I know the front suspension it the same and I know the rear suspension and brakes are different between '79 and '83. Has anyone tried swapping in suspension and brakes from an '82-'83 car into a '79-'81 car? Im about to so i'll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck...

 

I've been wondering about this for awhile as well. I could get a decent deal on some '82 rear end parts, and I was thinking about swapping them out [due to better brake design in '82?]. I think everything should bolt up though.

Let us know how it goes.

 

ya, probably would be easy. Front brakes are not the same... are they? I think they front is very simular design but not the same.

You should be able to bolt on the front strut assemblies complete and the rear lower control arm with brakes as a complete unit. Done deal.
Also, 83 will have a 3.9 rear gear whle the '79 may have 3.54 or some other higher gear. swap in that low gear for faster acceleration!
If you find an 82-83 2+2 (even non-turbo) it'll have CV half shafts! Swap those in too.

 

I did an 82 rear end swap to an 80 once. Pretty simple to do, as long as the 82-83 rearend is complete. All just bolts up the same. The brake lines are different & I just got a set of steel brake lines to make them match up w/ no fuss. The caliper bolt spacing is diff too. I've heard that a good caliper upgrade for the 82-83 is the rears from an 89 - 93 240sx.

I will prolly end up doing that to my 280zxt because the 79-81 calipers suck *** & I would like to have the turbo cv joints. If I do that tho, I will be cutting the suspension arm brackets & weld them on lower, to change the camber.

 

The front brakes are the same between the years. There is a slight difference in the look of the caliper but size, shape, and blot pattern are the same. The front assemblies are exactly the same and swap right over. I am also swapping in my CV 3.9 rear-end out of my '83 2+2. I already had that planned ...

 

I'm going to be doing the same swap Drew. I found myself a 83 turbo 2+2 rust bucket and I'm gonna pull the motor, tranny, and rear end(CV's baby ) out of it. Anybody know if the difference in front suspension and brake design is worth the swap? I have the option of grabbing the front suspension too, but don't want to take the time of removing it if it's not worth it.

 

Not worth the time. The front is almost exactly the same on both cars.

 

Remove the front and sell the complete strut/brake assemblies to some 510 guys.
$150 a pair is the typical market value.

 

Now that'd be worth my time. Thanks for the info. And Bleach, do you have the gear ratios on the T5? Or where to get them.

 

The Z31 has a better rear suspension than the ZX, the pivot angle was changed to improve camber change on deflection.

 

use this website for gear ratios: http://www.geocities.com/z_design_studio/

 

Thanks NismoPick. That's a helpful site. Looks like it's gonna be the T5 with a 3.700 rearend.