Those that know me from the old Nissan forum and the Community forum, will know that I have been wanting to SFA the Sani for as long as I have had it.
Please, no discussing the merits of rather selling and just buying a Patrol, I/We have been through this and it's not an option unless someone has one that they are giving away
..OK, so the Sani reached a point where a repair on the IFS, after our last mishap at Berakh, will be the same as a FAT portion towards a SFA. On the Community forum we have again discussed the project, and the guys have made it a community project to fix the Sani. Some money has come into the account, but it's never enough when you start looking for the spares.
Strategy:
You would think that it's as simple as slapping a left drop Dana diff under the HB chassis and it's job done. Looking at the guys in the US, it does look that simple. Unfortunately when you actually go out there and look for a suitable diff, the wallet and the ideas don't seem to be on the same planet. No matter at what price I get a Dana diff, my present ration of 4.88 makes it a R5K job to re-gear on top of the price of the diff. Then we either get a matching rear diff, or have adapters made for the Dana to convert from 5 to 6 stud wheels.
So after a donation of no less than two right drop Safari/Patrol transfer cases (one being a dual stick), we decided to go with the right drop option of a Hi-lux or old Safari diff. The Hi-lux matched our ratio we need, and the Safari is a 4.625 which we believe is close enough.
We could have stuffed a hi-lux gearbox and transfer case onto a Gilo adapter, and achieved the same right hand drop, but when the free transfers came into the picture, we had to take notice of this route as a possibility.
We thought we had a set of diffs for R5K, but that fell through at the last moment.
So options are still very open, but there are a few things that I thought some guys could possibly have laying around collecting dust, or still better, just in the way that they may want to get rid of.
If you are not sure what we are looking for, here is a list:
Diffs (I know this is a tall order, but it's on the list either way)
Rear leaf spring pack from a Hardbody or a set of coil springs.
Long shocks to fit under a SFA with around 600mm reach.
Steering links/tie rod
Fuel tank that can be modified to hang down the centre of a Hardbody chassis
The project looks like it is going to have to be broken up into phases due to budget. I am happy to live with a 2x4 for a while, but at least get the IFS cut off and have a reliable front end that does not wreck tyres and at least goes in the direction you are steering.
To achieve this we at least need the diff, the springs for the front and the shocks for front and rear. Cut and modify the sump to take front axle.
Second phase can then be driving the axles. Transfers we have, give us right drop front and rear, so rear diff needs to be replaced. Or we are back to a Hi-lux gearbox and transfer to get the centre rear and right front drop.
You can see our options are very open, depending on what we can lay our hands on.
So if anybody has any items or expertise they can bring to the project at reasonable price, please let us know.
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Lucky I did not mention it may end up with a Toyota diff, the value would have dropped to zero just there 
