My "new" car/project.

[bramagedained]

Whenever works out for you. I'm done with school until until the first week of Jan.

[bramagedained]

I picked up the correct axles today from O'Reilly

The wrong axles had a blind clip that basically was sheared off by the 40ton(since that's what I had access to) press I used to get it apart.

The correct ones have a spring clip you can compress with a couple of thin screwdrivers. While I did that I had my dad whack it with a hammer and bronze drift and it popped right apart.

The clip:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0361_zpszg9s8kgq.jpg

Re-man'd axles:
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0357_zpsw5mebtfa.jpg

Now for a side by side of all the parts, aside from the housings being obviously different on the outside, the axles, ball bearings, cage, star I had to measure with a micrometer to tell apart.

BBs different by ~0.05", cage by ~0.10" etc. The re-man'd parts are bigger.

Correct:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0358_zps3ojuymiy.jpg

Wrong:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0359_zpsf1fiszot.jpg

Correct on left vs wrong on right:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0360_zpspl10xyjt.jpg

And the part that screwed me, correct splines on the left vs the wrong ones:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0362_zpsbjuu4ylh.jpg

Anyway, that left me here ready for assembly tomorrow:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0364_zpswndsyti7.jpg

[bramagedained]

Teardown.

There is surprisingly few fasteners that hold everything for the rear end together.

It all came apart without needing to be clever, to my amazement. Presumably the last time all this came apart is when the car was first assembled in Japan.

Old stuff, it turned out I didn't need to take the drum off, but, it made for a better before/after picture anyway:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0374_zpskbxrzj7c.jpg

Brake line on both sides, I did have to use a vice grip on the Driver's side as even with a proper flare fitting wrench it rounded off:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0375_zpsi26efzbg.jpg

Parking brake cable. The car will no longer have a parking brake, which is sort of unfortunate, but, it will always be an auto anyway:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0383_zpsylmibsjr.jpg

Exhaust came out partially by sawzall. Whether I get to an LS swap this winter or not, the exhaust was going to be changed either way. The quality of what was in there is a bit lacking(to put it lightly):

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0377_zpsvlcnaqlf.jpg

Yes, that is RTV and some of the most booger'd welds I've seen.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0378_zpsh0zx59wf.jpg

At this point I had two jacks holding up the subframe+diff.

One of these on either side holds the mustache bar/diff up into the car at the rear:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0380_zpsy6us4s2q.jpg

These two bolts on either side hold what I will call the rear of the sub-frame up into the car:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0379_zpsjli5nwjp.jpg

These on both sides hold the front of the subframe/front diff mount:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0381_zpsviojnswi.jpg

Now the only thing still attached to the car are the struts. I used some 4' zipties to hold the struts to the control arms so that they wouldn't flop out when they dropped free of the car;

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0384_zpsldyfyncw.jpg

Out of the car it came:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0386_zpsflpjitok.jpg

I honestly expected it to be a hassle to get the driveshaft off of the diff, so I just let it drop out of the trans onto a cardboard box. I need to get a new driveshaft made somewhere anyway.

There was 4 more bolts that secured the control arms to the rear part of the subframe that I forgot to take pictures of. The control arms, rear of the subframe, and strut tops are the only pieces re-used.

The control arms are held to the upright with a big pin. This pin is notoriously difficult to remove as it is not greased and pinned to not move in the upright, so it seizes together. I probably could have got it free, but, since I'm not reusing the upright nor the pins I just cut them apart with a porta-band.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0395_zpsiwx8ctq5.jpg

The strut tops need to be slightly modified. OEM they're made to key onto the top of the damper cartridge and the hole needs to be made round for the Koni ones:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0391_zpsyjuu8h8d.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0392_zpst3vd3jgn.jpg

[bramagedained]

Assembly.

All the parts (minus brakes) going into the car:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0373_zpstegkg1ri.jpg

The first thing I did was assemble my new shocks. Koni adjustable shocks and 250lb/in springs. The strut tubes are part of the kit and custom made to work with everything else in the swap.

