Anyone have access to a 240SX and a StarQuest ?

[AustinTSI]

I'm putting the front and maybe rear suspension/drive-train from a 240SX (s13) in my Starion but I have a question I need help with.

 

Are the bolt holes for the 240SX camber plates (strut isolators) the same or similar to what the Starion has?

 

Anyone know?

 

Thanks, David.

[conquestador89]

i think they're different...i think best bet is to use a starion camber plate on a s13/14 coilover

[BOOSTED88tsi]

^ what he said they are too close together. But the 240sx coilover fits into a mk1 camber plate.

[patra_is_here]

as in mk1 vw??

[conquestador89]

mookeeh mk1 Edited June 20, 2013 by conquestador89

[Convette]

Using the coilovers is great easy mod. Swapping the rear drivetrain is a down huge down grade IMO. Not worth the effort/fab work.

[AustinTSI]

I've got the rear mounting points figured out I think.

 

I'm just trying to figure out how to extend the short arms of the 240sx that mount under the back seat to the stock starion location.

[860QuestTuner]

I have a s13 and conquest on jack stands in my garage.

[Fuze]

You can make the S13 tops work but you need to grind the holes out a little.

[importwarrior]

! Edited June 25, 2013 by importwarrior

[Fuze]

Are you planning on using a diff out of a Z? The stock Starion diff is a pretty good, clutch type diff.

[AustinTSI]

I do like that the stock Starion diff is a clutch type but I'm sick and tired of trying to find parts, not being able to adjust much, being limited on wheel options, little brake options, and very little diff ratio options. Plus I know that the stock axles are good but they start breaking north of 450hp.

 

I have a complete s13 rear end, I'm picking up a complete 300zx NA rear end tomorrow, and I have 2 s13 front cross members that I'm going to convert. The s13 stuff is dead easy to find LOTS of new stuff for; front and back, and the diffs have tons of different ring and pinion ratio options. I'm going to either go with a 300zx diff which has the 4.08 final ratio, or maybe a Q45 diff which is even stronger but only has a 3.6 final ratio. Both are vlsd. But I can take the ring and pinion from my s13 open diff (or any other R200 diff) and put it into the Q45 that has huge drive axles and huge stub (output) axles. What drives me nuts is shear number of mix and match options that Nissans have and how every piece is called by multiple names on all the forums.

 

What I'm hoping to develop is a 2-3 piece adapter to fit a s13 rear cross member into a Starion. This would still require a new drive shaft but I am doing that anyways due to my T56 trans. And the front cross member install has already been worked out.

 

As for the brakes and rotor options you can use (for the most part or maybe with available adapter brackets and just to mention a few and in different combinations within your rim limitations):

 

For the front:

• willwood calipers
  
• 300zx caliper
  
• STI calipers
  
• EVO calipers
  
• CTS-V calipers
  
• 300zx TT rotors 11"
  
• EVO rotors 12.6" - 13.78"
  
• Mustang Cobra rotors 12.99"
  
• 350z rotors 12.76"
  
• 370z rotors 13.96"
  

For the rear:

• willwood calipers
  
• 300zx caliper
  
• STI calipers
  
• 300zx rotors
  
• EVO rotors
  

That many options just gives me the warm fuzzies.

Edited June 26, 2013 by AustinTSI

[Fuze]

Is this a drift car? If so, might as well weld the diff and not worry about anything but the gear ratio... and parking, lol. Edited June 27, 2013 by Fuze

[AustinTSI]

No but I may do autocross or scca. Drift may be fun also but it is not my intention. I'm more wanting a overall BAD@55 car that will basically have all new parts since most of the new productions cars that I would consider are running $40-60K. I'll spent $20K max on this car when all is said and done and have something unique, that I love, and will put to shame a lot of those other cars.

 

I'm going to be running the T56, 4g63/4g64, ceramic coated pistons and head, Megasquirt 3, Holset HE351VGT with a custom controller for the vanes, alky injection, A2W intercooler, custom intake and exhaust manifolds, engine oil pre-luber, and pushing around 600hp. And I have a nitrous kit that I may use but I'm not positive yet. I'm also going to have a CO2 bottle set up to act as either a cooler and/or fire extinguisher for the engine bay.

[860QuestTuner]

There are 2 other diff ratio you can still get from mitsubishi for the rear. You can find pictures of the starion road race car suspention online to see there set-up, there is a local machine shop near me that could modify/make modified suspention parts instead of cutting up a good car and trying to get the geometry right. If you get it to all work it would be cool, just saying redoing a whole rear is a lot of work, I worked on a project 84 rabbit gti to build a catilever rear suspention and it was cool but after done would have left it alone. I thought about the evo brake swap before and looked into it because I have a 06 MR . You need alot of space and a way to re-porportion properly.Not puting you down just giving some past experience, but am all for scca racing I was a solo 2 racer on and off when I had the money. Like I said i do have a s13 on stands and could give info.

Good Luck

[AustinTSI]

for the backside of the s13 diff frame I'm going to make something along these lines http://www.arizonazcar.com/diffmount.html

The plate (mustache bar) will bolt to the stock StarQuest frame in the stock locations; two bolts each side, and then have the 2 pins pointing down that the stock rear crossmember will connect to.

 

for the front of the rear suspension it gets a little more complicated but this is what I have in mind. remember that on our cars we have what is called the front support the torque tube, lower control arm and sway bar mount to. It is mounted to the car via the Pin Assembly through Bushing D.

• keep the Front Support and remove everything else
  
• replace Bushing D with a solid aluminum bushing
  
• the torque tube is gone now so maybe make a drive shaft loop for the same spot
  
• make a new pin assembly that goes into the s13 Suspension Member "bushing d"
  
• make a triangular plate where the base is either welded or bolted to the Front Support where the lower control arm was connected
  
• the top or tip of the triangular plate would hold the new pin assembly to connect to the s13 Suspension Member
  
• possibly make a support brace that would connect and brace from the new pin assembly on the driver side to the passenger side
  

[Dave-O]

I like the idea, can't wait to see what you come up with. I've been looking into a different rear subframe/driveline for my Staz, and J30/Q45 stuff [near identical to S14] is abundant at the junkyard I work at. It was either that or an 8.8 IRS from a T-bird or Lincoln, but I don't really want to deal with the bolt-pattern change.

 

I understand how it can be seen as a 'downgrade', as the OEM stuff is pretty robust, but it simply boils down to lack of replacement parts. There are NO new axles, remans are hard enough to come by, and I haven't been able to find an LSD rebuild kit or any parts for the last 3 years. I can buy a quality, used clutch-type for an R200 locally for around $400, reman axles are $65 each in-stock, and aftermarket arms/bushings are dirt cheap thanks to S-chassis being the hot s*** right now. My personal view is that I'd rather modify a subframe to bolt into my car and use cheap, available components.

 

A fair majority of V8 S-chassis guys are running welded diffs on stock rear-end components well into the 450whp range with minimal failures [note I didn't say they were necessarily competitive]. I would trust it, at least the abuse I'd put it through.

[screemin eagle]

LOL if you think your gonna come in under $20,000. Don't forget to add everything up even the little ones. $10 here $20 there adds up faster than the big buys trust me.

[Wakeman17]

I have had this exact build in mind for quite sometime. For pretty much the same reason to have endless options and supply for replacement parts. Just never really got around to figuring out how to do it. I'm really looking forward to this build and seeing how its done. Best of luck to ya!