5 Stud Hub Conversion

[northerner]

http://nissansilvia.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=5390

[kennyboy]

Shaun is correct , 5 stud front is not a bad conversion to do , Z31 obvious route to take and rear arms etc.

[CamInHead]

Hi guys quick bump as I have some issues and reflections. Having done the Z31 rear and a mis-mash of S13 and S14 front & BC Coilovers I'm come to the conclusion that it's more trouble than it's worth. With S13 lower arms I had nearly 4' -ve camber with the BC top mounts maxxed out. With them set at their zero point it was 7' -ve. I'd estimate 10' -ve set fully negative (which would have been fun to see).
There was something like 70mm difference in track, with the front being the wider.

With S12 LCAs I have < 2' -ve one side and 3' -ve the other as a minimum, which I've put down to moody replacement arms or balljoints.
With the S12LCAs and 20mm spacers on the rear the track difference is down to about 20mm IIRC.

Also the wheel arches barely contain the front wheels, even with "weak" OEM S14 wheels. The rears look about normal but, with the front track exaggerated, they look lost in the arch. None of which is the end of the world but I wanted my car to be right. I imagine as a drifter it would work, though.
If I had to keep the coilover set-up I'd either try to find shorter-than-S12 arms, like R31 skyline, or elongate the lower arm -> subframe holes 10mm or so and shunt the arm mounts further in, same as the camber adjusters on S-type jags.

I'm either gonna sell the car as a unfinished project or sell the coilovers and S14 hubs and revert to stock hub/leg. That means trying to find either Z31 front, which I hope will work but not common, or OEM S12 which will fit but don't actually appear to exist anywhere....

[PukkaSilvia]

never seen the point in the 5 stud conversion myself.my car handled and breaked fantastic on std size grooved discs and decent pads. the suspension was just koni direct replacement with custom 35mm lowering springs and 15x8 and 15x9 wheels

like you say. sounds like more trouble than its worth.

[s13eater]

i've done it because i got the early z31 with the 304mm vented rear discs and the z31 arms sit 10mm further out,then i don't have to depend on spacers, i'll just get some wheels made up from image to fill up the gp arches.

[CamInHead]

Originally Posted by s13eater

i've done it because i got the early z31 with the 304mm vented rear discs and the z31 arms sit 10mm further out,then i don't have to depend on spacers, i'll just get some wheels made up from image to fill up the gp arches.

Are you sure they'll widen the rear track ? I don't think mine has.

[s13eater]

according to most posts i found the other year it said the early z31's had a 10mm wider track and bigger disc's.

[CamInHead]

Turned out my rear is an earlier 5-stud (so midlife overall) NA. Maybe just the Turbos with the wider track ?
I also did the front to match the rear and I wanted coilovers and Z32 brakes.

[s13eater]

well the internet throws up allsorts of measurments, 1984 1430mm, 1988 1435mm or 1475mm silvia 1420mm, so god knows whats right lol.

[CamInHead]

I measured my rear track last time around. I'll try toremember and have a look at the print out when I'm back ion work Tuesday.

Northerner you haven't still got the front suspension off of your Z31 by any chance have you ?