Hey, what's up guys?
I'm toying with the idea of performing a 5-lug conversion on my 89 240sx. The car's got a stock diff., and I want to toss the LSD from a 300zx into it. While I'm at it I was thinking about stealing the hubs, axles, rotars, etc. and giving my car a little surgery.
Has anyone done this before? If I've got the entire front and rear end for a 300zx of around the same year, everything should just bolt right in, right? Or am I wrong?
Let me know if you guys have done this, or thought about it, or know someone who has.. thanks =)
'89 240sx: LSD from 300zx?
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Newcastle82
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- Car: sold my s13, have no car.
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nismojunkie
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Stuntman240
- Posts: 198
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- Car: 91 coupe
The z32 vlsd is 5-bolt pattern.
You either need the 6-bolt outputs from a 95(late model) or newer, or the 6-bolt outputs from the vlsd 240's. Or you need the 95(early model) or older axles(those are 5-bolt)
as for the 5-lug conversion... all you would be able to use is the rear hubs. You need the front hubs/spindle/lca ball joints of a s14 se.
You would also be able to implement that rear knuckle from the z32 subframe. They're 8 pounds lighter each... saves on unsprung weight. But what would be more worthwhile is the brake upgrade.... but it's not clear whether you have all those parts or not.
You either need the 6-bolt outputs from a 95(late model) or newer, or the 6-bolt outputs from the vlsd 240's. Or you need the 95(early model) or older axles(those are 5-bolt)
as for the 5-lug conversion... all you would be able to use is the rear hubs. You need the front hubs/spindle/lca ball joints of a s14 se.
You would also be able to implement that rear knuckle from the z32 subframe. They're 8 pounds lighter each... saves on unsprung weight. But what would be more worthwhile is the brake upgrade.... but it's not clear whether you have all those parts or not.
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yellow_jacket
- Posts: 1355
- Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 4:43 pm
- Car: 95 240sx
For S13 the axle radius is smaller than the z32 axle radius so you cannot just swap joints. I tried it. Someone on here said that if you bolt in the whole nuckle assembly from the z32 it would space the wheels out a little furthur and thus the z32 rear axles will fit. He said he had done it on his car. I think it was even a s14. I can't remember who it was though. It is in a thread I posted in about differentials though.
It wasn't FA, it was zilvia.. Here's how he did it: http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=32126
I'm gonna try to do the same... I have a welder
I'm gonna try to do the same... I have a welder
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nismojunkie
- Posts: 518
- Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2004 4:36 pm
can somebody copy that post from zilvia.net and email it to me at [email protected], my computer wont let me register with that site
I'll just copy and paste it here for all to see:
Quote »I picked up a whole rear section of a 93' 300zx NA w/ ABS from a local junkyard for $120.00. The only part I originally wanted was just the pumpkin (viscous lsd) but the guys at the junkyard were really busy and just told me to take the rear section instead of having them remove it for me. So, I threw it into the trunk of my car (with half of it sticking out, haha) and drove to work. Since I work @ a Nissan dealership, I have the god-sent privilege of being able to use the lifts on occasion for my own use. The plan was to buy output flanges for an S14 that had a LSD and replace them with the output flanges that were currently in the Z32 pumpkin. Why? because the bolt pattern on the axles/output flanges on the Z's is a 5-bolt-star-shape, which differs completely from the US-spec 240's 6-bolt-triangle-shape. A few days after I had dropped off the rear section, I looked up the part #'s for the 2 output flanges. Turns out that the prices combined for the two flanges were nearly $300.00(retail). Reluctantly, I special ordered the flanges. The expected date of arrival was that Friday(I had ordered on Wednesday.) I came into work on Thursday to find out that the left flange was coming out of Cali, and the right flange was on international back order. Naturally I was ****ed, so I canceled the orders and started thinking of a way to make everything work out so I could install the pumpkin on Friday(that way, I could compete in Hyper-fest that Saturday.) I won't go into detail on the ideas I thought of that failed, but the idea that I thought would work was the following:
Instead of changing the output flanges on the Diff, I would dis-assemble the inner CV-Joints on the 300zx axles, remove the inner joints, dis-assemble and remove the inner joints on my 240sx axles, and finally install the inner joints from the Z onto the 240's axles. (Now, some of you are probably thinking "Can't you just use the 300z's axles?" Well, the answer is no. The Z axles are wayyy too long and the outer diameter of the spline grooves that go into the spindle are too big. Otherwise, it would work great.)
