Need some info for my son on a rearend swap. He is getting a 80's model Stang that has a small four bolt 7.5 inch rear. Since we have several Mav 8in rears, would like to know if someone has done this swap. Looking for brackets etc. to bolt up to Stang rear suspension. May use a 9in if necessary. Thanks for any help on this.
Consider a Lincoln Mark VII with disc brakes. Has all the right mountings and 8.8 size, 5 lug axles. Gear selection is much better. Only issue is doing a good emergency brake hookup to the levers.
Hi there! what K. Merring said is great for 5 lugs. Unfortunetly these 80's mustangs came with four lug rears. If he is looking to keep the original four lug pattern on his mustang, there are a couple of different ways to go on this. The 87/88 Thunderbird Turbocoupes (the little turbocharged 4 banger tbirds) came with an 8.8 from the factory, not only that, it had rear wheel discs, a four lug pattern, and the automatic tbirds had factory 3.73 gears, and the stick models had the 3.55 gears from the factory. This rear end is a direct bolt on for the mustangs, the only thing you will have to do is drill a hole a little lower for the quad shocks,(no biggy) or run good aftermarket rear control arms, and eliminate the quad shocks all together. you will also need an adapter to connect the brake line to the axle, which can be purchased at Napa. You will need a manual proportioning valve, and possibly a 93 cobra, or an svo master cylinder. There is also a trick to hooking up the ebrake on this setup. The tbird rear is a little wider, and will push the wheels out .75 inch on either side, but there should not be a tire clearance problem unless you are running SUPER wide tires. I have this rear, and am getting close to installing it on my mustang. The 8.8 rear first arrived in mustangs in 1986. Therefore you can purchase an 8.8 from any of those years, and it is a direct bolt on with no mods needed. Either rear can be found used for under $300, good luck!!
Rear Swap I new you guys could get the answers for me. Only thing I forgot to mention is this car is going to be built for drag race only. Really wanted to get away from the C-clip axles and use the spools and 4.62-4.86 gears I have lying around. Could build my own brackets for the housings but thought maybe there were some aftermarket stuff available. For ease of doing it, may go with the 8.8 and C-clip eliminators etc. Great info from all. May the great Ford guru in the sky bring you all fast and furious fun with your machines that Henry built.
hi so a mark 7 rear end would bolt right into my 1970 maverick well plz hit me up if it will work well laters o ya im new to the group
since we have maverick and ford experts about what would be a good transmission to put in my 70 with a built fe motor?i am heading for the junkyard tommorow to see what there is to be had.i'm thinking 5 speed the car has 4:56 gears.do they make a bellhousing to mount newer trannys onto old motors?also what if any disc brake setups will go on my front 6 cyl spindles.its finally warm here and the yard where my car is at is dry so its time to get her home and commence building.i am looking for a good 360 or 390 for my old u-haul f-350 i am in western ny anyone know where i can get one ?thanks jeff bronson
No, it is not a "bolt in" to a leaf spring car.. The Mark VII has air suspension and 4 arm links like a 80s up Mustang. The axles are longer, projecting out of the housing for disc brake clearence as well as the ABS sensor ring. The 8.8 center section is the same as all other 8.8 applications except the HD pickup truck with it's 31 spline axles and heavier traction lock spring. All that is needed to change over to 31 spline, is change the pinion axle gears and match the alxe length to the housing used. The 85 SVO Mustang used this same Lincoln 8.8 rear. These rears all use the 'C' clips for axle retention. When I changed my Mark VII from open to traction lok, I rebuilt with new carrier bearings, set up new clutch packs as tight as I could with shims and used the pickup spring. Before attempting to work with this setup, do research on how it is done. The back lash is done with shims and needs to be understood how the shim system works versus back lash and the use of a dial indicator for checking. There is a chart on shims,their color coding and how much they move the back lash. This is not a linear relationship. Calipers or a micrometer has to be used to find out what you have and how far you need to move the assembly for back lash changes.
UPDATE: We have had it running for about a while now. Went with a 9" with the correct weld-on brackets, shortened the housing, and added the spool and 33 spline Mosers. It won't break...at least not behind the low-torque 302. BTW, I did just purchase an '84 SVO...neat little car. The rear is a 7.5" 5 lug. I'm learning it slowly (only had it a week) but from what little I've been able to drive it (and when it's run right) it's the most fun I've had, in a 4 cylinder car. When boost comes on, it feels just like a GT...except it sounds a little different. Handles like it's on rails too! Anyway, sorry for the non-maverick post. Thanks for all the help though!
Just a note on the swap. Got the control arm brackets from Currie, after a lot of measuring and shortening the axle tubes, set it up under the car and welded them on for correct pinion angle. Can fudge on this a little by using adjustable upper control arms. Works very well, but after doing the math such as 139.00 for the brackets and 80.00 for the bearing ends for the tubes, then the labor and such, 30.00 more and Currie has the whole housing ready to bolt in for 249.00. Have done some using fabricated brackets and existing bearing ends, but still a lot of work and alignment issues to deal with. As father time slips away, I find myself wanting to do less and do it easier than the way I did it in "the good old days"
