The old "volvo diff into celica conversion"

[Toy77]

hey joel,

regarding rims....

i had 17x9 on the back with a +49 offset.... they were too close to inner guard for my liking, but had room outside them to go wider....

i now had 17x8's on the rear, +37 offset, i have a 3mm spacer behind em (not that it needs it, i just like the rims sittin a little wider. these offsets are common for silvias.

mind u i think the 28's have more guard clearance than 23's plus mine are lipped.

Stew

[Toy77]

Hey all,

just got a pm askin for some additional info, so i though i would post it up here as well...


Questions "Good write up dude, that has got to be the cheapest diff conversion i have seen just becuse there is no need to mod the tailshaft and shorten diff. Just curious how did you go about making the brake lines mate up and did you run into any clearance issues with the rear shocks and caliper as i did one time on a borg warner conversion, how did you hook up the handbrake cables, and does the drive shaft just bolt straight up (holes line up ect), and did you just weld the diff or is there aftermarket spools ect available. Would appreciate your help"



yeah, it is cheap and works well.

was suggested as an option by my engineer who have a 350 chev in his volvo, so i started talkin to a few guys who race volvos (circuit, hillclimb and rally) and none of em have ever had a prob, even with tough v8s etc...

as for the brake lines, i used the original celica ones, they fitted into the volvo calipers, just a slight adjustment of the ends of the lines...

the tail shaft holes are out slightly.... so i redrilled the holes (90 degrees around) in the snout of the diff.

no shock issues or springs for that matter.

as for handbrake, i dont remember exactly... but it wasnt real hard...... if you had one ready to go i could get under it and take a pic. my digi cam is out of action at the moment though.

i did use the volvo cable, clamped it into the celica positions under car, and attached it somehow to the lever....

i have a single piece tailshaft fron an early celica, and the diff dit the floor when first fitted, no idea why, cause i had the single tail shaft in with the stocker. Steve had the same problem with his when he did the hilux diff..... adjustable upper control arms fixed the prob.

i just welded the centre. we did look for spools, not real hard. they are available for dana diffs (like dana 44's) but we didnt find a listing for the dana 30. we didnt call round though. i needed it looked in a hurry, and centres are worth nuthin so we welded it.



Cheers
Stew

[BigWorm]

So how strong is this diff compared to a G series?
Estimated HP before it would start having problems?

I was going to put a G series diff in my RA28 behind the 1UZ-FE, but this diff if strong enough sounds like a better option due to the width.

I doubt it would be comparable to a G series diff in strength, as the volvo diff is only a 7" diff (compared to 7.5" F series & 8" G series) but it would also be a fair bit lighter than a G series & prolly even lighter than the F series.
It would also be more suitable to the smaller motors most often used by celicas, corollas & sprinters, ie, 4AGTEs or ZEs, 3S or 3T-GTEs, or even 1G-GTEs & GZEs, that aren't gonna have wads of torque down low.

Saying that though, the volvo does have some bloody thick axles compared to the standard celica 6.7" T series.


Stew, thanks for those wheel figures, I also had to get my guards lipped (forgot about that bit) & they now clear no worries, but I never new there was such a difference between the '23s & '28s.

[Toycrash]

The Dana30 series 27 spline differential 1030 casing will take to 5.38:1 ratio and for the 1031 casing you can put even 5.85:1 ratio.

The lsd was an optional extra for 100, 200 and 700 series.

I am using Dana lsd with 5.38:1 ratio(from Ford Bronco front diff) in my racer.
It sure is heavy axle, but can take serious abuse

Bolt pattern can be converted to 4x114.3, i did and im not using volvo handbrake mechanism, cause i will make it by hydraulic.

Edit:
The lsd unit is an Dana Power lock. Exploded wiew at here(the lower of these two is same as mine):http://fordification.com/images/sche...&Dana70_01.jpg

[Toycrash]

My volvo(Dana30) 5-bolt to 4-bolt(114,3mm) axle

[fade-e]

i was under the understanding that you cannot get your car engineered if the new diff is a different size to what it originally came with? ie, celica is 1370 then the new diff needs to be shortened/lengthened to 1370 as well otherwise cannot engineer it

can anyone advise on this please?

cheers

[Toycrash]

i was under the understanding that you cannot get your car engineered if the new diff is a different size to what it originally came with? ie, celica is 1370 then the new diff needs to be shortened/lengthened to 1370 as well otherwise cannot engineer it

can anyone advise on this please?

cheers

How accurate this has to be? I just measured mine 1385mm

[fade-e]

well i guess a few mm either side would go un-noticed... i think i gotta check with my engineer and get his advise on this. i gotta go see him anyway for some more info and updates to the car so ill ask him...

cheers

[MWP]

i was under the understanding that you cannot get your car engineered if the new diff is a different size to what it originally came with? ie, celica is 1370 then the new diff needs to be shortened/lengthened to 1370 as well otherwise cannot engineer it

can anyone advise on this please?

Incorrect... well at least in SA.

It doesnt matter what width your diff is as long as the track is within the RTA's limits (+-13.5mm track per side from original specs).
Actually my engineer told me going over this is also ok, but he would then have to do a lot of work to prove to the RTA that its still safe.

Although, you cant go insane and have a short diff with huge positive offset rims... bearings would fail in no time, so they wont allow this.

[fade-e]

a little off topic but would this rule also include the front as well? if this is so then that is SOOOOOOOOO SCHWEET

cheers

[TA-022]

afaik it all comes back to varriance in track.

so with the right offset wheels, the change in track should be able to be kept within te 25mm variance that the rta techs describe.

[IN 05 NT]

so has anyone looked into the air locker setup for these suckers?

can you fellas recomend anyone to weld up my volvo diff in syd?

cheers. blake

[IN 05 NT]

hey fellas,

just thought id let you know that the centre hub of the diff.....the hole in the middle of the wheel, is 55.1mm ..... i haqd to get my rims machined out so they would fit.....

blake

[normo]

The stud pattern is torana, or any early holden fj-hg
I have one in my Datsun 1200 4age ute.
Great

[Robbos_Toyotas]

a fellow i know who does a lot of custom fabrication to race cars told me people are actually choosing old volvo diffs instead of ford 9"..and was saying the volvos dont break (well hed never heard of one breaking)...are you sure they are only 7"??