Pir0San

I recently replaced my rear end with another r180, and now I am hearing a weird click noise coming from what seems to me to be the right rear tire area. I don't believe it to be a u-joint or differential mount problem because when I did the swap, I replaced the differential mount, and used the halfshafts that came with the new r180 differential. I jacked the car up, and tried to see if there was any slop in the halfshaft u-joints, and I didn't notice any. I made sure everything was bolted snugly, so I really have no idea what the sound could be. I have a feeling that it could be bad wheel bearings on the right side. When I had the car on jackstands and I was replacing the differential, I had spun both the right and left wheels while the halfshafts were off, and it seemed like the left one would do twenty rotations whereas the right one would do maybe two or three. Could this be a bearing problem? I was also thinking it could have been a differential problem, but I'm hoping it's not. When I pulled the differential, I drained the gear oil out of it, and it seemed to be less than desired. I did check the drain plug for metal shavings, and the gear teeth for chipping, and no problems were found. Could the bearings on the differential be going bad?

I ran across a set of eibach springs at the junkyard yesterday on a 73 Z. Would there be any problem if I were to pull them off and put them on my Z, or would I be better off buying new springs?

Ah, thanks. I don't know what happened, I feel like I was hit with the stupid stick today.

Sorry if this seems like a dumb question, I'm still trying to absorb knowledge. The picture you are referring to above, are you talking about the picture I took from hybridz, or are you referring to the picture I took from my own car. (the one from hybridz is shiny )

After reading around, I just realized that I've been using the wrong lingo. I went outside and took a picture of my Z's differential, and the picture shows what I want. I would like to be able to bolt my half shafts on, just like Jon said above. So, according to the pic, does my stock 240Z differential use bolt in stub shafts, or does it use clip in stub shafts (now that I have my terminology correct).

I think I explained it wrong. I wanted to see if I could convert the above differential to different stub shafts (the actual part that plugs into the differential, I don't remember if this is the right term) so that my half shafts may be bolted onto the differential instead. I don't like how this differential has no bolts, and how the stub shaft and half shaft are connected by only a u-joint. I just think this would be a PITA if I wanted to replace the u-joints; if I understand correctly, you'd have to unbolt the half shaft wheel side, and then pull the half shaft to unclip the stub shaft from the differential. Right? Here's a pic of what I'm trying to say, I'd like the stub shafts to be where I can bolt the half shaft to it. Sorry if this doesn't make any sense, I wrote the original post at 2am last night, and I'm still half asleep writing this one.

Hey all, I need some help identifying this differential. My stock r180 has gone out, and I'm looking for a suitable r180 replacement. I stumbled across a 73 240Z and a 79 280zx auto that had what looked like an r180 (which I believe the car came with) but I noticed that it had snap in stub axles, which threw me off. My stock r180 has bolt in half shaft stub axles instead. I didn't pull it, because I wanted to be sure that I got a r180 instead of an r200. The pictures are of the 73 240Z's differential. I'm hoping I identified it right as an r180, because I found the 79 zx auto, which would come with the 3.54 gearset. I've got my fingers crossed! I have a feeling that the differential is an r180, considering the pictures that I have seen. I dislike the fact that the stub axle is a clip in instead of the bolt on, but I did see jmortensen's post on hybridz about swapping the button from the old bolt in r180 and switching them with the newer clip in button. Is this hard to do? I have mechanical knowledge, would I be able to do it with little work? I do see that there are pictures posted to help someone along, but is there some kind of previous work that needs to be done, or anything to watch out for? Link to hybridz: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=114798 Please help my Z be driveable again! Note: this is the dirty differential from the 73. I'm hoping to use the one I found on the 79 zx.

