Well looking long term at LSD but not a r31 cut down due to weight etc but see heaps of r180 and Subaru forester lsd diffs at affordable prices.

My query is could they be adapted to a cradle that bolts to the leaf springs?

This may be a dumb idea but better availability than r31 rear ends.

I wouldn't want irs rear end, happy with leaves just looking for LSD options.

Would possibly weigh same or slightly less than r31 rear too.

This is what I've been thinking for ages!
Why not convert the axles off the IRS diff so you can mount leaves like a standard H-series diff?
Would only be a matter of cutting off the IRS crap, shortening the Diff and welding custom tabs for the leafs to sit under and bolt to.
Then you can figure out stuff like brake lines and handbrake cable routing etc etc.

I remembered D talking about de Dion rear ends from alfa s but really a 1600 rear end wouldn't widen the rear track of a 1200 much at all.

So I wonder how hard it really would be?

All it is is a tube that connects the hub mounts and the diff centre mounting, could be solid mounted to car almost.

Don't need cool overs as the leaves still locate axle and work as springs.

Yep look at a volvo 360glt rear end they where solid live axle converted to De Dion you can use the R160 from Subey much cheaper than r180 or use Miata mx5 centre mounted using a craddle welded on the sides of the rails. The Di dion tube on the Volvo is quite short track very similar to 1200.

How hard are 360glt to come across

Ok alfas use sometime similar.

What my idea is to use is the existing rear,leaves and shock mounts etc as is.
If I could use Datsun 1600 it similar brakes and drive shafts a Subaru centre should be easy to adapt. Just not sure how to mount rear brakes to leaves and then how to mount centre to car?
Solid mount to car or make a cradle that simulates a diff housing bolted to the leaves etc.

This is primarily for an LSD so simulating a solid rear axle as per stock would do, but de Dion geometry improvements could be good too.

Could bolt in rhs to the rear chassis arms possibly to solid mount to car. At least no drive shaft moment then for diff/gearbox geometry.

Here's a full irs into a 1200 coupe link
So the rear diff mount looks easy enough but does the front of diff need supporting? Also how and where would tube mount to the drums etc. mmmmmm. Doesn't look like heaps of welding needed if de Dion used instead of irs.

I found this old pic of datsport do dioning a 1600. If I wanted to retain my leaves IM assuming I don't need the training arms, just need the hubs attached to the tube and the tube to the leaves.

What wall size is the tube? As I will most likely use steel, and steel plate welded to the tube and then sandwhiched and bolted to the leaves trough the stock diff plates. Use hi tensile bolts instead of u bolts securing the old diff tube.

Does it even have to be tube? Could be box steel yeah?




Also how would I attach front of diff to the car body? Steel plate in car and under car and just bolt to.that?

get a pic of the underneath of a sedan or 1200 Im sure a 2 parallel beams could be used in front and back of the diff you want to use then use brackets to secure it to the diff and anti-crush tubes into your chassis with plates and bolted up.

That's a 1600, any one got a similar shot of a 1200