The old "volvo diff into celica conversion"

[IN 05 NT]

hey sorry fellas the hub size is actually 65.1 mm, oops,

hehehe

and for the diffs strength, most 240 last atleast 500,000 ks on the original motor without touching the diff,

(ask anyone about volvos and they will say the 240 will last a lifetime!)

blake

[IN 05 NT]

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"??

hey fellas,

just thought id update you all, ive broken my diff twice in 2 weeks,

the first time was the spider gear's pin broke free and was coming in comtact with the pinion gear, and making a few noises...and taking a few litle shavings of the pinion,

so we welded the PIN and the gears all together, and was going strong till the toymods drag night when on the way home shat it self,

2 spidergears are shattered and the pin in pieces,

but i must say that the diff did take a massive beating at the track with a few BIG burnouts,

now looking for a new usedy to swap the centres over!,

blake

[Toy77]

nice job!!!

hehe

i had one breaking in mine, never broke, but was starting to act like an lsd, mind you it had had a years abuse behind my car, no recos or anything done, just thrown in from wrecker.

any way , we only discovered it when we pulled it out to weld it.
now not all welded diffs are created equal. with mine, we cut some bar... bout8mm i spose,
laid it in the spider gears, heated it all up before welding. Then Jamie from JT racing welded it for me. it has had a pretty hard time, incliding some big launces down the creek on slicks (12.5 sec 1/4, 1.7 sec 60 ft) with no issues at all.

i am looking seriously getting an aftermarket centree for mine this year though, so will let you all know how this goes.

Cheers
Stew

[brett_celicacoupe]

(ask anyone about volvos and they will say the 240 will last a lifetime!)

blake

ask a RN25 hilux owner and id bet they'de say the same thing

cant understand why they put such a strong diff behind a engine that makes 30hp

[Smokey228]

im gonna get a hell biased opinion from different ppl im sure. but i have absolutely no intensions oon building a machine of a car, maybe 200rw's from a 1ggte in a celi...

thing is im not sure wether to go on a ovlov diff, wif a locked centre. least till i can afford a new centre. or a hilux diff, wif the lsd centre? wat do ppl pay for a hilux wif lsd and disks?

i am working on a budget, so keeping costs down would be good, but the cars gonna get a good beating, so i do need a diff that can take the abuse...

[TA-022]

im thinking ovlov is guna be cheaper... im in the same boat as you.

dont need to go bigger than a T Series for what my plans are but its cheaper changing diffs rather than buying a T Series LSD

[Smokey228]

anyone got a tech doc on the ovlov conversion yet? or is it that straight forward that it doesnt really need one

wat ovlovs can i steal a diff from to suit my celica? pretty much any from 1970 through to 91? i do want sorta a specific model, wif a 3.9:1 reatio roughly... maybe the 3.7:1 upwards ratio's would best suit me??

thanks again guys...

[TA-022]

basically summary from this thread seems to be

1. get diff (volvo 240 / 244 ??? pickies have 3 )
-ratios should be written on a plate on the diff (thanks ovlov! )
2. reweld control arm mounts and maybe shock mounts. (donate t diff for new mounts)
2a. tailshaft bolt point on diff have diff stud pattern so spin 45degrees and redrill basically to suit tail shaft.
3. use adjustable panhard rod
4. find a suitable handbrake cable.
5. ????
6. Profit

What i plan on doing within the next 6 months (need motor and front brakes 1st) is
collecting my bits and pieces and slowly building it.
Get a diff - cut off mounts - clean and paint - new seals / bearings - rebuild calipers
Then when bank allows send off to get mounts welded and chuck her in.

[Toy77]

g'day,

here is the difference as far as i can tell (from what i looked at, some may be incorrect)

To do hilux-
Diff - $500ish (this may need to be shortened(more dollars) unless find the rare one which is right width)
rear disk conversion - someone here had one... cant remember cost
mounts and stud pattern- same as volvo so dont count(i paid $500 for this)
tailshaft $200????
gear ratio - to get a decent ratio ie not 4.3 or shorter, $300
i dont know what factory style lsd's are worth (though i dont think they are particuarly good. seem to single wheel a bit, dont have a very high lock ratio, can be tightened up, but don't last well when done)
if you go for after market centre, then same price as volvo.

To do volvo-
diff $200 or less complete.
mounts and stud pattern (same as hilux)


as for handbrake, i made the volvo cable work with mine, attached it too the celica mechanism. (cant remember exactly how, wasnt too hard though.)

downside to volvo is the difficulty of finding a factory lsd - they do exist and were an option on most models, but not many around.

i have not done any bearing or maitainence on my diff at all, it is all ex wrecker, have no had bearing dramas or anything yet. will probly do them when i put the after market centre in which will most likely be a "noslip" centre.

yeah all diff should be fine, just take a tape measure with you.
i did have a list of what volvo's came with which ratio, but it was lost in a computer crash. but as said, it is on the plate on the nose of the diff.

Cheers
Stew

[AE86slut]

http://www.rocky-road.com/noslip.html

These look a lot like the 'Lokka' innards I'm putting in my G-series.

http://www.4wdsystems.com.au/html/lokka.htm

$499 retail +$20 shipping anywhere in Aus.

[Smokey228]

i know this is a bit off topic, but i just realised that i pulled a diff centre out of a ta23 to get welded up, so that i could fit it to my ra23... is that gonna be sweet? will everything fit like normal?

ie. can i use the ta23 diff housing in the ra23? can i use the ra23 axles in the ta23 diff? will the driveshaft still line up and bolt on okay?
i dont think ive missed anything else...

[brett_celicacoupe]

Diff - $500ish (this may need to be shortened(more dollars) unless find the rare one which is right width)

$500

i got one in my yard. 1375 wide from a RN25 any1 can have for $280 + freight

edit; i also got the G series tailshaft flange ($80) and a 3.9:1 g series ratio ($150)

[Toy77]

thats a good price...... but is it an lsd?

i was talking lsd price. but as i said, feel free to corrert at any time.
i really dont care what people choose to do

Stew

[brett_celicacoupe]

i have a 4 pinion clutch type LSD from a cressida grande for sale as well...$350

[Toy77]

so $500 would be cheap with the lsd?????? yeah???

as i said, i wasnt trying to push anyone into this diff or saying it was necesarilly any better than another diff, thats is the role of whoever is forking out their hard earned to decide, i dont really care what people use. i was simply trying to answer questions asked with information i believed to be correct.

looks like purchase price for the hilux diff is now $630 not the $500 i guessed at.

the extra $43o dollars to purchase the hilux goes most the way to buying the aftermarket centre for the volvo diff.

Stew