fordfanboy

Ditto - I think most of us ar in agreement the 9" is way overkill for anything we would throw at it. Like I said, the 8.8 has held up well in some pretty big classes pushing more power than most can imagine.

300 shot vsop? Now we're talking the kind of TQ off the line to make a 9" feasible. As pointed out, let's not forget that bigger is not always better and in the case of rear ends, this certainly holds true. The only reason people go bigger is because they HAVE TO...period. And I will venture to say no one on this site will ever 'have to'.

Even David only welded the 9" housing ends on his when he dipped into the mid 9's and didn't even think about replacing the whole thing. Justin has ran mid 8's with over 1000 hp on the 8.8 right now in his silver beast.

Although it might be cool bragging rights at the track to say you got a 9" rear? lol- j/k

The Ghost

Gee! I never saw that one coming. AndI will sayI stand corrected I did overlook the detroit. So now we have a Detroit and Spool for a 35 spline (and I was only able to find spools for the 33). I wasn't patronizing you VSOP, I followed your suspension thread with great intrest and never once chimed in with what overkillI thought you were considering with such a cutting edge set-up that was so unproven on a S197 mustang and apparently nearly impossible to assemble as of yet. What you may consider overkill with a 9" would actually suit someone like me who has been racing them since the late 70's (please show me numbers backing up the robbing power thing, cause I have built a lot of fast cars thatran a 9") . However,My car does double duty. I drive it every day with many long trips. This has kept me from changing the gears from stock so far. But I drag race on the weekends and often wish I had lower gears for the strip. While I feel I am holding my own at this point I personally like the idea of being able to change out my center section in order to have a street set-up and a strip set-up. Do that with your beloved 8.8". I have no need for anything other than stock brakes on this car. And keeping it close to OEM means easy repair down the road. I can build up two junkyard 9" centers (and hell yes I can do it myself!) . So that in mind I can without a doubt say that the aftermarket availability of lockers, limited slips, air lockers (ARB), E-lockers (Auburn Gear), spools, blah blah blah for the 31 spline axle makes it by far more desirable for someone like myself that might, just might, have a different reason for thinking about a 9" other than throwing down 1000 hp. I posted this thinking that there may be other people out there that may like the availability of a rear end that would really open up the possibility to have the best of both worlds while maintaining stock assembly and replacement parts.

forensicsteve

Well, I just had installed a Currie 9 inch rearend that came with trutrac diff, 4.11 gears, alum driveshaft, and some other stuff. I don't plan on 1000 hp but do 700+. The car also sees a fair amount of track and I wanted something bullet-proof at the rearso I could put some slick-type tires on without fear of breaking something back there. Maybe it is overkill for my present rwhp and traction capabilities, but I now it's done, and I can focus on the next weak link.

fordfanboy

That's a great set-up but the simple truth is with a tru trak, locker, or spool - some aftermarket axels and longer studs and 9" housing ends tube welded in - the 8.8 is bulletproof to 1000+ rwhp. There is no reason to fear the 8.8.

Now for Ghost, that was a point I didn't consider and think it has a lot of merit as an idea. I do think your thinking is pretty good as a swappable DD and track car. If set-up right, it wouldn't require much work to make the swap on the weekend and since you are on the stock gear, I can totally see your thinking for this set-up. Good luck in your research on it. If it turns out to be truly as easy as swappinbg midesction, then it will be a great idea. I know it 'should' be - but have to see it done to know for sure. I suppose you could already have your tunes set to to make the switch also when you do the swap. I'm very interested to hear feedback if you go this route.

However, this is the only idea that merits the the thought of a 9" IMO. Other than Ghost's idea, there is no reason to fear your 8.8 if you beef it up a little.