kj1977

I am going to do the four to five lug conversion on my 1967 I6. I will be putting a V8 in it this winter and want to get started on this as well. I am wanting to know the most efficient and cost effective way to do this. Parts required, yard parts or new? I know you guys know your stuff! thanks in advance.

Kevin

kj1977

I found this on Craigslist.

Ford 9" rear-end set up for leaf-springs. 3.25 gears, 28 spline axels , it measures 57.5" from back plate to back plate.

It came out of a early 70's ford truck. will that bolt right up to my 1967 mustang?

68six

I'm also going from four to five lugs on a 1968 I6, although I haven't yet committed to doing a V8 conversion. My project started out with trying to get the original drum brakes to work and realizing that it was hard to figure out what brake components I really wanted to keep, since everything seems to be crumbling at once. I priced up replacing everything, including the wheel cylinders,springs, adjusters, drums, shoes, brake lines and a new master cylinder,new emergency brake parts and quickly came to $1000 just for the parts. That seemed like a lot to just get thebrakes to "like new" condition, which, let's face it, was not that great in 1968.

So, I looked into the SSBC front disc brake conversion kit for Mustangs.They have one option that lets youconvert from four lug drums to five lug discsin the front, using the original I6 spindlesfor around $1000. Since this only make sense if I have five lugs in the rear as well, Ilooked intorear end options. The one that made themost sense to me was the eight inch rear end. I found one at a local salvage yard from a 68 Mustang for $200. It included brake backing plates from a '63 Ford Fairlane. These brakes will be 10" X 1 3/4" (the I6 currently has 9" brakes), and so I need to buy new drums, wheel cylinders, shoes, brakesprings, adjuster kits, emergency brake components and some new hoses and brake lines to get these rear brakes to work. I'm anticipating spending money on new seals andbearings for the new rear end.

So, my plan is to get new disc brakes up front, larger drums in the rear, 5 lugs all around for around $1500. Check with me in a few months and I'm sure I'll have spent closer to $2000 as I discover other components that need replacing (the rear leaf springs, for example).

I found a link once that had 30+ things that need to change if you are going from an I6 to a V8 in a Mustang, including the front suspension (to handle the additional weight of the V8), the radiator, the front spindles (Granada), in addition to the rear end (the 7 1/4" rear end for the I6 is not designed for the torque of the V8), but others on this forum are much more qualified than I am to say all of the things that need to be changed.

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68six

That 9-inch will bea littlewide for the 67 Mustang.

The 67-70 Mustangs had a housing width of 54 1/4"

Rear ends that I've looked into that are close include:

1975-1980 Granada or Mercury Monarch (54 1/4")
1977-1980 Lincoln Versailles 9 inch (52 1/4") with disc brakes
1966-1977 Ford Bronco (52 1/4")
1960 T-bird 9 inch (52 3/4")
1967-70 Mustangs and Cougars (54 1/4")

Also need to consider the spring perch distance of 43 inches, otherwise you'll be sawing off spring perches and welding them in new locations. I believe all of the above have something close to 43"

USMCrebel

you are going to spend about 4k on parts, and do it ourself. I am finished with mine, but have not done a 5lug conversion. something you can do is get the rear end out of a 90's model ford ranger. that already has it done. this wil also allow for a fatter tire. i will tpe up a massive sheet of what i did, you can find lots of info in the FAQ section about this. It's still fresh in my mind so i'll help as much as possible.

67ride

You won't need to get different spindles for your set up. The inline six spindles andv-8 spindles were the same in 1967.

kj1977

The reason I am wanting to do this sooner than later is because i would also like to get a nice set of American racing torque thrusters and with my 4 lug set up I was told it would be very difficult to find rims that wouldn't be much more pricey. so i figured i might as well do the upgrade now since the V8 is going in this winter anyway. thoughts? so a 90's ford ranger rear end would do the trick?

Decurion

Make sure the Ranger has a 4.0L and/or 4x4. Those have the 8.8" rear which is much stronger than the 7.5" or whatever it is that came behind the 2.3L and 3.0L 2wd. IIRC, the Explorer has the same dimensions, but came with 31 spline axles (instead of 28 in the Ranger, regardless of engine), disk brakes, and came with either 3.55, 3.73(most common), or 4.10 gears. Most have posi. I paid $200 for mine, ready to bolt in, and of course it shares the same bolt pattern as the Ranger and Mustang.

USMCrebel

and any junkyard should have one, a lot cheaper that way too.

JMD

^True for 67 and up Mustangs, also most (all?) of the steering and front suspension is the same on I-6 vs V8 cars as well, except for the coil springs, which will "work" but are a little soft. Otherwise brakes, hubs, and drums are the only difference. (from everything I have been able to gather about the issue.)