I've seen lots of posts that talk about it, but haven't seen any that show what to do.
With that said, I figured I'd post my progress with some pictures.

Step one remove old rear end. Seeing as this is a California car everything came apart very easy.


[IMG]local://upfiles/16598/1FE654D1D1E54CDAAB6FB26259F42FE0.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/16598/FDFB49BBABBB4235BD08465B928E3F6E.jpg[/IMG]

 

Pick up an 8.8.

You are better off picking up a complete rear end with the carrier section even if you don't plan to use it, unless you've got a lot of experience building rear ends.

This is out of an '91 GT. Just the housing. I've cut and ground all the brackets off and repainted to keep it from rusting in the garage.

At this point it would be the perfect rear for a 67-68 at 59.75" wide from rotor face to rotor face (where the wheels mount). That is 2.5" wider than a stock 64-66. I'm going to stuff it under and check it with some wheels just to see where I stand. That will be the decision factor on whether or not I narrow it.

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What is the advantages to having an 8.8 in the older mustangs?

 

Stronger than an 8" more efficient that a 9".
And you can put a really trick looking Aluminum carrier bearing girdle/Cover that says Ford Racing (or some such monicker).

Heck what's a rear end without a girdle!

 

AH ok. Im thinking about keeping my rear end, just changing out the gears. Let's face it, Im keeping my original 289, and it'll never have the power to break that rear end.

 

Can't go wrong with that!

 

it looks as if your welding the housing ends on yourself. is it fairly easy to do? for my 9" i was planning on making some type of template, tacking the ends on and bringing it to a welding shop and getting it done.

you think a flux core welder (rated up to 1/4" steel) would penetrate/be strong enough?

carl

 

If you mean the spring perches. Yes, I will weld them myself. If I narrow the rear, then I will take it to a local shop. It would cost more for me to build the fixture than it would to have them do it. The issue you have with taking it to a shop is that they all want to weld on 9" axle ends. Which is great until down the road when you forget what you did, or someone else buys the car and does axle bearings.

I'm not a fan of flux core, although it will easily weld on the spring perches. If you can, pick up a bottle of Argon. The difference in splatter is night and day, your weld will look much cleaner as well.
Focus on proper penetration, and try to localize the heat to insure you don't warp the tube.

 

oops sorry, when looking at your 3rd picture i thought i saw a new housing end on your work bench(blue and green packaging) but after looking again im just dumb[:@]

ive got the mig conversion for my lincoln, just havent installed it yet. with the gas it only does 12 gauge and lighter steel. its perfect for sheet metal and other bodywork stuff, but thats about it.

ill probably pick up a larger mig welder later this year for heavier stuff. i dont really trust the flux core for my chassis work and welding all of the stuff onto my 9" housing, so it will wait for the summer.

 

Im gonna assume you know about the pinion angle and squaring the rear in the car. Care to show how you tackle that issues so the newer guys can get an idea of what it takes?