nice shafts , who machined those up , how much?

Thanks. Actually my dad machined them up for me for nothing. I'll find out what he would have charged had I been a normal paying customer though.

did you get the axle stubs hardened again after they were welded?

Not me personally. It would have been done if it was needed, which I'm sure would have been the case.

Might just ask dad if he did.....

umm is that weld gonna be strong enough?

according to a AISC Design Tables for Structural Steel, given a 3mm fillet (or butt weld in this case), on a 50mm half-shaft, and based on a 410MPa weld, it will fail in the region of 170Nm. this may be slightly conservative, but i'd bet an FJ20ET (for example) wouldn't have too much trouble breaking it.

if it were keyed, that would be a different story....

but i hope it works, cos if it does, i'll be doing it too

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1971 Datsun 1600 - Z18ET
1996 Suzuki RGV250 VJ22
1996 Suzuki RGV250 SP VJ23

[quote="guppy"]umm is that weld gonna be strong enough?

according to a AISC Design Tables for Structural Steel, given a 3mm fillet (or butt weld in this case), on a 50mm half-shaft, and based on a 410MPa weld, it will fail in the region of 170Nm. this may be slightly conservative, but i'd bet an FJ20ET (for example) wouldn't have too much trouble breaking it.

if it were keyed, that would be a different story....

but i hope it works, cos if it does, i'll be doing it too[/quote]

sheesh. Thats some info...

Well, I spoke to the manager at a reputable drive shaft and cv place about it all. He said that chamfering them and welding them into place would be strong enough for up to 300-350RWHP I think... He has done the same for modded WRX's..... So I can only go by what he said. The welding my dad has done is 1st class. He's been doing it for over 25 years... So here's hoping....

Thanks though. Good info....

I'll be submitting some more info regarding the swapping of LSD center's between Suby diffs. Not as easy as 1st thought....

svd001,
Great writeup, can you keep us informed of how the diff performs as I have had problems with vlsd's I have used in the past going off after lots of hard use and becoming quite inconsistent. They have not been Subaru diffs though.
I do doubt an r160 would handle 300-350rwhp (not the way I drive anyway) so I would expect you to blow up the diff before you would break the halfshafts. I have broken many R160's behind a std FJ20et. What motor are you going to be running in the car?
Jake

Thanks Jake,

Yeah would expect the R160 to blow up easily behind that kind of power.

Anyway, My car has a stock FJ20DE...K&N Pod, Really old LINK ECU ( 94 ) and a 2" exhaust. I've looked at the paperwork that came with the car and it was tuned by Datrally in 95.. Onky 67kw atw. A bit gutless. So I'm pretty sure the halfshafts and diff will cope...( slight sarcasm there )..

Update...

I'm still in the middle of sorting out my diff....

I'm putting a Suby R160 ( 94 WRX ) VLSD guts onto a Suby R160 ( 98 Legacy ) open 4.11 crownwheel.

The problem thus far is that the 4.11 crownwheel is actually 3mm thicker than the 3.54 crownwheel that was originally on the VLSD centre. And the VLSD centre is larger than the open one. As a result. Once the crownwheel is bolted to the VLSD centre, the unit won't physically fit into the Legacy diff housing as it contacts the side wall due to the 3mm difference. The main area of contact is where the side cover bolt castings are. They actually need to be removed from the inside of the diff housing. This is only if you want to keep the 4.11 pinion in the original housing.

THe alternative is to take the housing that the VLSD was in and remove the 3.54 ( or whatever ratio it had ) pinion and insert the 4.11 pinion in its place. This works because the diff housing itself is modified by the factory for clearance so the bigger VLSD centre will fit inside the housing. The factory actually made cutouts inside the diff housing right where the rear side cover bolts are.

So the options are:

Keep 4.11 pinion in original housing: Have to grind out housing for clearance. Or:

Use LSD housing with cutouts but will have to install the 4.11 pinion. Hence: You will need to use not just the pinion but the bearings and the races to. Also will need a new pinion seal.

So I'm still deciding..

Will post pics soon....

cheers..

Svd,

I seem to remeber from my Suby days that its just two of the 'ribs' inside the casing that interfere with the LSD hemishere, and stop it sliding in?

If so, its standard practice in Subaru land to get out the grinder and take a few cm off the ribbing...alot easier than removing the pinion, and then trying to get the original clearances in the other casing.

Ta
Damo

Damo666. Thanks mate. Yeah the casting I have does have 4 cutouts but I don't beleive that many are required to get the guts to fit in. I'll be going the way of grinding I've decided. Its just to much messing around doing it the other way. Costs more to.....

Thanks again Damo...

Here is the difference between the 2 castings... Suby one has the cutoutson both sides. The Datto one doesn't have any. This is what makes the difference when installing the 4.11 crownwheel into the Datsun housing with the LSD centre..

Well the dff is in the car!!!

As DAMO666 suggested, I ground out the casting inside the diff casing for clearance to fit the VLSD centre and 4.11 crownwheel.

Fitted perfectly...

I then took it to a local diff and gerabox bloke who set it up for me and she's all done....

One thing of note: The crownwheel bolts for an open diff are shorter than the LSD bolts. [b]So make sure that the LSD bolts are used!!!!!!! [/b]In the later ( 94 on ) Suby diffs all the bolts seem to be 11mmx1.25 thread. The Datsun bolts are 10mmx1.25.....

So in summary: For a R160 4.11 VLSD you need:

4.11 ( or whatever ratio you want ) open diff from auto Suby ( preferably 94 onwards )

Post 94 VLSD Centre from any Suby ( WRX most common )

Change tailshaft flange on open diff from Suby to Datsun

Grind out casing on Suby housing ( make sure you seal up the inside of the diff with rag and tape so no metal shavings get into the bearings as the pinion will still be in there).

Take housing, crownwheel, VLSD centre, side covers and bolts, all the shims you can find ( get them of an old datto diff or something ), O'rings and importantly, the LONGER LSD BOLTS, to a diff bloke and he'll be able to set it up fine...

Oh, and get your halfshafts modded to suit like I did...

Remember all this is only if you want to go the way of the circlip type LSD. I know it's easier to got the earlier type but due to lack of supply and prices, this is an alternative.

Oh: I'll plug D&M Diff and Gearbox repairs in Ipswich.. He knows his stuff and charged me only $50 to set up the diff. Yes...$50..I couldn't beleive it....

So all up the Diff, VLSD centre and setup cost me $340 in total.

The drive shafts were done for nothing.

Hope this helps some people out there...

Looking good. I'm sure you've got some people thinking about doing this now.... I am one of them.

Hows it drive?

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I haven't driven the car yet. Still completing the coilovers before I can get it registered... I'll certainly let you know though...