I was in the middle of over-hauling my suspension and decided to swap in a diff cover from a 05-12 Nissan pathfinder. I thought about getting a Z1 diff cover+brace but decided to go this route as it ended up being cheaper and is more ‘OEM+’ which I like. I couldn’t find just the differential cover for sale aside from one shop that wanted $200+ so I ended up buying the entire differential assembly on eBay for $150. GKtech sells the conversion bushing and an optional steel jig which I highly recommend getting if you plan on doing this. The kit comes with a cardboard jig but I don’t think I would have been able drill out the hole precise enough if I had used that.




Subframe is out

I figured switching out my urethane diff bushing for a solid one would be the best thing to do to help even out the load on the new cover, and it turns out this I what is recommended by GKTECH.


Guide set up

the guide bolts up nicely and I didn’t have any issues with it rotating. Getting it level was a bit of a challenge though.


GKtech recommends a 44mm hole saw but the bushing measures about 42.5mm


Second bushing welded in. Pay no attention to my welds.


Diff cover and studs swapped

The new cover bolted up without any issues. The studs that were originally on it are M14’s but the nut is too large to fit into most of the aftermarket bushing options for these cars, so I swapped them with GKTECH’s conversion studs.


Subframe is now blue

I’m super happy with how it turned out. Aside from the blue subframe it looks factory and has cooling fins beefier than the ones on the R200 Nismo cover. The conversion studs have a larger diameter shoulder than the stock G37 one so I had to bore the differential bushings to 16.5mm and about 10mm deep.


Clearance between studs and bushings

 

As an extra addition one of our Australian members discovered that ANY finned diff cover will not work unless is properly ducted.

By adding a "scooper plate" he was able to channel some of the incoming air from the bottom to cool these fins. Dropped about 10 degrees overall by doing so.

 

Do you still have the steel template? I plan on doing this and would buy the template from you if I can save some money.