8.8 swap

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moparmat2000 said:
Kit i saw by strange was made for the 8.8 flanges, no need to weld on some from a 9"axle for that kit. Stated it would work with any 8.8 axle measuring 1.4000" diameter. Disnt say if it would work with rear discs though. Said up to 04 mustang and cobra R . Those had rear discs. I bet they had caliper mounted parking brakes though where the xploder rears use a shoe brake type parking brake.
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I read on an exploder forum that C-Clip elims are not needed on a disk break rear end as the axle will be held in by the rotor and caliber. Makes sense to me!
 
moparmat2000 said:
Picked up this kit w koyo bearings off evilbay on a 15% off one day sale $65 shipped. Also during this sale i picked up a yukon gear crush sleeve eliminator $45, and a yukon gear clutch kit with friction modifier, and new cross pin bolt for $56 both with free shipping as well. This is going under my sons car with a mild 318, A904 combo so i'm sure the 31 spline axles and non carbon fiber yukon clutches will be fine.

Started cutting off the brackets and grinding the welds down flat. Got the 2 trailering arm brackets off and done. Will be doing away with the rest of them this weekend. I dont plan on doing a spring relocation on this car however. I have mopar performance spring perches i plan on using. They are for a 3" tube but they fit pretty damn close.

Got a few questions. How well do these axles fit with the long tube shortened to wqual length without a spring relocation kit in regards to the brake calipers. Is there enough clearance? The width center to center on my perches is 43" . Just eyeballing that with a tape measure it looks close especially when cutting 2&7/8" out of the long tube. Was measuring to get and idea where to cut mine. Was thinking to make the cut and splice where thr LH spring perch would straddle it to help with strength.

I also hit up rockauto for rear flex lines for the calipers, rotors, pads, caliper rebuild kits, parking brake shoes, hardware kits for shoes and calipers, and a 457 U joint. When the smoke clears i am prob going to be into this thing about $450 done and rebuilt w all new parts. Thats a number i can definitely live with. Still concidering another xploder 8.8 for under my 67, and selling my fully rebuilt/restored never used 3.73 and locker 8.75 A body rear for $1600 lol

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I measured 12” from the pinion housing then made my mark for the 2 7/8 to be cut from...when I finished both axles are 17 1/4 .

I don’t know if mine was a happy accident or not but when mine was finished the perch did land in the middle of my cut...but I did do the spring relocation on mine...but if your not doing it as you say...the Cut will still be under the perch but not by much.
 
Makes sense on the whole caliper assy holding em in place if the C clip lets go. That stuff is pretty beefy so i doubt that will happen.

The back of Patricks car has a halfway decent spring relocation done to it, but a horrible minitub job. I was going to go back stock width, and leave the relocation brackets intact, and can always minitub the correct metal going back in the right way withva cut n strap deal later on. However barracudas have yuuuge wheel wells. You can stuff a 275 60 under there with the right wheel offset and not have to minitub one.

My short side measured exactly 17" from where the tube meets the center pig,out to the inboard or back side of the axle flange. When i measured on the long side it would be exactly 2&7/8" to get it to 17" on that side. China freight doesnt carry the big tubing cutter anymore. I guess i will need to borrow one from somewhere , or just buy a cheapie for 2 cuts. Lol.

I am concidering how to build a pinion snubber for this one. Thought about building an adjustable one into the body pointing down that the axle could contact under hard acceleration, however I may just put on a pair of black painted slapper bars under it.
 
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moparmat2000 said:
Makes sense on 4he whole xaliper assy holding em in place if the C clip lets go. That stuffbis pretty beefy so i doubt that will happen.

The back of Patricks car has a halfway decent spring relocation done to it, but a horrible minitub job. I was going to go back stock width, and leave the relocation brackets intact, and can always minitub the correct metal going back in the right way withva cut n strap deal later on. However barracudas have yuuuge wheel wells. You can stuff a 275 60 under there with the right wheel offset and not have to minitub one.

My short side measured exactly 17" from where the tube meets the center pig,out to the inboard or back side of the axle flange. When i measured on the long side it would be exactly 2&7/8" to get it to 17" on that side. China freight doesnt carry the big tubing cutter anymore. I guess i will need to borrow one from somewhere , or just buy a cheapie for 2 cuts. Lol.

I amconcidering how to build a pinion snubber for this one. Thought about building an adjustable one into the body pointing down that the axle could contact under hard acceleration, however I may just put on a pair of black painted slapper bars under it.
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Spring relocation only...no mini tubs.

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I just saw a post Thursday a guy drilled out the plug holes and pressed the tube out and cut the tube off there a lot cleaner and not as much welding I’ll see if I can find the thread
 
All the tubing cutters i been finding on evilbay are
1" - 3" will one of these fit over the 3&1/8" tube
 
Find a fire/sprinkler company. Or call the union pipe fitter shop and see if someone could cut it for you. You will be surprised how nice people can be and you won’t have to buy a cutter. Where are you located I can make a call for you
 
Finished pictures of our 8.8 swap. Moved hangers in against the frame, rolled the wheel lips. 275/60/15 on a 15 x 8 with 4.5 back space.

