pope_face

IIRC, hydraulic suspension is illegal here, or at least for street use. Not sure about air bags... but, I think even with air bags, you might not be permitted to have the vehicle extended past the rims at the lowest setting... Just to prevent you from purposely dropping the ride on the road, or in case something fails in the suspension... But, I don't really know, I'll have to call the insurance folk and ask...

Agreed, but I don't know how much that would help... the forums here don't have that many pages to look through anyways, and most of the info is fairly well displayed... Then again, I tend to ask stupid questions too... I just don't think anyone has the patience to make FAQ threads... the only options are to either keep them locked and moderator controlled, in which case the mods will have to add every new bit of information by hand, or make them open so anyone can post information in them, but then you run the risk of irrelevant posts put in the FAQ thread... again, the moderators have to make sure the posts are relevant... Unless, only people with a certain number of posts, like 1000+, are allowed to post in FAQ threads... it makes it easier to get information posted, keeps irrelevant information to a minimum, and reduces the amount of work necessary to keep the thread running... but, it would probably require some more programming to make that option available...

I'd love to have a truck that low... the only thing I have to watch for is that the law here states that no part of the body or chassis is allowed to extend lower than the lowest point of any wheel... It's so that if you have a blow-out while driving you can still somewhat steer, rather than becoming a large steel sled...

Redeye: That would... :D Would you mind also pointing out which parts would be required for the swap? Just the main components... I can take a look at my truck and compare... Now all I need is a donor 620... and a 720, and a hardbody, and another 521...

Hainz: Wouldn't it barely be on the dipstick due to the fact that most of the oil is in the engine, rather than the pan? I always thought that you were supposed to check oil pressure with the engine off for a short time, to make sure all the oil drained back into the pan... If you had a larger line, I suppose the gauge could respond quicker, just due to the fact that it requires less pressure to get a reading... or, at least that makes sense to me. Larger diameter = more volume... more volume means that a lower pressure can be used to exert the same amount of force in a given time... A small change in pressure would be more noticable with lower pressures than high pressures...

Hate to be a pain, but does anyone have a picture showing which parts we're talking about? If the bearings are that much easier to find I might do the swap myself...

I don't know if it's just me, but side-drafts look vicious... same with ITB's... They all just look so much more aggressive than single or even dual down-drafts... And back on topic...

Clayton: Thanks for the heads up. Makya: I didn't know that most lockers were permenantly "on"... A chunk of my car knowledge comes from my daily, which is a 4x4... those were my previous forums, and so 4x4 gear is really the only stuff I started learning about. The Datsuns are a lot more street-oriented, or at least for my purposes. When I mentioned lockers I was thinking of companies like ARB or Detroit (I think they have a switched locker...) for a combination off-road/street differential... I forgot about the costs...

Bah, sorry... I meant the housing itself might be different... I'm not sure if it'd work. But, I have limited knowledge of differentials myself, so I really couldn't tell ya...

I think the carrier is different for the later LSDs vs the 620, but I'm not sure... Depending on how much wider the LSD is, you might be able to get away with just replacing the perches and using wheels with a lower (?) offset to keep the wheels more-or-less in the same position... or, at least until you have the money to properly get the rear end shortened...

K&N. Take off your air cleaner, measure the opening on the bottom, or the top of the carb, and then pop on over to Lordco or whatnot and ask for a filter with that size opening. If they don't have anything exactly that size, get something a touch smaller and just stretch the rubber a bit over the carb, or a little bigger and clamp it down firmly. Smaller is likely a better option though, just to make sure the seal is there. It won't be perfect, but it'll work. You'll probably have to go with a low cylindrical filter though, or a stubby cone one. There's only a few inches of clearance... I think the filter on mine is about 6" wide and maybe 4" tall... maybe a little taller.

Thanks Mike... I've gotta be on the lookout for a Z transmission to bolt up if I go through with the KA, so I'm trying to sort out which vehicles I can get one from.

Abomination? I didn't notice the wing windows, but you're probably right about the doors... I think the whole truck just doesn't really know what it is... :blink:

Wouldn't you need the gears as well in order to make it a LSD, or could you use non-LSD gears and keep the limited slip? As for lockers, most on the market can be turned on and off, so you could lock it up whenever you want. You're right, they are mostly for 4x4 trucks, but in order to drift you're trying to lose traction in your rear wheels, correct? Wouldn't locking them together allow you to do that, or does it have to be a limited-slip?

