tyler72

Ok, so a few of you have been waiting for this post, so Ill get right to it.

First of all, let me start off with some practical applications. For 67-70 Models, an 8.8 from a 79-93 Foxbody will be the way to go. You will however have to convert it over to 5 lug, but the width is correct already. For 71-73 owners, an 8.8 from a 94-98 SN95 will work great because it will already have the correct bolt pattern, is the perfect width, and comes factory with disc brakes. If you are going to be like me and piec together an axle, the housings from 79-98 are all the same, the difference is in the shafts themselves, so if you can find a housing for a good deal, rest assured that it will work as long as you get the correct axles.

Ok, now for the swap...

First order of business was to get the new 8.8 housing ready for installation into my car. I used a torch to cut off all of the old brackets and then ground the housing smooth with a 4 inch angle grinder. I then carefully measured the old axle while it was still in the car, taking notes of center of spring to center of spring width as well as pinion angle and brake line mounting locations. I then tack welded the pieces on to the 8.8, double checked all of thier placements, and the finish welded everything. A quick coat of paint and it was good to go. After that was done, I began to remove the old 8 inch rearend. It was very simple and staightforward. You remove the shackels at the back of the springs and drop the axle down. Disconnect the brake hose at the car, and also the E-brake cables. Then unbolt the driveshaft and remove the u bolts that hold the axle to the springs. After that is done, you can pull the axle out. Next is to move the 8.8 into its new home. It is basically a reverse of the disassembly. I bolted the housing to the spings first, and let it sit on the jack. I then got the driveshaft yoke that bolts to the rear axle off of a 7.5 inch rearend from a 94-98 mustang with a V6 (I also got the disc brakes off of the same axle) and installed it onto my factory drievshaft with a 1310 U-joint (Precision part number 369). Then I was able to bolt in the driveshaft with no other modifications here. Then I put the spring shackels back on, installed the shocks, and ran the new brake lines. After that, it was time to install the 31 spline Moser axleshafts and disc brake assemblies that also are for a 94-98 Mustang (Note: all V6 and GT mustangs through these years use the same exact brake assemblies no matter if it is a 7.5 axle or an 8.8. This is true EXCEPT for the Cobras whch have larger brakes). I then bled the brakes out and installed the wheels and was good to go! It turns out that the rear calipers are small enough that you do not need to change the master cylinder or the proportioning valve for this swap. I actualy have a better pedal feel now than I did with the drums. This is pretty much just a quick over view of the swap. All in all, it was very easy and the results are great. I still have to figure something out for new E-brake cables, but I dont ned them to drive the car so that will come sometime in the near future, but not right now. If you have any questions at all, just ask and I am sure I can answer them. For those interested in this swap, I hope this pos helps! Like I said, if you have any questions, let me know!

Sorry there aren't more pics. It keeps giving me "file is too large" error messages (WTF??? They were all taking on my phone. Whats the difference???) and/or saying success, but they are not here. This site is a POS since the virus or meltdown or whatever. I have more pics so Ill try to post them again later or I can email them to you directly if you wan to see them.


[IMG]local://upfiles/31291/CFE8F347E8F4494C82DBE16FE8D3DBD8.jpg[/IMG]

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Gun Jam

nice bead [sm=smiley20.gif]

-Gun

Starfury

+1
Very nice bead. I suck at anything except stick welding, lol.

67BullittCoupe

quick question will a sn 95 or new edge 8.8 work in a 67? or are those to wide? i know you said it up there but i didnt think that they changed width between the fox bodies and the sn 95s. i think you said the foxes were 58-59 inches? i guess the sn 95s use a 60-61 inch? if thats the case can you compensate by running a mondern 17 inch bullitt wheel with no spacer?

tyler72

Thanks guys, Ive had a ton of practice at MIG welding and I actually enjoy doing it a lot. 67Bullitt... The foxbody and SN95 axle housings are the same width, but the shafts are 3/4 inches wider per side in the SN95s. So basically, yes you could fix this with a wheel that has more back spacing, but you would have to run spacers on the front. For a perfect width, ideally you would want to run a foxbody 8.8 and just throw in 2 driverside Ranger axles (or you could order aftermarket shafts like I did) and the drum brakes from it to get the perfect width and right bolt pattern. If it were me, this is what I would do because it would be cheap and if you ever wanted to run stock style wheels, you still could. If you ran a SN95 axle, you would be very limited on wheel choice.

As far as the Edge axle... if you are talking about an Edge edition Ranger, no it wont work. it is too narrow and the pinion is offset to one side too far. If you are talking about that new "crossover" thing, then I have no idea, but I was guess that it probably wouoldn't be correct (I actually thought these were front wheel drive???).

tyler72

Ok, I got some more pics to upload. Here they are:

[IMG]local://upfiles/31291/2B8700B655D64D89B0D1A9AF4D87CC00.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/31291/69439987EE1E4780A9F39A34BB2E8C95.jpg[/IMG]

tyler72

It wont let me do any more right now. This sucks big time!

SalikDDD

i loved it when i did my 8.8" everyone said why not 9 blah blah.. cus for 75.00 i didn't care glad to see others are doing the 8.8 too good job.

67BullittCoupe

sorry tyler i was talking about the "NEW EDGE" mustangs, 99-04, technically yes a sn 95 but there was a couple of mechanical changes that i know about but wasnt sure if the axles where changed.

thanks for your help i know i ask a lot of repetative questions but i know a lot more about what i want to do now.

thanks!

mjr46

looks good tyler!!! keep up the good work...lets see a final pic......oh one quick edit you might want to make in the first post all housings in foxes are not the same from 79-93.........79-85 = 7.5 and from 86-93 = 8.8...so people doing the swap would want to piarate one from a 86-93 for certain models