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Yep, plenty o room, and thats an early A. I figure that 69 barracuda will have plenty o room without rolling any wheel well lips. Actually going w black 15x7 fifth ave steelies all around w chrome lug nuts. The street fighter look. I figure if he wants something different at that time he can use his part time job money for that.
 
loganscuda said:
Find a fire/sprinkler company. Or call the union pipe fitter shop and see if someone could cut it for you. You will be surprised how nice people can be and you won’t have to buy a cutter. Where are you located I can make a call for you
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Its all good. I will figure something out.
 
moparmat2000 said:
All the tubing cutters i been finding on evilbay are
1" - 3" will one of these fit over the 3&1/8" tube
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I bought an item 330506672491 and it fit. When I bought it it was described as 1 to 3 1/2 inch. Now it says 1-3 like you said. Probably the same tool. Maybe you could call. Do you speak mandarin? Lol
 
Only one RH perch remaining to cut off, but the left sides finally ready for the big cut down. Used an air angle grinder with cutoff discs and some grinding pads. Worked this ***** over in 100° heat today from about 11am to 4pm. Then hit it with a light coat of rattle can primer so i can mark it for where it needs to be cut, and keep flash rust off of it. I am betting that cutting these damn brackets off and grinding all that **** flat is the worst of it all.

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Going to ask my buddy to TIG the tube back together, and TIG the axle tubes into the housing for me.
 
Found this on evilbay. Says 1 to 3 inches. I wonder if it will open far enough to do 3&1/8" tube. I just sent a question to the seller asking if the jaws will open wide enough to do a 3&1/8" OD steel tube.

I was thinking an idea on this would be that i could buy it, use it for my 2 cuts, then offer it up here for what i payed for it, plus shipping to the next guy doing an 8.8 cutdown. When they are done, they can offer it up to the next guy for cost plus shipping for doing an 8.8 cutdown, etc. Kind of like a community tool. Ends up being a freebie for everybody.

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Ok, i am very excited to write about about the parking brake cable deal i am working on for the 8.8 swap. I have a pair of specially made rear parking brake cables for my sons 69 cuda coming from a US brake cable manufacturer as prototypes for this rear swap. They waived the engineering fee of $135 per cable to make these up because i told them a lot of guys are doing this swap, gave them the fabo web addy, and where to find this thread on it. This would make the Ford axle parking brake a plug n play deal.

Heres what they made up. They are "brand new" manufactured stock unequal length cables for a 69 barracuda. The cable end at the front is terminated for the A body chassis, these are A body length, and the axle end is terminated as a ford explorer. All the pieces on the axle end of the cable are made to fit an explorer rear. No drilling of axle cable brackets, no custom make it fit ends, no hokey ****.

I should have them in my hands on monday for pix. They want me to test fit these, which i will do to be sure , but i already know they are going to fit. Prices are going to end up being about $30 for the left, and $35 for the right plus shipping. At least thats what the 2 i just bought cost me. They gave me tentative part numbers that they are going to use for these cables. They just want to see if they need to be a little longer or shorter and finalize the length before i give the part numbers out on fabo.

I know these unequal length cables fit 67-72 A body, but does anybody know if the same cable number and length go farther back year wise. I also mentioned to gentleman i talked to that 73-76 the cables are equal length in case anybody wants a set for the newer A body cars.

I will keep everybody posted, and as long as they are quality pieces and fit , i will give y'all the manufacturers info, phone number, part numbers etc.

Thanks
Matt
 
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I originally bought new drum brake single front cable and dual rear cables for 69 barracuda from these guys. My intent was to modify them like lots of people on this thread do. These drum brake cables are really nice cables with nicely terminated ends i have no doubt the disc brake cables will be the same quality parts. I will probably put the drum brake rear cables up on fabo to sell since i wont be needing them.

They do a lot of extended length cables for lifted 4x4s. When i saw these looked made to order, i inquired about having custom made ones that were mopar at the front, explorer disc at the rear. I sent an email about it to them at about 6am this morning, got a reply before lunch, answered their additional questions, and before 4pm they sent me an email back , when i called i was told these custom cables were already made up and ready for me to purchase. Now thats some service!!!

While i was talking to Greg, their tech engineer guy, he said he understood what i was dealing with having done a rear disc swap years ago on an early camaro, and having to make everything fit as nobody made the pieces for the swap.
 
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Heres a pic the drum brake rear cables i ordered from them that i no longer need now lol. If these are any indication, the disc brake ones will be just as nice.

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What is being used for the rubber flex brake line that runs from the rear axle, to the hard mounting point on the body? Is is a standard size, or metric?? Not sure.
 
Its actually a metal outer sheath incased in a hard rubber coating. I can measure the outer diameter of this part of the cable. The inner cable is also coated with a clear vinyl coating.
 
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Oops, sorry, I guess I wasn't specific enough. I was talking about the rubber brake hose that runs from the car to the axle, not anything to do with the emergency brake cable. Sorry.
 
I will be using a 1974 mopar A body rear chassis flex line with built in tee fitting attached on original ford xploder axle vent hole with a mopar axle vent/bolt. Explorer vent hole is 7/16-20 thread. This is same thread as the mopar vent bolt cap. Its also to within an inch of the mopar mount when measured from the axle center.

I will bend and double flare my own rear axle lines with SAE thread at the Tee, and metric thread at the caliper flex lines ends. Also using 2 RH caliper hoses with 1 on the left. Going to make brackets off the backs of the spring perches to attach the caliper hose brackets. Clean n easy.
 
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