The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Hey guys,

Still on the hunt for the ultimate cheap LSD rear, just enquiring about R180's and R200's.

Now I know the R180's came in the STi's, and for those of you that don't know yet, the R200 cam in a lot of Jap imports such as 180SX's and Silvia's.

R200 LSD's are fairly abundant on eBay etc and therefore moderately cheap.

My main questions are: How different are the R180's and the R200's to the R160? What are the size differences? Are centres swappable?

In effect, is a diff swap possible on a low budget?

Hi all,

Firstly, I know nothing about Subaru's , I'm just lurking here looking for a cheap LSD for my Datsun 1600

However, I am fairly well qualified to answer at least one of your questions.

The R200's from Skylines and Silvias are what we Datsun folk term "short nose" diffs, as opposed to the "long-nose" diffs in earlier Datsuns, and Subarus. The diff housing is physically different (shorter, with only one pair of mounting holes), as well as having different input and output flanges. So, without a lot of work in a Datsun 1600 (and I'm assuming Subaru as well), they don't fit

It is apparently possible to fit the "short" R200 internals into a "long" diff housing, but you're up for a bit of custom machining and need to buy 2 diffs to start with, so its not really a"cheap" option.

There are "long nose" LSD R200's which will virtually bolt in place of the R160 in a Datsun 1600, these are found in earlier skylines and some 260Z's etc, but these are that rare that they still fetch over $1000.

There's a good chunk of info here http://www.ratdat.com/ Follow the "Technical" link.