This plan is INSANELY easier said than done. I consulted both FSM's(Factory Service Manual) for a 93' 300zx and a 93' 240sx, studied the axle break-down diagrams, and came to the conclusion that this would most likely work. It was worth a try because it would be saving me $300.00Friday same soon, and at the end of the working day, it was time to get down and dirty. I put my car on the lift, removed both rear wheels, removed the rear sway bar, unbolted and removed the stock diff, then removed both the axles and put one of the axles into a vice. I dis-assembled and removed the inner joint, exposing the bare drive-shaft end with the splines showing. I then put one of the Z axles up and removed it's inner knuckle, and then tossed the rest of the axle. It was when I tried to put the knuckle on the 240's axle that disaster stroke. The 240 axle is approximately 2mm smaller than the Z axle, and thus, the spline is 2mm smaller. This meant that the inner-most part of the Z knuckle did not fit in the spline and just spun around freely. After about 20 minutes of ****ing/moaning about this projects certain doom, I thought about possibly welding that part onto the axle. I aligned the bearing housing(this is the part that im talking about.. the part that splines onto the axle) where I wanted it, then took a cookie(plastic grinding disc) and cleaned up the area where I would be welding. Then, I went next door and fired up the MIG welder. I started a bead and basically just went around and made 2 rings around the bearing housing, securing it to the axle. Job well done! it looked like it would hold up. I took the axles back to my car and let them cool off for about an hour. During that time, I drained the oil from both my stock diff and from the LSD, cleaned everything up, and put the cover from the stock diff onto the lsd so that it would bolt up to my car(the Z's have a 2 bolt lineup on the back of the diff[like S14's] and the S13 has a 4-bolt lineup.) I also grabbed the same cookie and cleaned up the welds that I did because they had a few messy bits that looked like they would fall off and perhaps get wedged between a bearing and the housing and cause some trouble. Then, I re-assembled the joints onto the axles and everything was looking great. I re-installed the axles with no problem, then I raised the lsd and bolted it in. Everything lined up perfectly(the axles, drift shaft, pumpkin bolts) except that the two mounting bolts that bolt the pumpkin on its front side were not lining up. One bolt lined up, and the other one was about 2mm off. Luckily, that diff had rubber bushings suspending the bolt-holes so i used a screwdriver and got everything bolted in. Over all, my car looks JDM from the bottom now because of the 5-bolt-output-flange pattern, haha!
I dropped my car down and drove away into the night with absolutely no problems, everything works great! I even got to compete at hyper-fest in the drift competition as planned.
I just wanted to post this story because it saved me $300 and all I really had to do was a bit of welding to make everything fall into place. Reluctantly, I didn't take any pictures. =[ but I did all the work by my self and my hands were entirely too dirty to use a digital camera anyway. oh well!
cheers! (perhaps a sticky?)[/quote]
Quote »I picked up a whole rear section of a 93' 300zx NA w/ ABS from a local junkyard for $120.00. The only part I originally wanted was just the pumpkin (viscous lsd) but the guys at the junkyard were really busy and just told me to take the rear section instead of having them remove it for me. So, I threw it into the trunk of my car (with half of it sticking out, haha) and drove to work. Since I work @ a Nissan dealership, I have the god-sent privilege of being able to use the lifts on occasion for my own use. The plan was to buy output flanges for an S14 that had a LSD and replace them with the output flanges that were currently in the Z32 pumpkin. Why? because the bolt pattern on the axles/output flanges on the Z's is a 5-bolt-star-shape, which differs completely from the US-spec 240's 6-bolt-triangle-shape. A few days after I had dropped off the rear section, I looked up the part #'s for the 2 output flanges. Turns out that the prices combined for the two flanges were nearly $300.00(retail). Reluctantly, I special ordered the flanges. The expected date of arrival was that Friday(I had ordered on Wednesday.) I came into work on Thursday to find out that the left flange was coming out of Cali, and the right flange was on international back order. Naturally I was ****ed, so I canceled the orders and started thinking of a way to make everything work out so I could install the pumpkin on Friday(that way, I could compete in Hyper-fest that Saturday.) I won't go into detail on the ideas I thought of that failed, but the idea that I thought would work was the following:
Instead of changing the output flanges on the Diff, I would dis-assemble the inner CV-Joints on the 300zx axles, remove the inner joints, dis-assemble and remove the inner joints on my 240sx axles, and finally install the inner joints from the Z onto the 240's axles. (Now, some of you are probably thinking "Can't you just use the 300z's axles?" Well, the answer is no. The Z axles are wayyy too long and the outer diameter of the spline grooves that go into the spindle are too big. Otherwise, it would work great.)
