347fairless

Local shop near King of Prussia PA is putting an 8.8 rear in my car Tuesday and Wednesday. I have also convinced him to setup a jig for the job and start fabricating ready made 8.8's for F body swaps. I will take pictures during the process and after.

I will ask him to advertise on this site prior to mentioning his shop. If he doesn't, I might do it myself and sell his rears.....thanks!

black00TA

iTrader: (3)

how much did u pay for it?

SUX2BU

iTrader: (14)

Good luck.

347fairless

I pulled the rear out of my mustang roller. It had 4.10's and a 31 spline built truck posi in it already.

This shop charges the following:
$250 for 8.8 core
$270 for correct axles
$150 for truck posi
$250 for swap (includes fabbing 7.5 axles to 8.8 rear, pulling and installing new rear, welding tubes, setup and aligning, etc)
$150? for ford gears
$225 for setting up gears in rear

$1300 ballpark

You can save some cash by hitting the parts yard and getting the rear and 31 spline truck posi.

Dropping car off now.

Ryan02SS

iTrader: (3)

What is the torque arm setup like? That's not bad at all price wise assuming everything works out right. Keep us updated on the progress and pics would be awesome. I have an 8.8 in my Wrangler's rear and it's a strong axle. I was talking with an 03 Cobra owner at the track that had swapped an 8.8 in place of his IRS and he loved it. He had over 100+ passes on it with well over 500rwtq on ET's and skinnies. Would be perfect for most Fbody owners and alot cheaper than a damn 12 bolt or 9".

347fairless

Well, he is designing the torque arm mount himself. I copied some pictures off of this site of designs that broke. He has been shortening rears, building custom rears, and doing all sorts of G-force tranny work for 10 years now. He knows all the ins and outs of welding to iron. The only thing he told me was that he may extend some of the bracing to the top of the pumpkin, incorperrating it with the rear cap bolt holes, similiar to a grigs torque arm that you find on stangs. Should be trick and thick.

Scott@DrivelineSolutions

iTrader: (22)

Good luck, let us know how it is after about 100 passes down the track.

flyinZ

iTrader: (15)

Id be interested..Keep us updated.

SUX2BU

iTrader: (14)

Sounds like he might actually know what he's doing. just remind him that the torque arm mount takes ALL the stress when launching.

347fairless

OK, got some pics today. These are pics of the axle tube joining and general clearance issues of the rear in the car. Torque arm mount pics are another day away. Sorry.

First two pics are of general setup of rear on bench and thick as steel rod that runs through rear and keeps everything perfectly straight. All fitting you will see have lips that fit inside each other that the bar fits perfectly.

347fairless

Next set of pics are of the initial weld of the 7.5 tube to the 8.8 tube. The 7.5 tubes could not be simply inserted into the 8.8 pumpkin because there would be way to much play, and the weld would break. Our solution was to weld the two tbes together, then brace that weld with a steel collar. Collar was form fitted with heat and a BFG. Tubes - NOT moving.

347fairless

This last set of pics is some general fitting. One of the pics you can see an issue I ad with an ear on the pumpking and my corsa exhaust. Another is of the girdle cover in relation to the stock panhard bar. That's it for now.

flyinZ

iTrader: (15)

Not too shabby..

Those make me more interested.

fast01

iTrader: (16)

That looks real nice to me so far. I'd be REAL interested in one of these if he decides to start building them. I just had a holy **** tranny built after I broke the stock one for the 3rd time and the weak link is now the 10 bolt out back. I actually can't believe it's lasted this long, I figured that would go before the tranny. I'm pushing my luck with it now though. Keep us updated.

Smartass6885

iTrader: (3)

i doubt that these rears will be ABS/TCS ready. if they are i would be interested.

m1key99WS6

iTrader: (1)

My 8.8" from extreme chassis (which was a POS) had ABS & TCS, 4 channel. The problem with the 8.8's is (I've broken 2) the torque arm mount welds will break under high-stress (launching @ 6K on slicks). It's very difficult to get a good penetrating weld to cast (housing). I got about 100 launches out of it fine, and then 1 day the torque arm mount ripped off the housing. The 8.8" itself is strong, however the torque arm mount is not, no matter how you weld it.

I've had 2 housing thats I've broken and re-welded and just threw in the chips and got a 12-bolt.

Cheers.

glennhl

If he can do a 3 channel ABS, I'm very interested. Is he preheating the cast iron in an oven before he welds? I've heard that is a prerequisite for making strong welds with cast iron. I'd also like to see the photos of the torque arm mount.

TRex

iTrader: (3)

This is not completely accurate. With appropriate post welding heat treat, and the appropriate welding technique, the welded nodular iron will be as strong as before welding. It is recommended that you stick weld nodular iron, due to the larger electrode and the amount of heat that can be put into the workpiece. Also, the welded area should be tempered after welding to remove residual stresses using a high temperature soak process over 24 hrs.

If your previously welded rears did not use both of these techniques, then you would have problems.

FYI.

Oh, and maybe some of the other guys like Sux2bu or m1key can chime in, but my experience is that your girdle is gonna hit the panhard brace if the car bottoms. You may want to check the clearance by fulling compressing the suspension with the rear in the car and the springs out - oh, and the TA mount will hit the tunnel if you are using a non-stock TA .

Finally, WE WANT TO SEE TA MOUNT PICS !!!!

SUX2BU

iTrader: (14)

it comes VERY close to the panhard bar. but depending on your LCA adjustment it could have more clearence or even actually hit the pan hard rod.
And yeah what T-rex said about the welding is dead on(i'm a welder for a living so i know).
He's also correct that the torque arm will hit the tunnel. it depends on what torque arm you have, hell even my stock torque arm hit really bad. but i beat the hell out of my tunnel and the rest it just clearenced itself.

TRex

iTrader: (3)

I made a custom TA mount for the TA, and mine doesn't hit at all