If you have decided to complete a 240SX 5 Lug Conversion, chances are you will be looking up a five lug conversion at some point in time. Swapping to a 5 lug hub will not only provide one more mounting point for your rims, but expand your selectable options of sizes, offset and wheel styles.
We’ll be showing you how to complete this job in a 1991 Nissan 240SX S13, and providing part numbers and parts needed for the entire changeover from 4 to 5 lug.
Plug and Play kits from Ichiba / Attain are great for budget builds
The first part of your conversion should be to source the 5 lug hubs in question. Many different solutions exist for this problem. Such aftermarket kits like Attain or Ichiba provide a one stop install and go solution in front and rear for your 240SX.
If you do not want an aftermarket or overseas 5 lug kit, you can go the OE route by purchasing S14 or Nissan 300ZX hubs and having the bearing pressed into place. You will require a heavy duty mechanical press, or a machine shop equipped with a press for this job however.
Parts required to complete 240SX 5 Lug Conversion – S13 fronts
S14 SE Hubs – or aftermarket 5 lug conversion
S14 SE Spindles – or aftermarket 5 lug conversion
S14 Ball Joint (will need to be pressed into your existing S13 Lower Control Arm)
S14 SE 5 lug Rotors (or 4 lug rotors re-drilled to 5 lug)
5 Lug Wheels
PARTS REQUIRED TO COMPLETE 240SX 5 Lug Conversion – S13 REAR
S14 SE or Z32 N/A Hubs – or aftermarket 5 lug conversion
S14 SE 5 lug Rotors (or 4 lug rotors re-drilled to 5 lug)
5 Lug Wheels
Nissan Skyline R33 Ebrake Cables
PARTS REQUIRED TO COMPLETE 240SX 5 Lug Conversion – S14 Front and Rear
S14 SE 5 lug Hubs
S14 SE 5 lug Rotors (or 4 lug rotors re-drilled to 5 lug)
The brake rotors can be from a Nissan 240SX S14 SE edition, which are part number 40206-80F00 for the fronts and 43206-70F00 or 43206-74F00 for the rear set.
As with all of our writeups, guides and how-tos we are not responsible for the work you do to your own car. Pro Street Online is not liable for any damage however direct or indirectly done to your vehicle through work you did on it.
We’ll begin with the obvious steps, first raise and secure your vehicle with jackstands and an automotive jack if you do not have access to an two post lift. Next make sure that your vehicle is solidly secured and there’s no risk of it moving or rocking loose from the mount points.
Next remove your rims and go to remove your brake caliper, by undoing the two 14mm bolts that hold the back of the caliper on.
Now undo the 17mm bolts that hold the entire caliper bridge to the back of the wheel hub, and hang the brake caliper up safely. Use something strong to secure the brake caliper up in the air, make sure it’s not pulling or stretching your rubber brake line.
You should now be looking at just your poor little 4 lug rotor, which can be removed by hand now. You may have to take a mallet and gently tap around the rotor to break it loose. Remove the brake rotor and you can opt to trim your brake shield, as this vehicle is meant for competition use only, we removed it all together.
Now comes the fun part, removal of the wheel bearing cap which can be bothersome if you do not have the right tools. With the wheel bearing cap removed, you should see the inner spindle and the cotter pin which will need to be removed for the nut to come off.
Cut away or remove the cotter pin, and break loose the 32mm (or 30mm) nut that holds the hub onto your vehicle.
When you remove the 32mm nut, you can slide off the old hub and clean up the shaft as best you can. Install your new front hubs and torque the 32mm nut to 140 ft-lbs of torque before installing a new cotter pin.
Now comes the installation of your new brake components, as they will allow you to convert to a full 5 lug rotor without changing your caliper.
Install your new 5 lug rotor and re-install your brake caliper, if need be bleed the calipers to restore brake pedal and you have now completed the front installation of your 5 lug conversion!
Now it’s time for the rears and chances are if you are doing this job on a street car, you are going to want e-brake cables that can do the job. Nissan Skyline R33 ebrake cables work just fine for this conversion depending on the parts you are swapping onto your car. You can also use brackets and wire clamps intended for cycling brakes in this part of the installation.
As with the fronts remove your wheel and make sure your vehicle can not move. If you do not have access to air tools, you will need to get creative with the rear hub nut as the axle will spin freely without the car in gear or e-brake up. As you did with the fronts, undo the brake calipers and set them to the side, remove the cap and undo the hub nut (36mm).
Now slide off the 4 bolt hub and set it to the side, we’ve included a comparison pic of the 4 lug rear and the 5 lug conversion kit below.
You can do the swap in the rear from one of two different ways, either replace just the hub as we are doing here or the hub and entire assembly. Although our method of conversion is easier because we are swapping just the hubs, completing the job without the rest of the assembly will not make it cheaper.
Whats the bottom line? When converting to 5 lug in the rear of your Nissan, you will want the hub and assembly if you want to cheaply re-connect your ebrake. Using the entire wheel hub and assembly will allow for easier install since you will be removing the entire assembly as a whole.
Shown above are the 4 bolts that must be removed for your rear hub to slide right out. Once you have the new unit bolted in, you can move onto installing the proper brake rotor and re-installing your brake caliper in rear.
To get to this point however, you must first disassemble everything in the rear of your 240SX and by everything we mean just about everything.
Remove all suspension links, including suspension damper, lower control arm, traction rod etc.
Remove the axle from wheel bearing and hub housing, never use a hammer but a rubber mallet on the axle end.
With housing removed, tap out the bearing from the backside of the housing using a mallet. Do not damage the housing material.
If your lower ball joint looks like it’s going to be a pain or may become damaged, we suggest simply removing the entire lower arm with your hub. You can undo this by taking the camber bolts out of your rear subframe that connect your lower control arms.
With new rear wheel hub installed, torque the 4 bolts that connect the hub assembly to the axle housing to 71 ft-lbs of torque. Slide the axle back into place without nicking or damaging the assembly walls or bearing, and torque the bearing lock nut to 160-200 ft lbs of torque.
Install a new bearing lock nut cap and a new cotter pin to prevent the lock nut from moving or vibrating out of place.
Torque the rear upper control arm to 57-72 ft-lb and your rear lower control arms to 64 ft-lb. The Nissan 240SX traction rod torque spec is 57-72 ft-lb and your coilovers or suspension dampers should be 75ft-lb.
Install the wheel bearing lock nut and bearing, torque to 152-203 ft-lb, install nut cap and new cotter pin.
Reinstall your rear brake caliper after installing the new 5 lug rotor, make sure to clean the rotor before install and bleed the brakes before driving.
You have now completed the 240SX 5 Lug Conversion in your Nissan! Make sure to check out our E-brake primer on How To Convert your 240SX Ebrake by clicking here.
