7.5 to 8.25 swap findings

Hi, Thanks. Just about to go back out there and get cracking on putting the rear in.

At the moment I'm going to keep the '71 springs as they were pretty new on the car when I got it. I'll probably end up upgrading though when I get into the V8 swap. Maybe some super stocks, but not sure as yet.

On another note, I forgot to mention that I have limited space to do the swap. At the salvage yard I unbolted everything and pulled the rear end out from the side of the car. Plenty of room there.

At home no such luxury. So, what I did after getting the 7.5 unbolted all the way was to take the tension off the springs by jacking the rear up a bit and then take the two bolts out that hold the rear spring perches in place. I'm not talking about the side bolts where the spring slides on, but rather the two bolts that bolt straight back that hold the whole perch on. The whole spring then drops down and out of the way so I could roll the rear end out from under the car. Worked really well for the removal of the old one. Had the car high enough on jack stands placed in front of the axle on the frame of course. That way the old axle could slide right out the back.

I then bolted the old rear wheels back on the old one so I could roll it around and out of the way easily. On the new rear I have the wheels bolted on so I can get it rolled easily in place behind the car. I'll then jack the rear up a bit and take the wheels off as the car is not high enough for me to just roll it all the way in place. Once the wheels are off again I then plan to lower the rear enough to clear, roll it in place, pivot the front up a bit using a block of wood so that the springs can be pivoted up on the front mount and align with the perch holes straight. I'll then bolt the U bolts and shock plates in place on each side to attach to the spring and then jack the rear up so that the whole assembly pivots on the spring front mounts and allows me to align the rear spring mount plates and bolt them in. Hope that makes sense.

From there it is just reattaching the shocks, brake line, emergency brake cables and putting the wheels back on and should be done apart from bleeding the brakes.

I'll post how I get on. Need to get out there and do it!

Cheers