law727

Hello everyone I previously made a post about the ford 8.8's as I feel like one of the major restrictions for these fc chassis's no matter what is the differential and the transmissions, nowadays there is other options other than T2 parts and the amount of usable T2 parts is getting fewer and fewer. With that being said ford 8.8's can be found in practically every single junkyard and can hold gobs of power and have many after market gear ratio options making them a perfect option for the fc's. I know there is already a company that makes a swap kit for 8.8's into Fc's and it is fantastic quality from what I hear and I am in no way knocking there work I just think that another swap kit can be tested and sold for a more reasonable price making them more obtainable for all fc owners and give more of advantage in every way. I have the means and tools to possibly make swap kit for everyone I just want to hear what everyone else thinks and or if anyone would actually want them because I want to help everyone and further develop these chassis's, please give me feedback and let me know if anyone would be interested in this idea... thank you.

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iTrader: (7)

You do know that product exists already, right? Ronin Speedworks makes a Explorer 8.8 FC conversion.

law727

I appreciate your input and yes I do know that Ronin makes a kit already and ive heard it is fantastic and I am just thinking most people who are building a car for lets just say 400hp for simplicity sake do not see a advantage to spending the extra $500-$800 for a Ronin kit compared to people just buying a t2 diff that will hold that power for much cheaper and is basically a drop in replacement. but if there was a cheaper FC 8.8 kit that was competitively priced to the used t2 diffs Im sure some people would opt in for ford 8.8 due to it being overall stronger and better, basically if there was a 8.8 kit that was the similar priced as a t2 diff would people buy it...do you know what I mean ?

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iTrader: (7)

Honestly no, I don’t know what you are talking about lol. How would you use a TII diff with an 8.8?

Right now the 8.8 swap is about a wash with buying custom gears other than 4:10 or 3.90, and performance differentials start at a much cheaper cost for the 8.8. That is the advantage and value of the Ronin kit. If you want to stay with a 4:10 gear, you are right, there is little advantage, other than durability. The swap is a couple pounds lighter than a TII setup as well. Just swap in a TII diff and be done.

It is some $$ and effort to do the swap though. I have the swap in my car. I have an LS engine in it, so I had to regear the car.

law727

well thats good to know to know all I am saying is what if I personally ford 8.8 swapped my v8 fc and I want to help people out do you think people would be interested and consider it more of an option if I sold a ford 8.8 swap for $600, I want to make the 8.8 swap something more obtainable for the average person and if I sold a kit that was similar priced to a t2 conversion do you think people would buy it ?

Krem

1st of all, i must admit that i really know little about fc diffs, apart from the fact they are IRS,
i did however own a fc turbo that i was going to use as a parts car for my HB conversion and was planning to use the diff setup, but upon researching for stranger lsd kits i decided to pull the pin on that idea and simply run a supra/Cressida carrier and hilux lsd, they can be found everywhere as the G series diff centres are basically all the same, and are cheap as chips.

now i know that the hilux lsd has issues but mainly for 4wd and huge wheels, but a trutrac can be had at reasonable prices,
my axles on the HB will bolt upto the axle part of the carrier and the width is nearly the same,

now knowing the FC and the HB are similiar widths (by eye anyways), and the diff carriers look similiar sizes, this could be a possible easy conversion, I’m more than happy to throw up some pics of my supra carrier and measurements if that would help ppl

krem

law727

Yes Krem that is very interesting, so your saying you could use any G series or Cressida carrier and modify it into the fc case, I have heard of people who do the Kia diff conversion but if I am understanding this correctly this is something completely new. Would love to see pictures of this

Krem

No, you would have to use the carrier, and modify the mounts to mount it to the FC subframe, unless thats what your saying by the FC case.
it has to be a Cressida or supra carrier as they are IRS, most of the others aren’t, but the g series centres will mostly fit, i paid $150 (AUS) for my complete carrier and centre and another $120 (AUS) for a hilux lsd unit.

next time I’m at my workshop i will get some pics of the complete unit and some measurements, i only have an empty carrier here at my house, but if you google s3 supra diff, you will get the idea, they should be easy to make a few mounts for, and here in Aus, there are some rotors running single digits down the 1/4 with a hilux diff, so they hold the power pretty well.

krem

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iTrader: (7)

Yea I think people would buy it. I’m just not sure how you would get the price point down that far is all.

You need a mount, axles, inner and outer CVs, a carrier, housing, driveshaft and other misc parts to do the conversion. Just the parts needed are more than $600... and that is before you make the custom mount and procure the custom axles.

law727

Krem that is very very interesting I have never heard of that before I appreciate your feedback, and I am going to build a ford 8.8 fc swap kit and sell it to the community and I am settled on it here is my plan I am going to build a case mount that will be very light and an improved design I want to make it easy for people to take the pumpkin in and out very simple as I am sure people will be swapping gears or working on the rear end for various reasons so I am going to design it to be easy to remove. Overall I am thinking of using rebuilt ford 8.8 axles that I will turn down in the lathe to accept outer CV joints of fc rx7 so I am planning to sell the diff mount that will allow people to mount the diff securely along with custom axles to are much larger than stock and will hold more power, I was not planning to supply or modify driveshafts I was going to leave the driveshaft lengthening up the customer I will of course give the measurements needed to lengthen the drive shaft but overall, selling axles and mounting kits for an affordable price is the plan, let me know if I am crazy or if anyone would want one.

Krem

The biggest problem you would have is making sue that its a saleable product.

there is no point in making a product where the case will leak or crack, a light case would need to aluminium, and welding a flange to the case to mount it would create distortion which would then need to be surfaced.

then you have the actual innards themselves, you wouldn’t be able to sell a product (successfully) which has used bearings and substandard or worn gears, i mean you would, but would soon get a bad rep if ppl were to install your kit and the diff moans and clunks, thats where a lot of the cost comes in and needs to be accounted for, thats why the ready made kits are so expensive, the products need to be warranted.

then there is the R & D into the product itself, there is a lot of trial and error involved with producing a product like this, and not to mention engineering, there would be nothing worse than producing a kit like this, selling it to a 500hp car owner and having it fail and cause major injury or death,

i really think you could be on the right track, but there is a lot of thought to go into it, it takes time, materials and $$, then the time and materials you use to get the products right during the development stage costs $$ too, lol, it has to be accounted for, aswell as tooling etc,

A good person (i think on this forum) to speak to would be the guy who committed to make the V-Mount kits, see if he would be willing to share his knowledge and see if he would do it again,

ive been there doing this type of thing for a much simpler product around 25yrs ago, custom prefab door speaker pods and subwoofer boxes, i thought i had it all planned out, i spent a ton of time and $$ and it was a total flop, and that was a simple product, lol.

keep us upto date with your plans tho, and i dont want to be a major downer on your initiative, i was told many times that i would never become anything, my whole life, with dyslexia, now i own my own plastering/drywall business here in Tassie, and its going great and has been for nearly 5yrs now, so it can be done...

krem