Sucks... The 720's had the Z-Series (NAPS-Z?), right? I could use that auto transmission... for $80 it'd be worth it, but not with the cost of shipping...

Clayton: These rear ends still need to be narrowed, correct?

Closest thing I've gotten to drifting is getting my daily sideways in an empty lot full of muck, or trying to take a corner in snow. It wasn't really drifting, but it was a lot of fun! Probably not legal though...

Well it wasn't the wheel, so it must've been just a pricey tire... But, with taxes and this "exchange rate" crap it could be around $300 for just a tire... I blew out a tire on my Explorer once, when I drove over a lady's bumper (long story)... I looked at getting new tires, but they were some $150 per tire, not to mention installation and all... plus, I'd have to replace the other front tire as well (so they'd match in wear), and my back tires sucked so if I did the fronts it'd be stupid not to do the rears... so I may as well have gone with a better tire (I had passenger tires rather than LT's)... I ended up getting a used tire from a shop for $50 installed... Essentially the identical tire to my old one... it even had right about the same amount of wear (still about 90% of the tread left).

I vote to stay with Japanese components if you can get away with it... A GM might work, but it might be a bit finicky to get all the details ironed out, and you'd still end up with a GM rear end on a Japanese truck. A drifter sounds like fun... considering the weight distribution on a pickup compared to a passenger car you might be able to have some fun with it, and you could easily change the weight distribution by just throwing sandbags in the back if you wanted. Personally, I just want a quick, agile little truck that I can tear around the mountain roads up here... But, different terrain/climate, different culture, different cars.

Hmm... didn't some of the Toy's have a 6-bolt hub? Maybe the 4-Runners or the old 4x4 pickups? They might have LSD...

Bleach: I once knew a guy that drove his gf's 350Z and blew a tire out... he went to get it replaced and said it cost some stupid amount like $400 for one tire... is that true?

Oh, sorry, I didn't clue in on the posi bit... But... care to educate me as to exactly what posi is? I don't think the HB or Frontier was available with it... unless you're talking about an LSD. Like I said, I don't know what a posi is, but I'll assume it's some sort of locker?

I think one of the issues with the Subi rear end is the fact that it's a 4-bolt (I think). That's why it works so well in the 510's. I'm pretty sure you could use it in a truck, and it might only require some modifications to the mounts, but you'd probably want to swap out the front for 4-bolt hubs as well... might be a good time for disc brakes... Datsunoob: It probably is the wrong thread, like Datsunaholic said, but he makes a good point. The question you have to ask yourself is what's more important to you: accelaration, or top speed? These aren't just affected by your final drive ratio... the transmission ratios have a lot to do with it, as pointed out above. Not only that, but your wheel sizing can have a large impact as well... they're essentially an extension of your gearing. Also, your engine rpm's will play role in this as well... Assuming everything else is constant, a higher RPM will yield a higher top speed. If you don't do a lot of highway driving, then sacrifice your top speed a bit and get better acceleration... it just means that when you do get on the highway, your revs will be a little higher. If you do a lot of highway driving, then figure out how fast you want to go and your preferred rpm's, and then select your gearing/tire size from there. Don't get fooled into wanting stupidly high top speeds... you're unlikely to ever hit 200+ mph yourself, unless you've got a lot of money and a desire to end up in jail or dead, or have access to a speedway. For me, 160 km/h is plenty enough, and as long as I can hit 110 km/h at about 3/3500 rpm, I'll be happy. Sort out the highest speed you're likely to regularly drive, and then get your ratios from that.

Looks like a 620 KC, or at least somewhat based off of it... the grille, the lights, the hood, the curve of the front fenders... It just looks like someone majorly took a grinder and fiberglass or sheet metal to it... Nice bodywork, but I'm not too keen on some of the details...

Any particular reason why you want to go GM? I'm pretty sure people have used narrowed rear ends many times before, but it you're going to go that route you may as well stick to Nissan... get one off a hardbody or Frontier or something... Why do you want to change the rear end? Are you trying to go with a different gear ratio, is something broken, do you want LSD? It's not that bad to get the brackets and calipers and all to do a disc brake swap... that way you end up with new rotors and everything. Besides, you'll probably want to do the fronts as well, so matching front brakes to the rear might be a little difficult. Not to mention brake lines, proportioning valve, power brake booster, etc... I'd just stick with what you have and do the disc swap right at a later date, unless you want something that you absolutely cannot get with a Datsun/Nissan rear end...