 flange. However, before I do I would like to know is the rectangular turbo flange actually any stronger or is it used because it makes shortening the turbo driveshaft a possibility? I think I remember reading that the round one uses 8mm bolts and the rectangular one uses 10mm bolts, is this right? In short, should I source a rectangular flange before I have a driveshaft made? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 I have a bunch of diffs and almost every one has a different flange. They come with 8mm bolts is both the round and rectangular shape and 10mm bolts in the round and rectangular shape. The bolt pattern on the round ones are square, whereas the bolt pattern on the rectangular flanges are-rectangular. I personally like the round ones better, so I am running the round one with the 10mm bolts currently. Why do I like it best? Easier to get a wrench on the bolts, and the flange on the driveshaft has flat spots that keep the bolts from turning when tightening the nuts, so it is a one-wrench operation to tighten the nuts with my daughter applying the brakes to hold the driveline still. It gets crowded under there and I'm looking for ease of assembly. I don't think there is much of a strength argument comparing the 8mm bolts to the 10mm bolts-I have broken three driveshafts and the 8mm bolts were fine. My buddy puts 400hp thru 8mm bolts all day long and hasn't had any trouble either and he uses cheap used bolts off the floor of his garage (I use grade 10.9 bolts that Advance Auto stocks and replace them each time). I only went to 10mm recently for the reasons given above. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Namor Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 It definitely does. I figured that was basically the case. If I hadn't seen so many swaps mention it, I wouldn't have even thought twice about it. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Just for reference.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 The post above doesn't show the rectangular flange with the 8mm bolts, but it does exist. I have one and so does my buddy. That's a great reference! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I have a T5 in my car as well as an '85 12mm R200 in my car and I swapped on the flange from a '78 R200. I then used the Neapco adaptor the V8 guys used and had a new driveshaft made with the Nissan front yoke and the 1310 Chevrolet sized rear joint. The guy I spoke with said a Torqueflite had the same spline count/diameter but outside diameter too big. They could turn it down to Nissan seal size so you could run 1310 joints in both ends. If my car made more than 200 hp that's the route I would have taken. Wenco in California made my shaft FWIW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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