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Ford 8.8" with upper control arms

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Old May 4, 2007 | 07:41 PM
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Default Ford 8.8" with upper control arms

I've come across a guy who has a number of Ford 8.8" rears I can get for cheap. If I go this route, would it be hard to fit some upper control arms like on a Mustang on our cars? The thought popped up, and I figured if uppers would fit, it may be easier than converting the 8.8 for a torque arm. Plus I get the feeling 2 uppers would be more stable than the torque arm setup we have. Not to mention, it'd give more room for true duals.

Jason
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Old May 5, 2007 | 10:14 PM
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Nobody's ever looked into this before?

Jason
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Old May 5, 2007 | 11:04 PM
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not worth it. been there and i am scapping my 8.8
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Old May 6, 2007 | 10:21 PM
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What problems did you have and did you try uppers?

Jason
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Old May 7, 2007 | 09:24 AM
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I was thinking of running an 8.8 myself bc the 9" and 12 bolts are too damn expensive, and my dad has always ran 8.8s and never broken one.
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Old May 7, 2007 | 02:43 PM
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It would require welding some mounts and reinforceing the unibody to take the stress. You would be better off backhalfing the car with parrallel 4 link setup and track bar. At that point you would have spent more money on chassis mods to make it work than you would have in a 9" swap and you would have a car that was cut up pretty good.

The torque arm setup works great if setup correctly with aftermarket parts. Hell, maximum motorsports sells an aftermarket torque arm rear suspension just for the Mustangs to get rid of the triangulated 4 bar.
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Old May 8, 2007 | 08:32 PM
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Originally Posted by turbotko
It would require welding some mounts and reinforceing the unibody to take the stress.
That's bound to be better than using the transmission to support the whole axle, probably why we go through motor and trans mounts like clutches. The fox Mustangs seem to do fine and their bodies are supposedly flimsier than ours.

Either way thanks for the tips though. I am gonna look at a guy's SS around here with an 8.8 to see what he did and go from there. Anyone else have any tips?

Jason
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Old May 8, 2007 | 08:55 PM
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Most people relocate the torque arm mount off of the trans tailhousing and onto an aftermarket crossmember, meanwhile an aftermarket torque arm will be much stronger then the stock stamped piece and doesn't cost much.

Ya know you can build a 9" for cheaper then the sponsors sell them (sorry sponsors but thats why you offer the housing/axle package right?) its about 1G for the housing/axle package and then you can get any old 9" third member in place and it will handle way more than a 10 bolt. This is all assuming you have the resources to set one up for cheap, otherwise the sponsors have pretty good prices for top notch rearends. I think I might go this route.
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Old May 9, 2007 | 05:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Fibbado
This is all assuming you have the resources to set one up for cheap, otherwise the sponsors have pretty good prices for top notch rearends.
I have access to a number of 8.8's owned by the service manager at a Ford dealership around here. The trick is finding one that's close to the required length and maybe finding one with ABS.

Jason
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Old May 10, 2007 | 09:36 AM
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Originally Posted by Camaro99SS
probably why we go through motor and trans mounts like clutches. Jason
Never heard of this before? Poly motor and trans mount would solve going thru mounts.
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