8.8 swap

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8.8 U bolts and nuts sandblasted, and shot with leftover epoxy etch primer that was headed for the waste drum. These are actually in great shape. Will be spraying them with cast coat grey paint.

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I am really suprised not too many people responded to posts #594, 595, 596

Maybe there will be after i get these prototypes of these in my hands and post up pix.
 
Finally got last bracket off. I measured from center of pumpkin out to short side axle 21.50" thats exactly half of 43" for the center to center of the perches. I did this because this is the side thats not going to be shortened, and i'm trying to wrap my mind around this. My question is has anybody run into issues with the leaf springs hitting the caliper when running this axle without doing a spring relocation, or is there enough space there that spring compression isnt an issue.

I also cut the old brake hose tabs off the spring perches seeing if i can use these over, i measured roughly 7" in from the brake backing plate. That was rough center for the exploder perches. Was thinking it would be best to keep the flexible caliper line mounting close to stock location. I tried seeing if i could locate the mount tab against the axle tube. I plan on doing this with both sides of the axle and using 2 RH brake hoses. Bottom 2 pix are the left side with a RH hose.

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You don’t want to add a 1/2” spring offset kit? Now would be the time to do before welding your perches. You have a better selection of rim back spacing if you do and looking at your pictures would align the perch right over you weld on the axle tub.
 
Stock 8.8 vent hole can be used as well. Its 1 inch off from stock mopar axle location as measured from the axle pumpkin center out. Mopar one is roughly 11" this is roughly 12" however it uses the same 7/16-20 threaded hole as the mopar axle combination vent/tee block bolt uses making this a direct bolt on. The combination tee block-flex hose i am using is 1972-1976 A body, however i dont see why the earlier brass tee with seperate threaded in hose wouldent work either.

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You don’t want to add a 1/2” spring offset kit? Now would be the time to do before welding your perches. You have a better selection of rim back spacing if you do and looking at your pictures would align the perch right over you weld on the axle tub.
Car this is going under was hack minitubbed, going back stock width. Using fifth ave 15x7 steelies all around. Honestly i dont know how much your really gonna get out of a 1/2" offset kit especially with the rim size i got going under there.

I dont think it would align it right over the tab if thats what you mean? Theres a lot more than 1/2" between the perch and the weld on tabs for the brake hoses
 
Car this is going under was hack minitubbed, going back stock width. Using fifth ave 15x7 steelies all around. Honestly i dont know how much your really gonna get out of a 1/2" offset kit especially with the rim size i got going under there.
15x7 will work great but not much room for if you ever go wider. with just a 1/2 offset You have the possibility of 15x8 or even 15x10” if you pay attention to what tire your running and back spacing. Just a suggestion.
 
I will take that into concideration. The tubs were horribly done with aluminum, silicone, and pop rivets. Car is in storage at a buddys house outside of town until i can get it here. Plan was to make it a BBP disc brake roller , shorten the long side axle. and slide the 8.8 under it. Bolt it up with unwelded perches so it can be pushed around, and put in storage in my garage till the bond on the title runs out. plan on putting stock *** end sheetmetal back in. Heres the thing, you can only backspace these wheels so far anyways, then your going to hit the parking brake cables. Since it will be a street car in Texas, they do check to see if the parking brake works. In that case offset perches might work, not sure on the minitubbing if a parking brake will still clear with really wide tires.
 
In todays mail i should get prototype the mopar / explorer hybrid rear E brake cables. I will post pix as soon as i can.
 
May have found a blanking plug to eliminate the VSS sensor thats filling a hole in the carrier. I asked the seller for dimensions off of it and will pull and check mine to see if this will work. If not i may tap the housing with a pipe tap and put a plug in there.

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Just opened em up.
Without further ado, i give you

Business in the front, party in the back. Whoops no wait thats a mullet. Nevermind.

Its
Mopar in the front.
Xploder in the back

These are prototype cables. This is the first set of hybrid mopar 67-71 A body / 97-02 Ford Explorer rear emergency brake cables. After i test fit these, if all is good length and fitment wise, i will post part numbers for each side and where to get them. Probably wont happen till this weekend though.

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Just opened em up.
Without further ado, i give you

Business in the front, party in the back. Whoops no wait thats a mullet. Nevermind.

Its
Mopar in the front.
Xploder in the back

These are prototype cables. This is the first set of hybrid mopar 67-71 A body / 97-02 Ford Explorer rear emergency brake cables. After i test fit these, if all is good length and fitment wise, i will post part numbers for each side and where to get them.

View attachment 1715222294

View attachment 1715222295

View attachment 1715222296
i wonder how much different 67 and later cables are then what are used in early a body cars? Anyone know?
 
BTW for those who want to know, the R/H flex line that comes from the caliper that i am using for both sides is an SAE thread not metric where the axle hard line attaches to it. I will likely just buy a complete brakeline kit from inline tube for a 74 duster with front discs since i am going with an M body setup in the front with cordoba rotors, and the 69 cuda is the same wheelbase as the duster, everything there is a bolt in. I can just modify the rear axle line that comes w the kit to work on the 8.8 axle
 
I also checked the cable springs on my new cables. They are same length and diameter as the ford ones from the old cables, the slotted ends that hook to the emergency brake lever , and barbed ends that press into the cable bracket on the axle are identical to old ford cables as well.
 
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Here is what the seller gave me for dimensions on the blanking plug. Does annybody have this sensor out and can put a ruler to it to verify?

Dimension A =15mm
Dimension B = approximate 20mm
Dimension C =18mm

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I am really suprised not too many people responded to posts #594, 595, 596

Maybe there will be after i get these prototypes of these in my hands and post up pix.

I love the idea, Mat. But I made the locking collars and adapter bracket I fabed up work for us. Post 522 and 523. If I ever have trouble with a cable going bad, I'll go this route! Thanks for the footwork and sharing!
 
Thanks for the kind words. This was thought of more for those who may not have the welding or fab experience, or for a plug n play application to just get it done. I have the welding experience, and was originally going to mod a set of drum brake cables to fit. However the opportunity presented itself, and for not much more coin than you would pay for regular drum brake cables you would have to mod anyway, you end up with new cables with the correct attaching hardware on both ends, with no modification to anything being necessary.

I like your setup, and archived it with a couple others until i figured this out. Cost shouldent be a deal breaker on these either. I was charged $30 for the left, $35 for the right plus shipping. I am assuming this is what they are going to charge for these as a normal price based on materials and labor.
 
Thanks for the kind words. This was thought of more for those who may not have the welding or fab experience, or for a plug n play application to just get it done. I have the welding experience, and was originally going to mod a set of drum brake cables to fit. However the opportunity presented itself, and for not much more coin than you would pay for regular drum brake cables you would have to mod anyway, you end up with new cables with the correct attaching hardware on both ends, with no modification to anything being necessary.

I like your setup, and archived it with a couple others until i figured this out. Cost shouldent be a deal breaker on these either. I was charged $30 for the left, $35 for the right plus shipping. I am assuming this is what they are going to charge for these as a normal price based on materials and labor.

So I guess having them make equal length cables for a 1973 won't be a problem?
 
Nope. Not a problem. What they need is an initial set cables to template out if they do not have them loaded into their computer. I told em stock length 69 barracuda because they already had that loaded into their system with lengths, terminals etc, but with xploder ends on the back. They still want me to mock em up to make sure they are correct length.
 
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I'm willing to take a chance on fitment, if you'll post numbers and info. Thanks.
 
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