Safari diff into the R50 Terrano

[Scruffy]

So I've bought this safari diff to heave into the back of my truck, mainly for the disc brake conversion, the better LSD certainly will come in handy.

First problem encountered was the handbrake issue, the safari's have a cardan shaft, so I've got a pair of EA falcon calipers coming. How much modification I've got to do I'm yet to see, but I'm sure I can work it out.

I'll put up a photo of the diff as I bought it, in its complete form, before I go at it with the grinder, most of my spring perches & shock mounts, rear trailing arm mounts etc are in the wrong place, so I'll cut the whole lot off and start with a bare housing, and fabricate new ones to fit so it will essentially bolt straight into the terrano.

Suprisingly enough the width is exactly the same, which is definitely a bonus.

[mudlva]

Set the Original diff up on a strong back and make peddistall to rest the axle on. Now with the spring purchases level make up a jig to bolt up to the diff head bolts and bolt or clamp the jig to the strong back.
Once a mounts have been cut off to reuse onto the new y60 axle casing remove diff and place the new axle onto the peddistalls and bolt it up to the jig that takes the diff head bolts.
You can reasonably say that now the pinion angle will be vary close to where the o.e set up was and ensure that when rewelding the mounts on they remain level

[Scruffy]

Cheers for that, I had that pretty much in mind, not a hard job, as you say sit it in place with axle stands etc and tack the shock mounts and torsion bar mounts where they will need to be and go from there. I'm building taller spring perch mounts for it to lift it about 30mm, and bringing the shock mounts up the same amount, as well as 50mm lift springs. I've got some top hat extensions made for the front struts to lift the body with the rear, then its just the front subframe to make 30mm spacing blocks to lift the body off it, and taller engine mounts to lift the engine with the body. Should in theory lift it about 70-75mm in total, or 3 inches.

[Scruffy]

Could possibly make a 2nd set of perches, blocks and top hats at the same time, at whatever length they are required to give as much lift as anyone wanted.

[Scruffy]

So now, 3 cutting discs later, we have a fairly bare diff. Shock mounts can stay put for now, along with sway bar mounts & bump stop plates, as they should be in the right place

[lax2wlg]

Following your build with interest.

Are you tempted to put a Safari front diff in too?

[Scruffy]

Yee haa SAS R50, that would turn a few heads. I think I'll see how many cv joints and axles I go through first before I go doing anything too extreme. Interesting idea though, has the potential to not be too difficult to do.

Let me think about this.....

[mudlva]

Yee haa SAS R50, that would turn a few heads. I think I'll see how many cv joints and axles I go through first before I go doing anything too extreme. Interesting idea though, has the potential to not be too difficult to do.

Let me think about this.....

that will be lots... ...

[Scruffy]

I'm seeing whats going on here.... lets talk the bloke into doing a SFA conversion..

To be fair I have no fair reply why I can't do it, apart from the funding department. Would look very cool as an advertising vehicle for the business parked outside like that one is.

[Scruffy]

So my EA falcon rear calipers turned up today, looks like they will do the trick very well with little modification. Happy with that. Now its just a matter of finding time to get them done and on the diff. Then I'll be looking for a 4.1 Sylvia diff to throw in the front. Or a solid axle from another safari.... hmm. decisions.
Bit of feedback on the coilover conversion please lads, what have some of you found with any positives and negatives from doing a coilover conversion? Obviously I've got the IFS setup at the moment, would have to do a fair bit of work to get mine converted, but nothing to say it can't be done. What sort of cost am I looking at for the set of fronts, probably 10 inch ones? Probably best to get them in from the US or Australia?
Any other thoughts on this crazy idea?

[Scruffy]

Bit of an update.

So I've had a play with these calipers, got one fully done and mounted, now I'm just shaving the caliper so my wheel gets over it, ideally it needs 16 inch rims, however the Lawyers offer is now closed, so I can't go and file for divorce or get a death certificate after I go home and tell the wife I need 5 new rims & tyres.

Few photos, the bottom one (they uploaded in different order), the left one is the modified caliper mount, the right hand one is the one I started with, the EA falcon mounted right around the diff housing.

Second photo is the caliper all mounted up to the housing.

