F-body rear in A-body
- Thread starter devildart
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That's going to be about 4 inchs wider than the A body unit. Wheel will need a lot of offset to clear.
DionR
Well-Known Member
I have one in my Valiant, but I am using 97 Mustang wheels. I measured mine out at 59.5" wide, same as the early B-Body that seems to be the best swap for an A-Body. BTW, that put's it at less than 2.5" wider overall, little less than 1.25" wider per side.
If you have 1.25" that your wheels could move out, you're good to go to swap it in.
You will need to remove the old perches, and weld new ones on at 43" center to center. If you do them one at a time you can do it without having to mess with finding the pinion angle, too.
I say go for it. People have been putting early B-Body 8.75" axles in A-Bodies for years without deep offset wheels, I think it corrects a factory flaw anyways.
If you have 1.25" that your wheels could move out, you're good to go to swap it in.
You will need to remove the old perches, and weld new ones on at 43" center to center. If you do them one at a time you can do it without having to mess with finding the pinion angle, too.
I say go for it. People have been putting early B-Body 8.75" axles in A-Bodies for years without deep offset wheels, I think it corrects a factory flaw anyways.
Wider front track than the rear. It really irritated me in my Dart, when you looked at the car from the rear you could clearly see how much narrower the rear was than the front.
DionR
Well-Known Member
Exactly what Badsport said. Rear axle always looked like it was grabbed from the wrong car, never fit like it should. But that's just my opinion.
I think it was missed when the car was stretched 1.5" in '67, or the factory took the shortcut of never dealing with it.
If it's about the same dimension as the early B rear it will work. Move the perches in on each side to the 43" center and bolt it in. In a 69 Dart you will more than likely have to run a deeper backspace on the wheels.
I put an early B 8 3/4 in My Dart in my sig pic and it works just fine, although I have more wheel well than you do. I'm running stock Rallye wheels with a 4" backspace.
Here is an article for you to read.
http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/..._0404_8_3_4_rear_axle_housing_swap/index.html
I believe it happened when the redesigned the front for the V8, they made it a little wider to compensate, and just left the rear alone.
cudamark
Well-Known Member
So this is just a "visual" flaw for the '67 and up A-bodies? Man, there were a lot of those!
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