13 replies to this topic

[Rumbul]

Hey guys just wondering how hard it would be to turn my e39a jspec into a rwd ? Was interested in a few practice drift days at QR .

[jack be nimble]

You will break the following in succession:
Centre diff, then transfer, then axles.

Maybe lock it in fwd and drift in reverse??

[EV0300]

whats the difference between the evo 3 and evo 3 rs the engine is mounted the same way if im not mistaken?

[Rumbul]

so it looks like Im gona have to swing the engine north south then?

[brisvr4]

Yeah, good luck with that....
If you really want to drift then buy a rwd to start with.

[Rumbuck]

Yeah, I asked the same question. PPG offers a Center Diff Spline, however you will still end up blowing the center diff when using it, it will work for a short time...low revs...not very long, basically, if you want to go down this road, get good at building and swapping gearboxes.

I wanted to convert my Jummy to RWD, basically, if I wanted to go down this road, I'd have dropped a Wanker Rotary into her, mated her to an M21 and been done with it, but 4G donks are tougher, not saying a 12A or 13B isn't tough...but I don't like them personally.

[Rumbul]

Oh well thought I would ask the question anyway , will buy something rwd and a Nissan badge on it for some sliding. I love the look of those s15's . There is one on carsales with a 2jz that would be a whole lota fun!!

[VR-4Squid]

Here's a little advice from someone who's actually done this (for 4 years):

Weld the centre diff, don't muck about with the viscous coupling eliminator mentioned above.
Remove the front axles, you'll need to put the outer cv's back into the hubs to hold the wheelbearings together and use frost plugs to block up the holes in the gearbox.

If your vr4 has an all alloy transfercase (most likely unless it's an Evo0) you'd best get a steel case one and matching output shaft before you start.

If you still have 4ws you will need to get rid of it. Similarly if you have a viscous rear diff you will need to replace it, either with an open diff welded up, or preferably with a plate lsd from an RS.
If you have an Evo0 with the 4-bolt rear end life is made much easier as you can simply use a mech lsd from an evo1-3 in the stock housing, using the evo inner cv's and the rest of the 4-bolt axles - these will take a fair amount of abuse.

If you have a 3-bolt rear end, buy a pair of spare axles. How long they last depends on how much power/torque you have.

That's all pretty easy, go out, have fun, replace the odd axle.
Unfortunately it all gets a lot harder now - the E39A's main downfall as a drift car is it's piss poor steering lock, rack spacers will gain you a bit, but it's not long before you start rubbing the chassis rails at full lock, and there's no easy way around that.

Converting to north-south creates a tonne of problems, mainly because the steering rack is in completely the wrong place, the easiest solution (and I use the term very loosly) is to use a nissan subframe/rack/hubs/etc but that's a hell of a lot of work.

In short, for a bit of fun: do it. If you really want to drift, get a nissan/toyota.


Here's a vid of the first skid I did in mine many years ago, lol

[Rumbuck]

Ok, this may sound like a stupid question, but why do we need to replace the whole transfer case and get rid of the viscous rear diff?

I would assume it has something to do with Harmonics or Stress on the components...?

[VR-4Squid]

Not a stupid question at all.

The alloy transfer cases are much weaker, I split mine clean in half the day after the above video was made. Replaced it with a steel cased one and it lasted 4 years of abuse.

The viscous diff's don't have a great lsd action, once they get hot they'll just spin one wheel which is no good for drifting.

[Rumbuck]

Yeah well, I'm not in itfor the drifting, just the circlework. Think she'll hold up to that, or blowage of diffs, axles, and the whole messy poo that comes with that kind o failure??

[VR-4Squid]

Depends how much power you've got, and how wide your tyres are.

I had 190kw@wheels and 235/40/18's and after fitting the steel transfer case it would occasionally break an axle.
Dropping the clutch in 2nd with the car rolling is much less likely to break something than doing it in 1st or at a stand still.
With that sort of power it'll pull 3rd no problem. I never tried 4th.

[blackvr]

Ditto all of the above VR4Squids experience for Jack Monkhouse's former recce VR4 that "265T" now owns. Gave up on the drifting with it primarily for lack of lock , and secondly, started running Adelaide dry of rear diff crown wheel and pinion sets LOL.

[Rumbuck]

started running Adelaide dry of rear diff crown wheel and pinion sets

That good sir, is an achievement.