This plan is INSANELY easier said than done. I consulted both FSM's(Factory Service Manual) for a 93' 300zx and a 93' 240sx, studied the axle break-down diagrams, and came to the conclusion that this would most likely work. It was worth a try because it would be saving me $300.00Friday same soon, and at the end of the working day, it was time to get down and dirty. I put my car on the lift, removed both rear wheels, removed the rear sway bar, unbolted and removed the stock diff, then removed both the axles and put one of the axles into a vice. I dis-assembled and removed the inner joint, exposing the bare drive-shaft end with the splines showing. I then put one of the Z axles up and removed it's inner knuckle, and then tossed the rest of the axle. It was when I tried to put the knuckle on the 240's axle that disaster stroke. The 240 axle is approximately 2mm smaller than the Z axle, and thus, the spline is 2mm smaller. This meant that the inner-most part of the Z knuckle did not fit in the spline and just spun around freely. After about 20 minutes of ****ing/moaning about this projects certain doom, I thought about possibly welding that part onto the axle. I aligned the bearing housing(this is the part that im talking about.. the part that splines onto the axle) where I wanted it, then took a cookie(plastic grinding disc) and cleaned up the area where I would be welding. Then, I went next door and fired up the MIG welder. I started a bead and basically just went around and made 2 rings around the bearing housing, securing it to the axle. Job well done! it looked like it would hold up. I took the axles back to my car and let them cool off for about an hour. During that time, I drained the oil from both my stock diff and from the LSD, cleaned everything up, and put the cover from the stock diff onto the lsd so that it would bolt up to my car(the Z's have a 2 bolt lineup on the back of the diff[like S14's] and the S13 has a 4-bolt lineup.) I also grabbed the same cookie and cleaned up the welds that I did because they had a few messy bits that looked like they would fall off and perhaps get wedged between a bearing and the housing and cause some trouble. Then, I re-assembled the joints onto the axles and everything was looking great. I re-installed the axles with no problem, then I raised the lsd and bolted it in. Everything lined up perfectly(the axles, drift shaft, pumpkin bolts) except that the two mounting bolts that bolt the pumpkin on its front side were not lining up. One bolt lined up, and the other one was about 2mm off. Luckily, that diff had rubber bushings suspending the bolt-holes so i used a screwdriver and got everything bolted in. Over all, my car looks JDM from the bottom now because of the 5-bolt-output-flange pattern, haha!
I dropped my car down and drove away into the night with absolutely no problems, everything works great! I even got to compete at hyper-fest in the drift competition as planned.
I just wanted to post this story because it saved me $300 and all I really had to do was a bit of welding to make everything fall into place. Reluctantly, I didn't take any pictures. =[ but I did all the work by my self and my hands were entirely too dirty to use a digital camera anyway. oh well!
cheers! (perhaps a sticky?)[/quote]
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nismojunkie
- Posts: 518
- Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2004 4:36 pm
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nismojunkie
- Posts: 518
- Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2004 4:36 pm
For anyone who was interested in knowing how to do this, I took pictures during the whole process, and I gave a few captions too. It wasn't too difficult if you have the right tools and patience: http://www.gbauto.net/crzycav86/axle_swap.htm
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Bobby12many
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 5:58 am
- Car: 240sx, 300zx, Evo
FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :ylsuper :ylsuper :ylsuper :ylsupercrzycav86 wrote:For anyone who was interested in knowing how to do this, I took pictures during the whole process, and I gave a few captions too. It wasn't too difficult if you have the right tools and patience: http://www.gbauto.net/crzycav86/axle_swap.htm
I cant wait to put my LSD in my new s13
Free baby!
thanks to you!-
mordezmoncou
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2006 2:15 pm
- Car: 90 240sx SE 5spd
Here is the awsome write up courtesy of crzycav86 and here is the new link.http://members.aol.com/skybolt86/axle_swap.htm Its a very good write up and very helpful and a great alternative method from the j30 axles. thanks agian crzycav86!!!