I agree with everyone else, I think the crushing of the cars was a little extreme. I did see the video on hybridz from the CHP on illegal modifications, and it did seem a little vague in the way that they would identify parts as illegal or not. From what I understand, all aftermarket modifications must come with a CARB sticker here in california, but I have been told by friends that some cops will still impound a car regardless if it is CARB legal or not. I think it's a little strange that the police would go as far as to crush the hondas, regardless if they were racing or not. I'm sure that the article is leaving some explanation out as to why they were crushed. Maybe the police made a deal with them where if they gave their cars up to be crushed, they wouldn't be fined extensively, given jail time, etc..., who knows. I do know that back in high school, I was in a "You and the Law" class, where the school had a program with the juvenile court where students in the class could play as the jury and as the defense of the person on trial. A minor would commit a crime, and if they pled guilty, the court would give them a chance to skip juvenile hall if they let their case be seen by other students. The jurors would decide what kind of punishment they deserved: community service, counseling, etc, which would be less of a punishment than what they would have originally had. Sorry if that didn't make sense, I just got off of work...

Well that definitely gives me more to think about. I was considering the 5 speed swap, but didn't think it would make that much of a difference. I'll have to look around and see if I could find a good condition one at a junkyard.

Ah, thanks for the insight Jon. It sounds like the R200 LSD swap takes a little bit more work than some junkyard searching. If you do have the pics for the halfshaft modification, I'd like to see them, just as a reference. I'm looking to do it all on the cheap, so it looks like an R200 may not be the way to go. On the other hand, I did notice that the Auto 240-280z's had the 3.545 R180, along with a few of the Auto ZX's. I'm assuming that the swap would be a bolt in procedure, or do the stub shafts have a different bolt pattern and spline count? I'm looking to increase acceleration, and I'm guessing that the jump from the 3.364 gearing to the lower 3.545 gearing might make a slight noticeable difference, or will it be too minuscule to even notice? I'd still like to go for the R200 swap, but if it'd be easier/cheaper to drop in a Power Brute R180 LSD Carrier for $500, then that might just be the route I take.

You've got to give Mike credit for trying to make our profile system better. I think he's onto something, but just needs some ideas to make it right. Maybe post likes/dislikes, and Mike might be able to fix it? Just an idea...

I ran into a Carerra GT a while back, and it was over in the Arden Area. For anyone who isn't familiar with the Arden area, it's not the nicest, but not the trashiest place. Definitely somewhere you wouldn't keep your Carerra GT. I'm guessing he didn't live there. I've also spotted Murcielagos, Diablos, Lotus-es, and a few Ferraris. Pretty rare for Sacramento, . I have been within four feet from a McLaren F1, but it was sadly behind glass. This was over in the Los Gatos area, down by San Jose. It was at the Silicon Valley Auto Group (I think thats what they are called) and they had it inside their showroom, along with a couple Saleen S7's. Parked outside was a plethora of Ferraris and Lamborghinis. I can say I have had a handful of Ferrari and Lamborghini...it was great.

My r180 differential is dying, it has a bad whining sound, and I need to replace it. So, I've been lurking around the internet and reading up on some articles about the r180 to r200 swap, most notably the r200 lsd swap from an 4/87-89 300zx (non-SS). I see that it's a pretty straightforward swap, but I still feel like I'm forgetting something. So far, I understand that you need: 1. R200 differential 2. Mustache bar from a 280Z with R200 3. Stub shafts from 280Z R200 (also called companion flanges?) 4. Half shafts from 280Z with R200 5. Pinion Flange from 280Z R200 6. Smooth rear cover from 280Z R200 With all of the right parts, It all seems like a pretty easy swap. The pinion flange needs to be removed from the 300ZX LSD R200 and swapped with the pinion flange from the 280Z R200 to fit the 240Z driveshaft. The stub shafts are easy to replace, they are snap in, so you can pull on them and pop them out, and then pop the 280Z R200 stub shafts in. From there, the half shafts from the 280Z are a direct swap into the 240Z, but the drivers side half shaft needs to stay on the drivers side due to length differences and differential offset. Rear cover and mustache bar need to be installed accordingly. So, does that seem right? I've read jmortensen's sticky on HybridZ about the Z differentials, but I wanted to make sure I had everything clear. I did read on the Beta Motorsports page that the R200 swap could yield some binding issues when swapped into the 240Z. The only answer I have seen to remedy this is to buy custom CV adapters from Modern Motorsports and swap out to Z31T CV Shafts. Some other websites claim that by switching to 280Z stub shafts and 280Z halfshafts that all binding issues are gone...but none of them seem to have proof to back their claims up. I also have another concern, and that is the effect of the gear ratio on my final top speed. Right now, my 240Z has the stock 3.364 gears and stock four speed gearbox, which yield 3388 rpm at 80 mph in 4th. If I were to swap up to 3.9 gears, my rpm at 80 mph in 4th would be 3928 rpm, a difference of almost 600 rpm. This doesn't seem like alot, but I don't want to be revving the motor to the moon when driving long distances. Sorry if it seems like I'm just beating a dead horse, but I just want to make sure I understand everything as clearly as possible. It seems like there are tons of sources on how to get started with the R200 swap, but not very many writeups on how to do the swap successfully. If I were able to get all the information I need to do this right, I would be more than willing to make a detailed writeup, but the problem is understanding before doing. Here are the links that I have used for some of my info. A special thanks to jmortensen for doing his writeup on HybridZ, without it I would have no idea where to start. Links: jmortensen's differential writeup on HybridZ.org Modern Motorsports CV adapters Transmission Calculator ZHome reference for different Z differentials Slight swap info/writeup with swap to CV Shafts Beta Motorsports writeup on R200 Handling Issues