This little spacer goes inside the tube, so the inside is the correct length for the Koni damper. It's contoured to matched the shape at the bottom of the Koni:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0393_zpssrcwclhi.jpg

Everything else is simple to assembly and I forgot pictures. The lower spring perch is adjustable for ride height. The tube is filled with a small amount of oil, the logic behind it is so the cartridge can better transfer heat to the tube itself. It also stops the cartridge from corroding itself into the tube.

The tops are two of the 5 pieces re-used with this swap.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0394_zpshttwhvvb.jpg

Control arms ready to assemble:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0396_zpsdjh8usp1.jpg

In goes the new subframe dropdown and mustache bar. While the old mustache bar was very much a leaf spring, this one is solid aluminum and not made to give a whole lot.

This is where I started to be really amazed by the kit. Parts are very close, but, don't touch.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0389_zpst2w78mmo.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0390_zps7yufwoyf.jpg

Now, I could have fought with the driver's side bolt for the diff, but, I chose not to and just drilled a hole in the spare tire will that I'll get a plug for. Eventually(maybe even this winter) I'm putting a fuel cell in the car so all that sheet metal will be cut out anyway.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0387_zps8tyzmlid.jpg

Next to prep the diff I replaced the pinion and axle seals. I know the pinion seal was bad and I realized it would be dumb to not replace the axles seals as well while I had it out of the car:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0369_zpsaelhx8cg.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0371_zpsvylrhvzj.jpg

I forgot to take a picture of putting in the front diff mount. I had to grind down some spot welds and knock off a tab that was used as an exhaust hanger. This is apparently only present here on the 260z and not the 240z or 280z.

I had help wrestling the much bigger Ford 8.8" into the car. A transmission jack(which I don't have) would have made this much, much easier.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0400_zpsrmux8c2e.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0398_zpselntvyjf.jpg

The factory rear part of the subframe is re-used which holds the rear of the control arms. I had to massage it some with a hammer so it would clear the drain plug on the diff. But, only by 1/4" or so. I could have assembled as-is, but, didn't want it to touch.

Everything from here-on was so easy and quick I forgot to take pictures. After the diff was in, I only had an hour and a half into putting everything else back together.

New upright/axles:
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0401_zps1psc7zmi.jpg

New struts and brakes:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0403_zpsd4eadwx5.jpg

Stainless brake lines now run from the hardline to the caliper.

And that was that, I threw on a pair of old DSM spares(since the rear bolt pattern is now 5x114.3) I got for cheap from Brownman so I could set the car back on the ground and push it back to the side of the garage on the car dollies.

[bramagedained]

I still have a new 1" Master Cylinder, proportioning valve, and front brakes sitting around to go in. I can't do the front brakes until I get wheels.

They're for another day, though.

The new front calipers/disks are pretty big and OEM from a 90's 4-runner.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/Bramage/260z/IMAG0338_zpshzusqoov.jpg

Next project is probably going to be pulling the dash to clean up the wiring/add relays and make better mounts for the speedo/tach along with rig something up for the turn signal/high beam indicator lights.

[scheides]

Dude this thing was sweet before and it gets better all the time! Awesome!

[bramagedained]

Painless has $100 mail in rebates on a lot of their wiring kits.

And Vatozone(who is an authorized retailer) has a 20% off deal right now.

So last night I impulse bought the 18 circuit universal kit, and after the rebate will be $190 or so.

Which I'm willing to pay vs piecing together all the needed stuff from digikey or something.

There's even a couple of threads on Hybridz on how to hook the painless stuff up to the OEM switches and such.

[turbotalon1g]

That's an awesome deal!

[Mark Leasure]

That's an awesome rearend upgrade! It's cool to see companies are making swap kits for this platform! There's still tIme for a ls swap this winter. I have a great turbo (gt42 with a pte billet cea 76mm compressor wheel) for that setup going on the market very soon.

[bramagedained]

It's not even a company that makes the swap. It was dreamed up by an engineering student from Arkansas. He produced 25 of the kits with help from people he knows who work in a fab shop/people from his Formula Offroad team.

I might get to the 4.8 swap, but, can't probably swing turboing it. The cost jumps quite a bit that way as all the turbo parts, fuel system, different trans, etc adds up.

I kind of like the idea of having the summer of it being NA to get to know the car better with all the changes first.