im wanting to put a 383 stroker into my 81 280zx will my rear axles hold up or if i get the turbo axles will they hold up i think the motors rated at around 400hp and 415 tq has anyone put this amount of hp and tq on there stock rear drivetrain and had any luck i will be running an automatic trans any help would be great thanks

 

Yes and no. Unfortunately, a qualified answer depends on more than just hp/torque numbers.

Are you going to drag race or road race it?

How hard do you plan to launch? What kind of tires are you going to be using? What gear ratios do you have in the tranny & diff?

I've seen guys run high hp on u-joint axels with no problem. But they weren't doing power drops from a standing start with drag slicks.

The turbo CV axels are only 3 pin and although stronger than the stock u-joint axels are not as strong as 'real' CV's. Some claim that u-joint axels with spicer u-joints are stronger than the 3 pin CV axels from the 280ZX Turbo.

If it were me, I would actually machine a set of 300ZX 'real' 4 pin CV axels. But that's a lot of fabrication that has to be done just right if you want them to last.

 

I think the bigger worry is your differential... they seem to break more often than cv joints / half shafts. After my mod's, I got worried too.. since I'm hitting about 300 ft/lbs of torque. I talked w/ "TurboZFreak" about it & he advised me to get the Z31 LSD (or Quife if I was made of $$$). I installed an 87 Z31T LSD & have had no probs... if ya wanna see carnage from too much hp on a stock 280zx drivetrain, checkie this:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/484024/2

 

i will using the stock 3:9 diff and a 700r4 trans i wont be putting slicks on it just good street tires it will be a street car is the 87 z31t rear diff hard to fit in the 280zx what all do i have to do i wont be launching the car too hard just enough to shirp the tires so im not loosing traction

 

the Z31 diff is the same R200 case as the 280zx R200 case. Plus you get the finned cover for extra cooling. A couple people have said that you can't use the finned cover in a 280zx... which is funny, cuz mine fit right in w/ no probs. sucks for them... they don't have extra cooling. The LSD is good for many reasons, especially higher hp cars... much better launches, stronger internals, drifting, donuts, more power to both wheels! another pic:

 

i can tell you that it will be just fine. i have a 84 300 zx with 383 L98 stroker with fully worked up 700R4(which all parts on it are for sale see for sale thred ) and it took a drunk driver to put it out of comithin.the only thing that realy was a ishu with was i keep shering off all 4 bolts from the drive line to the rear end then i hade some special bolts macined for me and never hade a nouther problem with it.(besides keeping the the rear tiers from spining on takeoff) and thats the only thing that i hade a problem with.

 

When maintained properly, the R200 differential is probably the strongest part of the entire driveline.

You probably wouldn't be surprised to find that some of these cars are still running the original gear oil that came in the diff from the factory. Lack of maintenance is going to be the primary cause of failure.

The 87-89 300ZX R200 is only marginally stronger than the 280ZX R200 which is the same differential used in the 84-86 300ZX Turbo. I have ~450 ft.lbs torque going through a stock 3.9 280ZX diff and had no problems. The only reason I changed was to go down to a 3.545 pinion gear (also from a 280ZX) to better match my tranny gearing and my turbo.

The tranny, axels and flanges are the weak points in the drive train.

If you still want the 87-89 R200, you'll also need to get it with the half-shafts. But I've seen major build-ups that can't break these diffs. It's almost always one of the other components that goes first.

I know Jeff Priddy runs a stock R200 in his 600hp 280ZX Turbo w/ a Quaife LSD assembly.