So no one is claiming this car? Maybe I should make some postcards or something that list most of the popular Z forums and put them on people's windshields. Nevermind, it drives me crazy when people do that to me, I wouldn't want to make them go through the same thing.

Ah, wasn't sure. Now I know. What's the chassis code for the 280Z?

I was at Thunder Valley Casino here in California, when I spotted a grey S30 out in the parking lot. I was curious if anyone here owned it, and if the car was a 240 or a 260. It had the front turn signals of a 240/early 260, but had custom taillights. It also did not have the stock 240 center console, but had the choke warning/fusebox cover retrofitted into the console. The VIN is HLS30-141309. I'm guessing 260Z. Pics:

My Z started making a really weird noise all of the sudden on Friday, and it sounds like it is coming from the differential. It started as a loud clunking noise that wasn't consistent, but would happen upon acceleration, cruising, and would eventually turn into a muffled whine. I tried to get some audio of the clunking and whining, but I couldn't get it to clunk at all. I know it's not the normal differential mount clunk, the clunking sounds much worse. I read on here about other people with dead differentials, and my story sounds the same. Here is a link of the sound clip of the differential. Sorry it's not high quality, I recorded it using my cell phone. The noise starts about 15 seconds into the clip. You can also hear my exhaust, it sounds purdy Link Sorry, I had to host the file on rapidshare, our board won't support files this large.

, I guess your Z is a tree magnet.

Man, what is it with your Z and trees! Park it somewhere else, for god's sake!

Another simple way to check if the fan clutch is bad is to pull it out, take it to Autozone or Kragen, and compare it to one of the ones that they sell. My Z would overheat and I had no idea why, until I pulled the fan clutch. I replaced it with a Torqflo unit from Autozone, and no problems now.

Ah, okay! I get it. If I use all six pistons I'm in good shape because they are balanced as a set, but if I mix and match, I have to get them all balanced. Sounds good! I'm working overtime these past few weeks so that I can spend more on the engine rebuild. I'm hoping for a hefty paycheck!

Mull!!!! You have to post some more videos! I need them to feed my Z fever!

Thanks for the advice. I'll see what my measurements are, and compare them to those found in my haynes manual and my "How to Rebuild..." book. I hope that we're in good shape. Now I'm getting eager to work on it.

The head I have on the car is a rebuilt one, that has less than 1000 miles on it since I bought it. It has a new cam, new valves, valve seats, valve seals, and a 3 angle valve job (might have been a 5, I don't remember). 240Zman, I appreciate the comment about the tolerances. I was going to get the machine shop to measure the clearances for me, and then let me know what exactly I should be doing in terms of parts. I've still got a little bit of time in front of me, so I'll do some more research and see what I can do. I do know that before the rod bearing spun, the engine made great power and never burned oil, so I'm hoping this is a good indication of a good block.

I spot thick bondo on the doglegs before the rear tires...