Has anyone here had any experience with a Ford 8.8 on an A body? I'm asking because I know these are plentiful in junk yards around me with disc brakes and posi, that I can get fairly cheap. I've been told that they are pretty good rear ends for a budget build. I also read that the Fox body Mustang rear is only .5 inches wider on each side from backing plate to baking plate than the Cutlass rear end. Can anyone offer some insite into what might be involved in the swap?

Thanks

 

It will involve adapting to your control arms, finding a propeller shaft the right length and getting a conversion ujoint or buying a custom made shaft, and changing the bolt pattern on the 8.8 or getting Ranger axles.
It will take a bit of work but it's all doable.

 

just make sure they give you the plate that bolts to the rear end for the drive shaft other then that we have used many of the 8.8 in street rods.you can get a nice posi unit out of the bronco or f150 and get a little bit better gears that way. we have had to move the mounts for the control arms. you can fab some up or buy them threw summit or jeggs and weld them back on just get ready to get the drive line angle right.

 

LOL... You guys make it sound so easy...lol

Mustang upper ears will make the swap much more difficult as the upper cast ears are way out to the sides and lower. You will have to fab up some pretty F-ed up control arms to get that to fit...lol. PLUS all the car 8.8 rears are 28 spline so that is not ANY up grade from a 71 72 Buick or cutlass rear which has bolt in axles and 28 spline also.
Ring gear size on a car will not mean squat...so if that is the reason for buy the 8.8 do not bother. 8.8 Ford is a 10 bolt by any other name.
MORE 8.8 info- Axle tube on 8.8 are thin compared to GM even the truck tube are...
8.8 posi unit are also inferior and tend to eat up clutches FAST (they are composite brake type material GLUED to a metal clutch and then FORD only use half the coupling surfaces too. ??? Ford cutting corners in all the wrong places again...

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GET A 8.8 into a a-body
-LTD housings from the late 80's early 90's will have upper control arm mounting points that will be reasonable to make controls arms that fit- we use these rears for the g-body 8.8 conversion rears we build. WE narrow them though to the exact width as g-body and all the lower mount are swapped to fit dead on.
Do not worry about the u-joint that is the easiest part of the whole thing. just buy the conversion joint and you are good. Just like the other gentleman said get the drive shaft coupler when you get a rear from the yard.
The biggest hurdle is making sure you get the pinion angle correct when swapping a customized rear.
Making a housing for YOU - we can create a A body housing for you car. usually about 250-300 the housing usually is never show quality as a lot of cutting and grinding etc. BUT will function quite well

I have attached the G-body rears for an example -

Jim

 

Putting the 8.8" rears into G-bodies seems to be a growing trend,and I have seen more & more of these conversions come out successful,when done right.As for an 8.8" into an A-body,I have not seen one,but there isn't much of a push to do it,since you have plenty of options laying under parts cars & such.Yes,you might get the rear for dirt-cheap,but if it takes additional time & money for fabrication or special suspension pieces,then you really haven't saved anything.You just can't reinvent the wheel.

 

It's all easy...it just takes lots of time, money, equipment and knowledge.
You say you do these coversions for G bodies so then why not use a 71-78 8.5 if you are going to cut it up and reweld anyway. I hear the uppers bolt right on (I did say this was hearsay).
A friend of mine is in the midst of putting a 540 S/C FI BBC in a Chevy Sprint. (just because he can). Its not not hard to do just takes a lot of money, time, equipment and knowledge. For people who have money and not the rest there are shops like yours who do have the rest. I am not disagreeing with you or 507, you both have great knowledge to contribute.
9+ makes new 9" all parts needed to put one together. No cleaning old parts and most desirable rear end bring a premiun dollar.

 

If money is not an issue then just buy it from MOSER, CURRIE, Strange and MR big buck Mark Williams etc.

SO money IS THE ISSUE HERE.

Time is money
Knowledge is money
AND money is harder to come by these days for most it seems or we certainly would not be building custom rears from old car parts silly... lol

10 bolt 8.5 we do that conversion and do use the 1971 -1996 B body rears and 1973-1977 A-body rears. (reference pictures) WE also do the 12 bolt chevy center conversion for the g-body cars too.
They again require custom upper controls arms AND yes with both 8.8 and 8.5 centered rears you can hack the upper arms shorter and twist them a bit tweaking them etc but you will still get some binding...we offer the J D RAce- upper double adjustable spherical rod end control arm to solve this problem easy, EASY as money 149.00 a set. lol. I am sure making your own will save money always, but time is money and getting the pinion angle correct will all be taken care of for you.


