mustangGT86_05

ok I just finished all there is to doing this swap, and considering I had to do a lot of digging and found a lot of wrong info, I felt it might be nice for anyone doing this swap to have proper info. If you manage to find one of these rear ends, you'll of course research to find that manual tranny cars have a 3.55 ratio, and autos use a 3.73 ratio. You can find an appropriate speed gear to recalibrate the speedometer on ebay.

First off a common thing I saw was that for the horizontal shocks in the quad shock system people said you need to drill a hole about an inch or 2 down on the axle, this is false. In fact, if you compare the housings from your old axle to the new one, they are identical. The axle IS 100% a direct bolt in.

The other work which was a slight annoyance for me is the brake work. Fortunately, my car was easier than an 87-93 model because I did not require a 3-2 port conversion. The proportioning valve is however the same as an 87-93 models in that the part for the rear brakes. 86's share the same internals, and there is a picture of the valve where the spring, a rod, and another circular piece comes out. This piece is rubber, it is in there but may require some digging if you leave the valve on the car like I did. Also, people said gutting the proportioning valve is necessary too, however I could get good stopping power without gutting it by working my adjustable proportioning valve, but it is better to have gutted, I just did it to get by

As for capping the valve off, you could spend $40 on ebay for a cap that may not fit, search around and maybe get lucky to find one for $20 online plus other expenses, or pay a machine shop $10 - $15 to weld the old one shut. Guess what I opted for? Unfortunately finding an o-ring if you need a new one is a pain, I got kinda lucky and found one to work

Adapting brake lines and hoses to work on the rear end can be a little bit annoying, if you plan to stay stock you will want to keep the mustang center hose and better to switch to 3/16's line and find adapters at the hoses. Another option is to upgrade to stainless braided hoses which simplifies things, the issue is tethering down the hoses in place. You will also find that you won't find stainless braided hoses for a turbo coupe, if you do it's a complete set and costs wayyy too much, so what did I do? Universal, here are the jegs parts you will need:

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performan...35000/10002/-1
http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performan...00730/10002/-1
http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performan...00780/10002/-1

After that, get 3/16 brake line with american fittings, you can get by with 20 inches on the left side if not 30 inches, but the right side you will want 40 inches at least

Other than that the other info is pretty easy to find like swapping master cylinders and installing the adjustable proportioning valve, but this is some info I had to find out for myself. Especially having an 86, no one could give me a direct answer to some questions as near everything is related to 87-93's. And yes the rear end is wider on each side, but I think it looks sick. Was it worth it? Absolutely, now I'm just on to upgrading my front brakes, woohoo! lol

I dont have any pics currently, I can get some if anyone wants me to

86gt5.0

I'm thinking about doing the same thing to my 86, one of the things that was stopping me also was the lack of information for the swap on our cars so thanks a lot for posting this. Pics would be great also

mustangGT86_05

can do, what do you want pics of most? I'll get one of my newly capped valve, the old internals and the master cylinder, but i'd prefer to not have pics of the underside just yet, it's still a little sloppy til I can do a small bit of fabrication lol

I also went with the SVO MC, it has the largest bore so this means more force and fluid movement per stroke, the downside is it takes more effort to push than a smaller bore but much better than having your pedal go half way to the floor before you get any real results. Not to mention this appears to be the best set up for the pre 87 models, its almost identical, just a little wider and you have to adapt the front most fitting which leads to the rear brakes. I cant remember the sizes though, but AZ does have a fitting that works, if I can figure out which one I used I'll post it

*edit* also forgot, a lot of sites say use a 13/16's inch wrench for the PV cap, mine ended up being a 19mm or 3/4's inch, not sure if this is just on the pre 87 cars or not

86gt5.0

that'd be great, thanks. also if you could get a picture showing how the car looks on the outside with the wider axle that'd be cool too

tohoopty

seen it in person not to long ago.i liked the way the wider axle looks

mustangGT86_05

here are pics, yeah my engine bay needs cleaned lol





summit racing adjustable PV, seems like the exact same as ford racings



I also meant to mention, I know my lines are soon needing replaced around the stock PV, instead of finding an adapter you may be able to find an appropriate new line, but my lines were well stuck in the PV and I didn't want to fight it yet



The machined "new" cap, worked like a charm



And what you'll need to remove

86gt5.0

thanks for the pics. the car looks sweet with the new axle. this might end up being my next project

mustangGT86_05

You're welcome

I also finished swapping my front end to 87 to 93 gt spindles bearings and rotors with SVO calipers and pads, everything is a direct swap. There are a few things to not if planning to do this swap though that ill list.

First off, I figured I should be able to just take the old assembly off and slap the new one on. This actually didn't work, the rotors will interfere with the control arm, so you must disassemble the old assemblies and put the new ones together on the car.

Also, I recommend bolting the brake line to the caliper before bolting the caliper into place, I had issues with banjo bolt interfering with the struts.

Otherwise everything went smooth, all other info you can find pretty easy. I haven't really had a chance to try it out yet due to waiting to get an alignment, but what I can tell so far is the brakes are working nicely. Also can't tell for sure but it appears my front end may be a little wider now, ill be able to tell after the alignment

Pyre127

I just tore apart an 88 Turbobird (axle, motor/trans, driveline, *complete* wiring harness) with the intention of stuffing the majority of it into my 1979 Turbo Fox Body. Wish me luck!

Tony71502

Those taillights are yuck.