Top photo is the whole thing mounted up to the axle, with the 10mm alloy spacer I made up, which I've got to chamfer the 2 centre holes tomorrow to bolt up inwards to the caliper carrier. Had a chamfer. Had an apprentice too. Both disappeared at the same time.....

So that's one side almost done. Lets see if I can replicate it for the other side, and get another flapper wheel to shave the other caliper.

[kbjj]

Are you getting full pad contact onto the disc? I wouldn't be trimming the material off the sides of the mounting bracket like you have as this is what supports the pads and takes the full braking forces. Just hoping your aware

[Scruffy]

Yea I had that thought... The top piece where the pads align are still untouched, the only thing I've shaved down to square is the bottom shiny piece you can see, which I've made a spacer to bring carrier out to match the disc. Anything that the pad touches, caliper & alignment arms aren't getting modified for that exact reason.

[trucked]

Bit of feedback on the coilover conversion please lads, what have some of you found with any positives and negatives from doing a coilover conversion? Obviously I've got the IFS setup at the moment, would have to do a fair bit of work to get mine converted, but nothing to say it can't be done. What sort of cost am I looking at for the set of fronts, probably 10 inch ones? Probably best to get them in from the US or Australia?
Any other thoughts on this crazy idea?

Are you planning on some extreme offroad? or racing at some stage? Coil overs are a large expense, my opinion is that a seperate coil and shock would do you fine for general purpose offroading and even the extreme stuff, look at what safaris get upto, my money would go into solid axle,lockers,winch,tyres,exo before even looking at coilovers. I mean standard safari springs will set you back a 20 and new bilstein shoks at 700 odd a set of 4 compared to 3k++ for a set of coilovers.

Does the r50 ifs suffer from the weak steering like the d21?

And one last thing its hard to see the bracket but have you asked the cert man about using 10mm aluminium, i know its easy to work but will it have enough strength

[Scruffy]

Cheers for the input there. Not so much looking at the racing idea. Solid axle conversion in the front would mean I'd have to lose my IFS, and because Mr Nissan in his infinite wisdom made the R50 a mono chassis, I'd have a whole lot of fun trying to make mounts to fit say a safari coil & shock setup into the front of it, because the front subframe gives it most of its strength. if I took out the IFS, the subframe would almost have to go, and I'd have to build another cross brace of sorts to go in between. Was thinking a coilover setup so I can still use the top end mount in the top of the guard like it does now, that's all. All this is depending on the 'will the wife be nice and let me do it' scenario too.

On the disc brake side, I'm in the process of exploring another avenue at the same time there too, watch this space

[trucked]

Cheers for the input there. Not so much looking at the racing idea. Solid axle conversion in the front would mean I'd have to lose my IFS, and because Mr Nissan in his infinite wisdom made the R50 a mono chassis, I'd have a whole lot of fun trying to make mounts to fit say a safari coil & shock set-up into the front of it, because the front subframe gives it most of its strength. if I took out the IFS, the subframe would almost have to go, and I'd have to build another cross brace of sorts to go in between. Was thinking a coil over set-up so I can still use the top end mount in the top of the guard like it does now, that's all. All this is depending on the 'will the wife be nice and let me do it' scenario too.

While i dont doubt your skills pete, why not start with a proper ladder chassis? buy a d21 and hack that up with a standard radius or 3/4 link setup with solid axles, much cheaper vehicle to start with and so many around.

Im not trying to knock you back to much but i dont see the big positives of doing this to a mono, cant recab it if you roll, strength is partly in the body. Let alone the amount of custom work and trying to please the cert man to have it on the road.

I get the cool factor and it not something that gets done often though, but even starting with a ladder chassis and putting a r50 body on it would be easier and a better setup for the strength.

And if Charlotte is going to kill you over new tyres you'd better start planning that funeral sooner rather than later for a solid axle swap cost haha, This is Josh by the way.

[Scruffy]

I just looked at the photo and thought hold on that's josh's truck. Bloody hilux owners!!!
That's something I have thought of is putting the whole thing on a proper chassis, which would be possible. Itd be a certain way to lift it and give it a bucket load of strength, and would help with the coil spring conversion. Hard to say. Lot of different options. I won't be getting rid of it that's for sure, I'd never find another one the same.