texasz

@madkaw, have you done this swap with the truck front diff? If so I'd love some more first hand experience/info.

I'm working on 8215. I'm putting an R180 back in. It is the front diff from a Jan - June 1983 Datsun 720 4x4 pickup. It is supposed to be a drop in replacement with the exception of the input/output flanges. I'm going to test that theory. 🙂

A little tricky of a job though we got it done! Moved the jack stands as we suggested (and I was suspecting I may need to) and using two floor jacks (one in the back and one under the front cross member I loosened the the front cross member, dropped the front a little bit (maybe an inch), then wiggled the entire thing on both jacks forward until the two rear bolts cleared the mustache bar and lowed both jacks at the same time. After sliding everything out, removing the cross member from the diff and sliding back up under the Z to put the cross member back in place I noticed how the arms had moved a little bit and was VERY glad I moved the jack stands. 😄 Next is to figure out what must be done to get the 3.9 ratio diff to work in the Z. Looks like replacing the output flanges/output shafts as well as the input are all that is needed so that the drive shaft and half axles of the Z will bolt up.

I thought I could wiggle the diff out of the Z without removing the front diff cross member...looks like I am wrong. I have the car up on jack stands as you can see in the pictures and I can easily remove the front diff cross member by removing the two bolts in the red circles. My question is.....is this safe or will the car fall on me and kill me? My concern is that the jack stands are under the control/a-arms as shown in the pix and removing the diff front cross member appears to them leave the front mounting point (yellow arrows) of the control/a-arms loose...this makes me quite nervous as I don't care to die doing this project. 😉 Can anyone please help with some info/advice? .

Ok, I bought a couple of these years ago from him and am just now getting around to doing some work on my Z. I'm pulling the diff due to a leak (and likely installing a different one with a higher gear ratio). I was not going to install this mount until re-reading this thread...now I'm seriously considering installing it.

Is yours not inside the booster? It seems that when the become dislodged they are normally just rattling around inside the booster.

I happened to be over near my storage yesterday so I stopped in to have a look at the taillights and unfortunately they do not have the additional bulb. This is quite odd since the car has the switches. I could not get a good look at the taillight sub-harness, maybe there is the extra bulb on there and the taillights have been replaced with US spec ones.

What are you looking for? It will be a while, this is not the first Z on my list to work on (probably #2 though). It will likely be years before I do anything with it.

So was it just surface rust or did they bore the cylinders?

Nope, sorry...I was very excited to have found these when I first got the car and planned on seeing what was involved in making them work if they do not already.

OH! Now that I know what the heck is going on in this post I have a little input. I bought a car several years ago and upon getting it home and going through everything I found I had these switches (and hand throttle). @AZ-240z, now after reading that thread (again as I'm certain I read it back when it was active) I will have to go and look at the tail lights in this Z (it is in storage) to see if it has the extra bulb. How exciting!

@heyitsrama I read your thread earlier today which reminded me about my question. 😉 Here are a couple pix of the two that were replaced.

Several years ago I bought a pair of Spicer u-joints for one of my half shafts, I'm pretty sure I bought them from Black Dragon (may have even still been Victoria British at the time). I now want to replace the ones on the other half shaft and the drive shaft. Is Spicer still a great choice? If so can someone help me determine which one to get (I cannot find any of my old paperwork to pull part numbers from). On the ones I have I can see some blue on them if that helps identify what I have to match new ones to.

Looks like surface rust to me, in which case it would come off easily. If you do have (or choose) to bore the you will need larger pistons (or you could consider sleeving the cylinders, though I think larger pistons would be much more cost effective).

Baby oil seems like the kind of thing that would bake your dash...I know that people use it when the sit out in the sun to "tan" themselves and as there is no UV protection in it at all they fry their skin whether they realize it or not.

None of my Zs are zinc (see signature for my Zs).

Yep, I was going to suggest Datsun Spirit also since you are in VA.

It sticks in my mind that I read a write-up of how to repair the window regulators some time ago. It may be worth searching for ways to repair what you have if you have not already done so.

Let's not forget adding strength to the body as they were no designed to handle that much power.

This car is in Austin, that's my back yard! Out of my price range though...I'll just keep working on the ones I already own. 😉

Google it, there are some out there. https://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/32-1099 (temporarily unavailable) https://www.datsun-garage.com/products/front-and-rear-chrome-bumper-set-1970-72-240z https://zcardepot.com/collections/bumper (looks to be out of stock currently) https://zcarsource.com/bumper-parts/ https://www.futofab.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=131&Itemid=118 (backordered) And I'm sure there are more.

It is also possible that a previous owner may have replaced the hatch at some point in the past 50 years (the paint job is not original).

If I'm understanding your question correctly the answer is yes there is a retainer ring that screws on to hold the rubber inner shift boot in place. If you do not have yours you can either seek out an original one from someone or buy an aftermarket/reproduction such as the one Skillard has. https://skillard.com/product/datsun-s30-inner-shift-boot-bezel/

Interesting option Derek presents, the numbers look nice with the 3.362 diff ratio. Questions that this then raises are fitment, reliability, durability, and is there a short throw shifter option available? Oh yes, and cost!? 😉

Great idea! I've had all the fluids drained from the entire car so not necessary for me this go-round.