Welp, about as fast as the project started it ended LOL nothing swaps over. At. All. If it was a TT diff to begin with, the stubs would swap over I'd assume with the G35 diff, but the NA diff stubs are too small. I seen a few threads stating the stubs would swap over, including someone who put (or was going to) a NA diff into their 350z, and confidently stated the axle stubs and companion flange would swap over, but that is very wrong. I will just grab a TT diff to swap and upgrade the axles and hubs because that is probably the smarter route anyway with the increased torque. I'll also need to revisit my driveshaft at that time since NA and TT have the different. In a way, I'm happy this didn't work out because I'd feel much better with the diff being mounted on 4 corners rather than 3.
So, I tossed the NA diff back in after a clean up, some new poly bushings in the front, and some subframe collars. Something I will be doing is swapping out all the old bushings, and adding swap bar and other suspension components because while I was under there everything just looked so old.
Light wash, but as usual, my phone decided to die at an inopportune time! My cleaning wasn't very thorough, but you could at least see the gray in the cover.
Poly bushings up front
I tried to get the diff bushing out of the subframe after removing the cups, but nah, after feeling defeated by the failed project G35 diff swap, I wasn't in the mood to heat/cut/press, or generally fight to get the old bushings out.
ODDLY ENOUGH I drove the car
BEFORE I added the subframe collar kit and it was night and day feel as far as throttle response and shifting!
A few days later the subframe collar kit came in. I must admit I thought there would be a night and day difference with them but there was not. On a short drive, and WOT pulls, the rear felt floaty BUT that may be because I can feel the lack of traction a lot better. I'm probably not explaining that properly, but I will give it a long and harder drive and come back with my findings. Shifting is so much more enjoyable with the improved throttle response, and the clunk rowing through the gears at WOT are gone, but much of that credit probably goes to the poly bushings on front of the diff. There was also a slight (emphasis on
slight) whine (not my supercharger LOL) from the rear or trans after the subframe collar kit but idk if its in my head, from the blower (new filter took me from 5lbs to 6lbs of boost). The slight whine is only up and over 2500ish rpms, no vibrations, clunks, etc on deceleration, but also I didn't pay it much mind, I only noticed on the way home. It is a very nice comforting whine, almost like the whine from the cockpit of a GT track car in Forza LOL but a lot changed in a short period of time so it is really hard for me to give a solid review on such a short drive, but given the age of the bushings, I would definitely install the collars and bushings AGAIN and recommend them to anyone. There is a video from Z1 on YouTube of their subframe collars install before and after, and you can see how much the subframe moved around on/off throttle and it was pretty much eliminated after install.
Of course, this install was not without drama. The front passenger side subframe mount or arm (?), was bent (the one on the left). I was concerned and almost panicked at first sight, but decided just to torque it up and it seemed to bend back in place one the subframe collars were in and I approached 80ft/lbs of torque. I won't loose sleep about it.
You can see one installed on top here
