If I was to get a R200 diff and have brackets fabricated for mounting what else would I need? I've seen the inline pro kit that comes with the axles and drive shaft but are the axles only to take more power or are they shorter? Would OEM axles work? Don't want it for extra power just to avoid/fix the diff issues

 

I personally don't feel you need to do any rear end work if you aren't looking to have any substantial amount of additional power. Sure, the differential may not be a very strong point in the car, however I think it really comes down to the driver and the amount of abuse and stress they put on it. As long as you maintain it with fluid changes as with all other fluids, you should be fine, even on the track. There are countless amounts of people using the stock differential.

I've been turbo'ed for years now, and been on a stock AP1 differential ever since, car is a 2001. I do launch it, usually at least once a week, I do the occasional donuts in the rain, it's holding up fine, just know your limits. Know how to preload your drivetrain.
A part of it can also come down to luck.

So technically, the differential has no "issues." It's the driver's with the issues. You could do so much more with that money, I know you'd be saving a lot from buying the premade kit-fabbing your own, but I still think it's money not well spent.

Also keep in mind InlinePro's R200 kit is tried and true; rigorous testing, trial and error and quality products, so I'm sure everything they did was for good reasons. If you're not saving much, if you must do the conversion, just go with Inline Pro's kit, its completely bolt on, nothing to worry about.

My .02 cents. Best of luck.

 

Yeah that's Deffinantly a fair comment
My situation is that the diff is making noises and to swap with a R200 and make my own brackets is a cheaper alternative to a new diff, second hand diff or a rebuild as long as there aren't shorter axles needed

 

What kind of noises are you talking about though? S2000 diffs whine no matter what, even brand new.
Ah that's true too.

 

Just clunking and has a bit of gear noise when coasting, it's pretty consistent and happens 90% of shifts and powering on and off
It was fine when I test drove the car then after the 6 hour trip it slowly appeared and worsened over a week or 2 to the point it's at now. Not sure if something has just loosened or it's properly stuffed tho

 

Change the dif oil, see what comes out.

 

Yeah there was no chunks of metal so ring and pinion don't seem to have broke teeth or anything

 

The clunk could be many things. A bad mount for instance.
Has the car been dropped recently? Have you re-torqued your axle nuts?

I don't think the dif has problems itself.

 

Yeah the mounts have been changed as they were split genuine were about $700 so I got aftermarket ones which people seemed to have used and had no problems with. These weren't hydraulic just full polyurethane track stiffness mounts and instantly after changing these was when I could hear the gear noise which confirms its coming from the diff