Z32/S13/S14 - multi-link rear suspension swap

Ford Falcon wrote: Hmm, very interesting mod.
I have a Z31, and a donor '90 Q45 in my garage. The Q has had its engine removed and I am about to get rid of the rest of the car. Based on what has been discussed in this thread so far, If I go along with an S13 rear subframe swap, given the Z32NA and Q45 share some similar parts, what parts of my Q45 rear can I use (should I hang on to) before I get rid of this thing?

Ford Falcon wrote: Thanks Satan!
I got rid of the car, but I did keep the differential and half shafts too. I read your posts on that link. Very interesting indeed. You have obviously put a lot of thought into having a reliable setup. I will do the Q45 diff internals swap into the Z31 diff case, as you showed. If you have any pictures of what you did in order to make the hybrid Z31/Q45 half shafts, I would be most grateful.

My Z stock rear sub-frame will also get swapped for an S13 sub-frame so I can eliminate that inherent rear squat.

Chris86NA2T wrote:
3. It would be nice to know the measurement from the ground to the bottom of the subframe bushings in an s13 subframe.. meaning take a factory s13, put it on a level surface and measure from the ground to the bushings.. while these numbers would not carry over to the z31 body, the difference between them should remain the same.. for example, if the front bushings were 10 inches off the ground and the rears were 18 inches off the ground then when the subframe is installed in the z31 there should be an 8 inch difference in height.. This would be very helpfull when trying to get the proper up/down angle.

5. Regarding ride height, how will a straight up s13 swap sit? Butter, i remember you initially having trouble with your car sitting properly and you ended up making taller strut mounts out of huge pipes or something. I think that was with the longer s14 struts, correct? Do you think that stock s13 struts will be close enough that there will be some range of adjustment with off the shelf coilovers?

6. All s13's were 4 lug, correct? some research has shown that its very common to convert to 5 lug. I found these conversion hubs: http://www.jnrmotorsports.biz/ichiba…conversio.html the bolt pattern is not specified at that site, but im sure that with a bit more searching ill find that info.

I think answers to these questions would be helpful to anyone doing this swap. Again, i dont plan on doing this any time soon, but i do find it interesting. If my research yields any answers ill post them, and if anyone has answers please post them as well.

1. Butter, a few posts up you said that the z31 lsd carrier should bolt into the short nose r200 that comes in the s13.. Do you know if the splines are the same? Id like to use a short nose r200 from an s13, install my long nose r200 clutch lsd carrier and have it bolt up to the s13 halfshafts.
Your Z31 CLSD should fit fine, there are a couple S chassis guys using them I am sure. Search their forums for this.

Yes, my setup is a huge distraction to anybody looking at it. Let's take a few things into account here.
Jason has S13 coils installed on his stock shock mounts and seems to have no prob with adj range.
I just measured my car from the ground to it's S14 lower mount, it's 7 3/4". What do you get when you measure the Z? How far is it off? I believe S13 is in the same spot. This point is difficult to measure, so it's not a very accurate method, but it should give you a good idea.
6. All s13's were 4 lug, correct? some research has shown that its very common to convert to 5 lug. I found these conversion hubs: http://www.jnrmotorsports.biz/ichiba-24 … ersio.html the bolt pattern is not specified at that site, but im sure that with a bit more searching ill find that info.

Chris86NA2T wrote: 4. Aside from spinning the diff and counting revolutions, is there and easy way to tell which S13's had which gear ratios? This would make junkyard hunting easier.. Im having a real hard time finding this on the web.. I probably just suck at searching.

karay240 @ hybridz.org wrote:
S13: The most narrow one of them all. Which is why many Z owners consider it the choice for their swaps. You get decent traction w/ a lot of antisquat built-in w/ the front of the lower control arm tilted up. This makes for a stable feeling when accelerating, but in reality, you’re not getting the desired weight transfer (traction.) That’s one of the reasons why the S13 tends to break loose w/o much notice compared to the S14, and have limited traction out of the hole @ the strip. (this is true w/ the S13, R32, and Z32) . We’ve modified a subframe for an R32 we have here to eliminate this problem, and if you’re interested in similar things, you’re more than welcome to come & check it out.

R32: Everything from the S13 applies here, except the GTR subframe is substantially stiffer, and in theory, will handle better. But instead of the toe control arms it has HICAS, so you’ll need the HICAS eliminator bar for things to work properly.

S14: The theory of “newer = better” does apply here, in that Nissan took the good parts of the S13 subframe, and improved on it. Some of the differences are that they are a little wider, the upper control arm is more service friendly (anyone that’s changed the suspension on both of these cars know what I’m talking about. lol), addition of braces underneath the lower control arm, and the mounting points for the lower control arm are more parallel w/ the ground (less antisquat.) This lower control arm mounting has helped out w/ the traction issues of the previous model.

R33: Everything from the S14 applies here, except the GTR subframe is, again, substantially stiffer, and in theory, will handle better. But instead of the toe control arms it has HICAS, so you’ll need the HICAS eliminator bar for things to work properly. This improvement in traction is why you’ll notice that every S30 w/ a multilink setup has the R33.

S15: Pretty much it’s the same as the S14 subframe, but the lower control arms and the frame itself got more bracing. Stiffer = more traction. The subframe bushings (isolators) are different also, but not really applicable for this crowd. You’ll see several shop demo cars/drift cars from JP w/ this subframe on their S13/14. one final difference, though, is that the higher model S15 (turbo and other limited versions) came w/ a helical/torsen LSD instead of the VLSD like the previous S chassis cars.

R34: blah blah, stiffer than the s15, blah blah, HICAS, blah blah.

Z32: Wider than any of the above, but very similar to the S13, R32, and the G50. Many might suggest to go w/ this subframe for high HP cars due to the bigger R230 diff. It’s true that the TT model has a bigger R230 diff (non-turbo version has an R200); however, the stub axles are pieces of crap, and tend to break. Even high HP Z32 like the Escort Z has the GTR R200 diff. Another advantage to the R200 diff has more gearing options than any other Japanese cars.