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I would like some lower gear ratios for my MY, and an auto conversion seems like too much effort.
It has a 4 speed manual with low range and 3.70 final drive.
I guess 3.90 gears are the way to go, but is it easier to swap the diffs or to swap the rear axle and get a 5 speed manual from an L series?

Put smaller diameter tyres on the car, JP147. Like it was designed to have.

Pillarless Jim wrote:Put smaller diameter tyres on the car, JP147. Like it was designed to have.

Noo! Dont' listen to him JP!



But yes I think the 3.9 ratio box and diff is the easiest way to go for better gearing with big wheels. A bit trickier to find than the common 3.7 box/diff combo though.

Pillarless Jim wrote:Put smaller diameter tyres on the car, JP147. Like it was designed to have.

It went alright with small wheels, but there was a lot less traction and a lot of bottoming out.

Was there a 3.9 box in the MY Leone? And what about the 5 speed manual with the 1.59 low range, which cars did they come in?

JP147 wrote:It went alright with small wheels, but there was a lot less traction and a lot of bottoming out.

Was there a 3.9 box in the MY Leone? And what about the 5 speed manual with the 1.59 low range, which cars did they come in?

MY series 5 speed were all 2WD I believe. There are some years of L series touring wagon that had all 3.9 stuff in them, good excuse for an L series conversion Although may be a bit daunting to try it on a weekend when you need the car back Monday.

I had a look around, it does look like a lot of work for one weekend. I might wait until I have a garage to use and my Datsun is running again.

I guess a 3.8 diff won't fit into an MY 4 speed box?

The 3.9 diff ratio'd 5 speeds came in the "series I" L series up to 1987. '87 was the cross over year from the series I to series II. Hard to find these days!

You could fit the 3.9 diff ratio into the 4 speed, but this would require you to press every gear off the pinion shaft and back on with the 4 speed gears - if the pinion shafts are the same.

You'd be better off getting a forester AWD gearbox with 4.111:1s - your EA81 would love you for it. You would have to case this gearbox in an L series dual range casing and mod the synchro hub to use the L series low range with the EJ gear Totally worth it though if you want to play with gearboxes and "do things properly"!

Cheers

Bennie

I'd personally go 5speed L series box. Easy to fit, the bonus of 5 gears and proper low range gearing.

Alright, I think I will go with a 5 speed from a series 1 L. It looks like a bit more work than I can do in a weekend though, so I will leave it for a bit until I have more time and money, and get the Datsun going so I can get to work.
I have a few questions though.

Is it possible to use the original L series linkages with no mods, and just cut the floor a little?

How do you mount the centre bearing for the tailshaft? Weld some metal to the floor and drill and tap it?

My car has a different clutch (225mm) to most MYs as it was made in December '84. Is this helpful?

Yes it can. Ive done it in a brumby. Ive left the linkages and cut the floor about 20mm further back. Then just drilled a hole and made a little bracket to hold the whole linkage.

While sorta on this topic, can you bolt an EJ gearbox behind an EA motor using an adapter plate?

I've never tried it, but I think you can do that - as to wether the clutch would work in relation to the flywheel I don't know.

Do you want to be the Guinea Pig on this one Gannon?

Cheers

Bennie

I'm sure I've read a thread on here from someone who put an ej awd box behind an ea in their road going car... Can't find it though.

I think it was Jonno that wrote one up here.

I don't know if he's ever got around to building one but I've got plans for one in the future for the Redback Brumby Only because AWD is the best in wet conditions!

Cheers

Bennie