BUT seems as if everyone out there thinks FORD 8.8 is a better stronger rear...??? I am done trying to convince everyone and just build them ...they are so dirt cheap because factory posi unit blow up so easy and the FORD car and TRUCKS are extremely plentiful in the JUNK YARDs....lol.

Ford 9" - not even going to talk about that rear will be here all day long- JUST USE AFTERMARKET PARTS or do not bother. I have assembled and disassemble plenty of these early in business and was not impressed, So much unimpressed with this rear stock form I DO NOT EVEN BOTHER TO SELL THEM.
OF course these are my opinions and they will stay that way... I am entitled to them as you are yours.

Jim

 

THis all came into consideration after I was told by Richmond the Power Trax is not available for the O 12 bolt in my car. I wish the idiot PO had left the 10 Bolt and I wouldn't even have these probs... 507Olds said in another thread it is, so I'm going to check again...

 

I thought that I ranted a lot about work. I myself prefer to deal with smaller local shops like what I figure yours might be. Seems you take pride in the work you do and that is a big asset IMO. Every one is entitled to waste money and make mistakes. If you can't do the job properly, take it to someone who can. If you can do the job properly find a clientele and start a business. Most of the people on here work on cars for a hobby you do it as a living and I respect that.

 

It is a forum - opinions and info is what they are all about.

MONEY- I try to help BEFORE wasting the money BUT yes sometimes you have to learn by wasting some dough.

DRAG RACING is a perfect example - Opps tweaked it a bit too far.


Tinkering is the best part of the hobby as the more you tinker and waste money, USUALLY those are the guys/ gals that find neat new ways to get around problems and better ideas.

SO in closing I guess it is NOT A WASTE if you learn something from the time and money spent.

Jim

 

I don't have time to make mistakes or waste money.How's that?
I do things one way,the best way possible.I think everything out,and I do not cut corners.I do all of this car stuff on the side,but I have plenty of customers & repeat customers to do it 24/7. I've always had the thought that you do not want your hobby to dictate your life.Once it does that,you will not enjoy it anymore.I've seen that more than once.There are many other things to do in life.I don't want to be stuck doing one thing.I'm not a robot or a drone bee.

Have a nice day.

 

Jim,

Do you have any experience as to how the Mustang ears compare to those on the 61-63 F-85 axles? The F-85 ears also appear to be way out to the sides and lower than on the A-body axles that I'm more familiar with. If the 8.8 is closer, it might be an easier swap for my 62.

 

I rebuilt 3 62 63 rears but gosh darn it never bothered to measure the width of those upper ears.

The axles in that rear are TINY... 23 spline I think. and the castings are terrible.
They use the small version of the POWER LOCK posi unit. The spider gears are like the size if quarters. lol.

I even have pictures of the rear.

 

Hi All
I am new to the forum but an old hot rodder improviser. I have a 61 buick
special 2 dr sedan that i love and plan on keeping and leaving to the family after i croak. I rebuilt the engine and blueprinted it and ported and
polished the heads, offy 360 intake and 500 cfm edelbrock carb.
has the dual path thats been rebuilt and that limits the power that the mill is producing so i dont really get to experience the full potential of it.
anyway the rear;
i love it because it is light unsprung weight, what i dont like is lack of HD parts to rebuild it. I found and like the Powertrax unit, as it is quick and simple to install and gets the posi job done without a great expense and alot of work. I wrote to them, and of course, they said they did not make anything for that application. I have found a Samurai unit in their catalog that is for a 6.9 ring gear rear end, not front (4x4) I think the buick has a 7.2 ring gear but i am not positive.
Do any of you think it would be possible to modify a Powertrax unit and fit it in the diff, and also because the Powertrax has 26 splines, i would get Moeser axles to make me some with 26 splines to fit the housing.
Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciate. I do also have a 8.5
SS chevy rear 58 inches wms to wms sitiing and waiting just in case, but
it is twice the weight of the buick rear so i would really like to keep the buick rear in the car. I will never ever put in a huge mill so i am not worried about drag racing etc. I am concerned that if something wears out or breaks i will be stuck, and thats expensive.
Regards
Butch