Here the back of an R200.  That rectangular chunk of metal under the drain hole is how I ID them.  The R180 doesn't have it.

 

To be honest I tried to measure inside the diff and I cant get a clear view. It also does not look like the 3rd groove I was putting the clip on matches to the axle. Again, the fact that I see no groove in the spline area is concerning. My diff just has a 392 casted on it. I know it has more numbers on top but I can't see them unless I drop the diff. 

I can tell it's a r200 because it has the extra metal like your pictures but the internals picture.compared to mine is titally different. I am gonna have to figure something out to identify the internals. With mine I cant see the spider gear carriage. I am thinking my diff myst be some other one.

Thanks for the.pictures.

I just went out and stuck a tape measure in to mine and I can get the end to hook on the groove right where the groove should be to match the axle groove.

You have a weird puzzle there.  

Edit - I see your diff picture in Post #1.  An R200.  I don't think it's a VLSD either because those have two sets of splines on one side, where the viscous coupling unit is.

Edited June 24, 20178 yr by Zed Head

Yes I do. Lol. Thanks for the aid. I'll post if I figure out what the hell I have. 

Well, I pulled the diff and took off the cover. It's a clutched lsd for sure. On top of the diff the numbers are 88911 N9100. I looked online but could not find what diff it is. This is a picture from the inside. If I put both axles in, if I seat one side the other side does not go all the way in and vise versa. It looks like the axles stub that goes in the diff combined length is to long. 

"Seat" is when the two grooves are aligned, with the clip in both.  You must be pushing them beyond "seated" to cause them to interfere with each other.Seems like your diff grooves must have got damaged so that they don't hold the clip in place tight enough so that the axles can slide through.  You have a run of the mill R200 and plain old R200 axles.  You really shouldn't be having these problems.  The clips should never have been removed from your diff either. t does look a CLSD too.  A picture from the back showing those holes would be more informative though, showing the internal ramps.

I dragged my 280ZX CV axles off the shelf and measured and got the same axle lengths that you showed on the first page.  All of your parts are right, you just have to get those clips to stay in the diff groove while you push the axle through.  

I'd focus on bending those clips wider until they're too big to fit in the diff hole then compress them just enough to get in so that they'll have "spring" left when you push them in all the way to the groove, so that they'll spring open and be bigger.  I'm sure that the factory has a special tool that maintains maximize size and spring pressure during installation.  You might have damaged yours.

I notice that the numbers on the top of your diff are different from mine (see my earlier picture).   Mine ends in N9000.  They should really just identify the R200 housing so you'd think they'd be the same.  Maybe somebody found one of those old R190's.  Maybe they use different axles.  Measure the width of your diff across the back and I'll measure one of mine.

Edited July 3, 20178 yr by Zed Head

I got 8 5/8" across the back of the housing.  Maybe 8 9/16".  Eyeballed from above.

Zed, thanks for all the help you're providing. What I mean by seat, is when I put the axles in with no clips at all. There is a piece of round stock that separates both axles and that piece if you tap on it, it moves towards one side our the other. If I move it to one side, one axle does not go in all the way, and vice versa. Ill take some more pictures tomorrow.  I tried today to install it with the clips, but no success.  Thanks again for the help. 

Edited July 3, 20178 yr by kutukutu1

I was trying to define "all the way".  They don't go in until they won't go any farther, they go in until the clips seat in the groove.   I would still focus on measuring the grooves and where they sit.  And the width of the housing and whatever other numbers you can get.  The numbers will tell the story.

Also, I am going to assume that this being an r200, it will work with the standard stub axles and cardan joint half shafts from the original z. I have a spare car with an open diff r200. If I don't care for having cv axles, the cardan half shaft from the parts car should work on this diff,correct?