durability of 510 driveline?

Discussion forum for the venerable 510, and its non-US counterparts, the Datsun 1600 and Bluebird.
sclay115
Posts: 79
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:08 pm

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from what i hear the motors are relatively stout, but how bout the transmission/driveshaft/rear end/final drive shafts. browsing through the EPC at work everything seems relatively built, but i'm curious as to if i should be looking to update these parts to something newer that i can easily replace if something were to break. as a lot of the parts are no longer available....


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nismo510
Posts: 157
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 5:46 pm
Car: building models and real cars.autocrossing

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my da and uncle put a 302 in one and ran the stock rear and never blew it i bag mine hard and havent had any troubles.

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Clifton
Posts: 53
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 1:23 pm
Car: 73' 240Z/7MGTE 71 240Z/L28ET
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I can't speak for the R160's strenght but in 240Z's the D shaft and halfshaft u joints become the weak link when running alot of power, 400+rwhp. I'm sure 510's run the same joints.

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Dattebayo
Posts: 33297
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2002 10:04 am
Car: 2004 Frontier Desert Runner
Location: NE DC

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You can put in a 280 rear end to solve that problem. My friend here has one in his '79.

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compression
Posts: 392
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2003 10:08 am

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The 510 came with an open R160 Diff. You can direct bolt in an LSD R160 diff from a mid-80's subaru XT turbo. THose hold up really well.Or you can throw in an R180 from a Z car, but no one has really had trouble with the R160's. THere is also an R200 out there, some were LSD units, but they are rare and hard to find. And they dont really fit very well under the 510, wayyyyy over kill.The stock 510 transmission (4-speed manual) is a POS. Dont count on putting any power down through it. IF you do an engine swap you will yank it anyway. THe main driveshaft seems to hold up fine for most modern engine swaps (SR20DET, VG30E, KA24DE, etc...). The halfshafts are good too, if you keep the u-joints lubed. THere are CV kits out there for the 510, but they are custom made and cost quite a bit. I am running a stock main drive shaft, subaru LSD R160, and stock half shafts and it holds up great with my SR20DET, which is making about 300hp at the wheels at 17psi of boost.The tiress always break loose before any of the drivetrain parts get strained.


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