can an R180 diff be directly swapped with an R200?

[zedhead26]

Hi guys. i have a rb converted nissan 280zx targa (1982)

origionaly the car was an auto. so it came out with the r180 diff.

i found an r200 with half shafts. and converted the lot over.

as i remmember the half shafts were slightly longer then the r180 shafts , but none the less i mannaged to squeese them in anyway.

it all bolted up nice and snugg, but unfortunatly when i drove it, the rear end had a verry bad shutter when it was under load.

so now i am in the prosess of pulling it all back out again..

 

would anyone have an idea about why this is happening ?

are the halfshafts too long?

what can i do about it?

[C.A.R.]

The R180 half shafts are too long, & are probably binding up.

Use the R200 half-shafts.

[zedhead26]

im useing the r200 shafts. they are slightly longer then the r180 shafts

do you think this is the problem?

[C.A.R.]

The R200 Diff is WIDER than a R180.

Therefore you need to use SHORTER half shafts.

 

It sounds to me like you've got the half shafts mixed up OR you have the wrong shafts all together.

Also notice that the R200 has a offset too it, so one shaft will be longer than the other.

[ovenfood]

hey zedhead is your car a gold zx with 4 australian 240k outer tail lights as the tail lights and a "shaved" rear bumper? just that i saw a zx with a RB26 at milanco a while back and it sounds like yours :>

 

i would also like to know if anyone knows of a short nose R200 being fitted to a S130 i know people do it to S30's but there is not to much info on S130 modification,

 

im helping a mate build a RB25DET NEO S130 and as we need to make a tail shaft anyway i thought i might as well mount a short nose :>

 

if there is anyone who has done this id love to see how the mount bracket was made :>

[zedhead26]

yeap thats my car

 

i fitted the r200 with the shafts that belong to the r200... the r180 shafts dont match the spline of the 200 so thats why im not useing them.

 

[gilltech]

The R200 set should replace the R180 set OK; the R200 half-shafts bolt on to flanges whereas the R180 half-shafts have a central bolt; usually - I believe there were some variations with the half-shafts as they were widely used diffs.

Certainly in my 260 I have swapped from a R200 to a R180 & back again without any problems. The difference is in the diff length - the R200 is slightly longer so uses a different 'moustache' mounting bar.

[.]

Aren't you making the change in a 280zx? If so they ran an R180 with Universal joints (generally in the Autos) or the R200 with CVs (generally in the manuals).

 

Are your new shafts CV or Uni? if they are unis for a R200 they are probably from an 260z and hence your problem. The length would be all wrong.

[ovenfood]

hey zed head i just swapped a long nose r200 lsd + shafts from a parts 280zx to a 280zx with a R180 in it the only parts i changed were the half shafts, diff and rotated the rear diff mount to get the r200 in and to me it seams fine. i don't know if my mates diff makes the same noise as yours and if so for the same reason because his made sounds before he changed it any way but hey a noisy diff is better than a weak one :>

 

btw i talk to steve the engineer who did work on your car from time to time and if you want to know things about datsuns he is one of the better people to talk to for info

[marc280]

My 280zx was also an auto from new, although I've just swapped out the r180 for a r200.  The rear diff mount is actually slightly different between the r180 and r200.  From memory the r200 mount has a different offset/centreline to the r280 which is shown in the Factory Service Manual.  I'm not sure if this would be enough to cause the problems that you having, but may be worth looking at.

 

If you look on the site http://nissan4u.com/parts/280zx/ you can see the different part numbers too.

r180 = 55476P6500

r200 = 55476P6560

 

The r180 I had came with CV half shafts although they were different to the ones for the r200.  The r180 half shafts were equal in length where the r200 has a shorter and a longer one.  If you look inside the r200 centre you should be able to see that the circlip to hold in the halfshafts is further in on one side, so you have to make sure you use the shaft with the longer splined section on this side.

 

Both the r180 and r200 halfshafts that I have used the same 6 bolt flanges to bolt to the hub.

 

Have you made sure that the "c" clips that hold the axles in the diff are in there?