Hey everyone! I have a 70 Maverick that I am aquiring the parts to install when I get back to the states. I have an 8 inch four lug rearend. Right now it's equipped with a not so awesome 2.79:1 ring and pinion. I already have the engine built. Its a 302 with a prospective 300hp/302lb/ft tq at the flywheel. I am going to run a light stall converter as this car will see little to no track time, but a LOT of mountainous driving. I want to have a killer set up for the rear. What would be good for getting this car to accelerate well yet not rev at 3300 rpms @ 75mph on the colorado interstates (no overdrive). I want to get a nice limited slip differential and upgrade the axles from the 4-lug units to the five lug. However I am unsure of what my options are with this rear end. Is it possible to upgrade the axles to 5 lug units with a higher spline count? And does anyone have any ideas on what to recommend on gear ratio and Limited slip unit? Thanks for your input! Kyle
It's hard to have both. My tires are 235/60 14, about 25.1" tall. I have 3.40's, and at 70 I turn 3400 rpm, at 75 it's almost 3600. It's fine for reasonalble highway use, but the 8 hour drive to the Roundup was a bit much at that RPM.
You cann't change axle from a 4 to a 5 lug. You would need to change the whole rear end. This maybe a better option for what you want to do.
3.00 gears are common for our cars. They are good on the highway, and feel better than 2.79s, but not by much. Some other Ford 8" rears came with 3.25s, my 71 I6 Ranchero had those. It was a very good all around gearset. The car was heavy and converted to a 302. It did well around town and highway both. 3.40s are very good, but you might want to run a taller tire than the earlier poster, that would drop your RPMs a little. I run 245/60/14s on the back of mine... 26" tall. I don't have those gears to tell you how much difference though. Dave
I should say that I put those tires on while I was running the stock 2.79 gears. They are almost exactly the same diameter as the stock tire. I will bigger tires later on, when I change wheels. Gotta get my money's worth out of these first.
I wouldnt go over 3:55 for street use. After that, interstates suck. As far as locking rears. if you can find an old track lock, that would be best for street. Currie makes their own track lock so if you got the bucks, I'd give them a call. Auburn makes a con type which work reaol nice but they are not rebuildable. As far as I know, 28 is the largest spline for an 8".
I have 3.55 gears with a 26.1 tall tire. At 65 the RPM's are at 3000. I don't know about at 75. You would do fine with a 3.25 gear. Try to get a tire that is 26 or 27 inches tall. I think 28 inches is about the max you can put in the back.
I had these guys build me a 3.25:1 4 Pinion Posi Center section ... I don't beat on it much but it seems to be working great ... The normally paint them black but I requested it be painted Red Oxide and it looked great ... http://www.andale.com/stores/sf_home.jsp?mode=1&sfUrl=maeracing
Minispools for a 9" will work in an 8" so I imagine the axles would work as well provided they have the same spline count, length and you use the correct axle bearing (it may be the same as the 9" bearing as well). IOW, you should be able to upgrade to 5 lug. Going beyond 28 splines will be overkill for your application and would result in an unnecessarily heavy axle.
As Mr. Hines has already found out MAE offers a good product at a good price. I will warn you they want hold up to repeated drag racing with slicks. I had a 3.80 gear set from them. The carrier let loose big crack. It lasted 2 seasons and toms of street driving. If you just cruise should last for ever. I am on my 3rd 8 inch center. I plan on upgrading to a detroit locker and the Alumin8 center section from currie and dutchman axles. I like the weight savings over the 9 inch.
Because the housing ends are too small for the 5-lug bearings and the backing plates are smaller too. Comes up quite often. There are who have said it worked for them on a particular rear-end, but having checked two separate Maverick 4-lug rear-ends, I will say that is a rare exception.
Don't go over the 3.55 ratio. I put in 3.80, and love the take-off, but it is not too great on the highway. I run 245/60r15s and it runs a little over 3200 at 70. I can live with that, but typically, when I am on the highway, I drive around 55 or 60, because 70 seems kinda loud. I was going to buy a 3.80 setup from a guy on here, since he felt that a year of that was too much. He was setting up a 3.55, since he felt it was a good trade-off between highway and power. I also went with the mini-spool. Cheap traction. I am talking 100% traction. Just wonderful on the track, or beating that mustang off the red-light. But kind of annoying when driving city streets, as it chirps and squeals on turns. Wears the tires down quickly, also, from both the chirping, and the double-wheel burnouts. I bought used BFG-TAs that should have gotten me close to 10,000 miles. I got about 2,000 before they became slicks. But on the track, there is very little slip and lots of traction.
