Techno Toy Tuning R230 swap kit with long nose R200?

[DuoWing]

I've been searching around and trying to find some information. I tried e-mailing T3, but perhapsperhaps I wasn't saying what I wanted to properly.

 

Would it be possible to take portions of the kit and do essentially the CV, later wheel bearing, hub, and brake conversion while maintaining the original long nose R200? From what I understand is that as long as you swap a LSD intended for an open diff 240sx you end up with the same spline count as the S30. So I would assume you could also grab those axles. I guess you'd still be looking at a pricey conversion, but you'd be able to maintain the stock driveshaft, moustache bar, etc and switch to coilovers while moving away from the stub axles. Is there anything about this that I'm missing or that might not make this work?

[seattlejester]

You could do what you suggest, and you could save about $1000 from a quick glance at their price list, but the parts you wouldn't be replacing could stand to be replaced.

 

The spring style mustache bas been reported to cracking and failing with time and abuse. The front diff mount on the z cars are a pretty poor style and that should definitely be replaced. The hangers are pretty sturdy, but I can't help but imagine they would flex on launch or cornering.

 

Factor those in and the price gap diminishes, then factor in the fact that finding the LSD for an open differential S13 will probably mean you have to pay full retail as most people swap to a differential from another S chassis car, and the savings kind of disappear. 

[DuoWing]

Yeah, at first I was looking at it from a savings stand point. Then I put more attention to it and realized I wouldn't be saving that much overall. I was looking at this vs. say the billet stub axles and the wolf creek cv kit. So they'd come close in price, but almost be better to just go this route as so many more advantages in the end.

[seattlejester]

Yea it is a bit of a toss up. The good part of this kit is if something goes wrong. If an axle breaks then not a big deal, just get a replacement and send it in to have it shortened. Where as with the stock setup you would have to pull the stub axle which in and of itself is quite an ordeal. The benefit of staying stock is that the theory is once you upgrade to billet stub axles you essentially don't have to worry about it, but when you need to replace bearings it still is going to be a pain, where as with the TTT kit you could order a new hub with bearings already pressed in. 

 

Another downfall/benefit that just occurred is that this will push you towards a 5 lug setup. You could stay 4 lug with early S13 hubs and brakes, but you could just as easily swap to 5 lugs up front.

 

For me it was a price point. I think I am about $1000 in the rear end, I'll have a VLSD, rebuilt 27 spline stubs with bearings, CV axles. Nowhere near bullet proof, but it kind of stops there. If I went with the TTT kit, I would have $2800 just in the mounting hardware, still need to find an LSD, axles, brakes, hubs, and I probably wouldn't want those parts used, so they would need to be rebuilt or refurbished or new, that still leaves welding for the strut tower tops etc etc.