Gimme

iTrader: (1)

***UPDATE*** Check out my last post on Page 4 for pics of the modified crossmember and the true dual exhaust. ***UPDATE***

Well, I'm 99% finished with my 8.8 hybrid rear; the only thing left to do is to powdercoat and mount the chromoly axle braces. It's done, otherwise, and I thought ya'll might like to see it. It has an 8.8 center section from a mid 90's Mustang and Camaro 10-bolt outer axles tubes that I machined and pressed into the 8.8 center section (from my old 10-bolt). I then had Bill Buck of Bill Buck Race Cars in Austin, TX straighten the tubes, fully weld them, and then weld on the Moser 7900FM big-bearing 9" ends. While we were building the rear, Bill and I welded on some LCA relocation brackets. I also had Bill rebuild the 31-spline gearset with new Ford Racing Kevlar TracLock disks. The 31-spline TracLock posi came out of a 99 Mercury Mountaineer with around 30K miles on it. The rear has a 1350 yoke, 3.73 gears, 31-spline Moser axles machined to the correct length with a Chevy bolt pattern, reluctor rings for Traction Control and ABS, and machined for the Ford-style 9" ends. I had Driveshaft Specialist Inc of San Antonio balance my existing aluminum driveshaft and mount the correct crossover U-Joint (PCN-447.) This allows me to use my Chevy wheels and factory SS disk brakes, TCS, and ABS with the 8.8 center section, but use the big 9" bearings. I used sway bar drop brackets from Spohn Performance to help mount the factory sway bar, but I still had to fabricate some additional drop down plates in order to clear the torque arm. Speaking of torque arms, I modified a Maximum Motorsports Heavy Duty torque arm to work with my Camaro. The TA bolted right up to the 8.8 center section, but I had to modify the front tunnel brace to be able to mount the TA to the Chevy (basically, you flip the MM tunnel brace over, cut off a little bit of the "legs" and fabricate a plate to mount to the bottom of the F-body...not too difficult, actually.) Once I was finished fabricating the front tunnel brace mount, I had my aircraft welding buddy do all the final welding, powdercoated the bare-metal parts, and got everything in the car. The rear is set at a -2 degrees, a good angle for a M6 Camaro, I believe. I have BMR double adjustable lower control arms, a BMR double adjustable Panhard Bar, and polyurethane bushings all around. I narrowed the rear by 1/2" and did a very slight mini-tub job (removed some of the inner fender well and trimmed the bumpstops) to fit the 17x11 Torque Thrust II wheels and the 315/35R17 Nitto NT05R tires. They tuck in to the rear very nicely, and I was able to keep all the factory interior panels and rear seats...that way, I can still take my daughter for rides!! Because we lost about an inch of ground clearance with the MM torque arm and crossmember, I added rear air bags in order to adjust the ride height of the car. We have QA1 shocks all the way around, and by adjusting the front coilovers, we were able to get that one inch of ground clearance back. The rear has an LPW Ultimate cover, and as mentioned above, I still need to powdercoat and mount the axle braces. The rear is completely quiet; let me tell you that Bill Buck did an outstanding job setting this thing up. We used solid pinion spacers to eliminate the crush sleeve, so it took some extra time getting it set up. But, it should (knock on wood) be pretty much bulletproof. We're running Royal Purple 75-90. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Gimme

iTrader: (1)

There's still a lot of engine and exhaust work to do, but at least the rear-end is ready for some serious hp.

fastsspr

iTrader: (49)

How you use the torque arm or you went with ledder bars style???

Gimme

iTrader: (1)

Ford style Maximum Motorsports Torque Arm and modified MM front crossmember.

Detroitmuscle

iTrader: (16)

maybe I missed it but how did you guys set the pinion angle with that torque arm setup? Its great to see people trying new things with these rearends. I myself just made a torque arm mount that is a complete bolt-on piece to use with a stock style t/a.

Gimme

iTrader: (1)

The MM TA bolts to the axle tubes with 4 u-bolts and to the diff housing flanges (wings) using two grade-8 bolts, one on each side. You put shims between the wings and the TA to get the proper pinion angle. Each shim equates to about 1/2 of a degree of pinion angle. It's a little more time-intensive than most aftermarket TAs for "normal" f-body rears (Spohn, BMR, etc,) but at least once it's set, you KNOW it's not going anywhere.

I'd like to see your bolt-on setup...sounds cool!! Just one thing to remember, though: according to Bruce Griggs of Griggs Racing, there's something like 150,000psi where the TA mounts to the diff. I had originally thought about fabricating my own TA, but with the crazy stresses and loads, I just bought a pre-fabbed one and modified it.

Detroitmuscle

iTrader: (16)

I could PM you a pic of it, I don't wanna go crazy about posting it up yet without really testing it out and working around any design flaws ect. I do understand the stress put on the t/a bracket and I believe my bracket is stronger than most 9" pieces I have seen and those have been working well for years so I'm not too worried about it thus far.

Gimme

iTrader: (1)

Shoot yeah, man!! PM me a pick of the bracket. Sounds pretty cool.

eddielb

Any pics of the press you used? I got a 89 mustang rear end we just cut the tubes off of 4" from the center section and the f-body tubes cut off as close as we could ge tto the center section, but it looks like there is no way to get them to fit !

The mustang 8.8 is 2.75 inside diameter and the fbody are 2.85 outside diameter or something

therobman

iTrader: (39)

nice setup i love my 8.8 with ladder bars

disc0monkey

iTrader: (10)

awesome keep us posted!

taman86

iTrader: (19)

machine down the f-body tubes if you have a machine shop near by. or you can custom fab a sleeve and do a hell of a weld job. here a couple of other build thread to fill your cranium.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/gears-axl...8-8-build.html

https://ls1tech.com/forums/lt1-lt4-m...ght-8-8-a.html

https://ls1tech.com/forums/gears-axl...questions.html

https://ls1tech.com/forums/automatic...lled-pics.html

eddielb

yeah been reading for last 3 days brain is burnt out ! I think I may end up getting some sleeves made, how much have people been paying for those sleeves to be made ? Thanks !

dutinsss

iTrader: (2)

i like that TA set-up a lot. if i don't like my mini-laddar bars once i get mine going, i might switch to this. i like the way it mounts to the rear a lot better than factory f-body torque arms.

Gimme

iTrader: (1)

Axle braces are on. Been beatin' the hell outta this rear-end, and it's doing great.

Currently working on a new crossmember design (as opposed to the modified MM piece that's currently on the car) which will give me back the lost ground clearance (so I can bring the ride height down a little bit when at the Auto-X track.)

wfritts911

iTrader: (2)

Do you have the specs on the axle diameters and how much you had to machine them?

-Will

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

I am happy to see someone finally did this. I have been talking about it for about a year now.

Nice!

Gimme

iTrader: (1)

I sure don't; can't find some of my notes after I cleaned out the workshop. However, any reputable machine shop can help you out. Just tell them what you want to do (you want the 10-bolt tubes to be press-fit into the 8.8 axle tubes) and they'll be able to set you up.

Good luck!!

Bobatsuperior

iTrader: (14)

the inner diameter of a 8.8 from a full size ford(crown vic) is the same as a 7.5 from a f-body.

1961ba427

iTrader: (26)

Are you saying both id are the same, or that the id of the crown vic rear is the same as the od of the f-body?