8.8 swap attempt
 

Starting my 8.8 rearend out of a 96 Explorer. 3.73 gear with LSD. Door code was D4.

Test fitted the rearend under the car with 5 lug mustang wheels. Looks like the mounting section of the wheel will have to be shaved 3/8 of a inch for the wheel/tire to fit under the stock fenders. Tires are 26/10.5/16 ET streets.

With the Explorer axle it looks like the pinion is offset to far to the right side of the tunnel. Narrowing the left axle two inches would center the pinion in the tunnel perfect. This would also allow for less offset wheels. ( curent wheels are 5.5 offset but need to be 6" ) Staying with the stock axle length and making adjustment with the wheel offset. It does look like the tunnel will have to be modified on the passenger side for the drive shaft. BFH adjustment.

Staying with the 3.73 gear with 26" tires for now. Have run 4.10 gear with 28" tall tires with good performance.

Will try to post progress photos as the project continues.


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Awesome project! I look forward to the updates

Ended up narrowing the drivers side axle tube to accept a stock passenger side axle. Total 3 inches shorter.

Now the pinion sets perfect in the trans tunnel.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-10163139.jpg

Drivers side axle tube is 20 inches long

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-08111405.jpg

Passenger side axle tube is 17 inches long

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-08111351.jpg

I used a large pipe cutter to make sure the cut was strait. Yes it was allot of work but was more confident making a strait cut with the pipe cutter then my chop saw.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-08152056.jpg

Three inches was removed from the drivers side axle tube. To help with alignment, the removed section of tube was cut in section and clamped over the axle tube. A axle was installed to also help with alignment.

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Weld the tubes to together then use the "alignment tools" and weld them on to help strengthen the axle.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-08165406.jpg

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Pic of the difference between 28 and 31 spine axles.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-08113401.jpg

This is my first time trying this and know there are other better ways of doing this to ensure the axle is strait in the rear end housing.
Welded with a 110 Lincoln mig welder

I have seen people use some type of sleeve that slides perfectly inside the housing to keep it aligned straight.

What are you gonna use as far suspension/watts link set up?

Talked with a few people and they also suggested the insert tube idea. Most are for the mustang axle tube which are smaller.

If doing it over or again= I would cut as close to the outer bearing as possible. If the axle alignment is off, it would not be as bad closer to the end of the axle tube. The cut was made close to the diff cause I was planning to use the stock mounting tabs. It turns out the stock mounting tabs are not going to be used.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-12144357.jpg

Goto finish welding and rounding off the corners for a better look.

Using the stock mounting points on the chassis. Enlarged the hole to 3/4. Axle tube holes are 5/8. Heim joints. Making my own rods from 1 inch OD and 3/4 ID heavy wall tubing. post pics later today.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-13130817.jpg

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Almost done. With 3 inches cut out of the drivers side and one inch wheel spacers added to both ends the tires fit perfect. 16x8x5.5 backspace with 26x10.5x16 ETstreets.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-14112234.jpg

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Mounted the upper pan hard bar bracket to the passenger side frame rail.

Springs are from a FC cut and modified to fit. The coilover adjusters are from a honda civic. Shocks are monroe's

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-16102850.jpg

Nice work. Some good innovation going on here. How did you meausre the left to right and front to back placement of the rear? Or did you just eye ball it all with the tires installed?

What was the over all length from brake rotor face to face?

56.5 from end to end. Measured where the wheel mounts to the brake rotor.

Allot of eyeballing and measuring with the tires/wheels on. Made sure the tires where centered in the wheel well then after everything was done, measured from center of rear axle to center of front hub. And the pan hard bar centered it from left to right.

The hardest part was trying to get the lower bar level with the ground. Trying to measure/make the lower link tab took the longest. If off the self brackets were bought things would have went allot easier but my cheap butt has to try and make his own.

Also trying to get the upper link to point toward the middle of the car was kinda hard. Upper link is kinda short but the axle does move up and down easy and smooth. Pinion angle does not change while moving the rear end up and down.

SEEMS good but will see very soon. Have a few other things to do then it off to the track.

At ride height.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-18154733.jpg

Spacers to run 5.5 backspace wheels.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-18145201.jpg

Using the stock side break cable. Used some wire to check fitment. Works good. Not to figure something more solid.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-18145212.jpg

Side brake cable had to be tied to the lower arm. Kinda sharp turn but workable.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-18145242.jpg

Looks great man!

Exhaust under the rear end. 4 inch turbo back to the rear end then 3 inch under.
Will be changing to full 4 inch as soon as a 4 inch muffler is found.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2-20124830.jpg


Had a chance to take the car to the track just for a few test passes. 111mph with no issues. Nice a strait. Hoping to hit it hard in a few weeks. :lol:

What drive shaft did u end up using??

Your going to have to get one made. Mine cost me 350$

Car looks mean great job.

what did this end up costing if u mind me asking

Rear end 200$, narrowed it myself
Another short axle was 20$
Driveshaft was 350$

Made my own axle brackets. 1/4 flat steel from home depot. around 30$

Hiem joints 3/4 hole and 3/4 thread. Chrome molly. Five right and five left handed thread and jam nuts. price them through Jegs http://www.jegs.com/i/Competition-En...oductId=963687

I used 1"OD 3/4" ID round tubing for the bars. 20$ from the local steel store.

Had to buy a left and a right 3/4 x 20 tap. 50$ for both if I remember right.

Shock hangers on the axle were 20/30$ from jegs. http://www.jegs.com/i/Competition-En...oductId=752128

Long wheel studs from Jegs. 25$ http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performan...ductId=1224592

Shocks are 22$ each.
Springs, had them laying around.
Spring adjusters, had them. honda civic fronts.

Junky welding was done by myself.

No wheel spacer required if 4.5" Back space wheels were used. My wheels are 5.5" BS so I ended up using 1" wheel spacers.

Driveshaft
 

I had one made to fit but to keep the cost down I should have bought one from the junk yard and had a driveshaft place shorted it and replace the front yoke with a turboII one. Probably save half the cost or more. Also the stock explorer driveshaft is aluminum.

cool man well i hope to get mine up in running soon so this thread helps ...

Managed to get a 26/10/15 ET slick under the car. Wheel is a 9inch with 5.5 offset.
Required lots of fender bending.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4-26115416.jpg

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Also replaced the 373 rear gears with some 410s. Not much of a difference but the motor feels like it pulls through the gears faster.

So far car has run high 11s at 129mph spinning the very old ET streets, 1st through 3rd gear. Hoping the new ET slicks will put the power down with out drifting the 1/4 mile. :lol:

Awesome work man!

Im hoping to do this swap on my turbo FB soon.

very nice. how much would you charge if you were to mke one for someone else? i need to do this to my car.

Went 1.46 60ft the other night. So far so good. Stock turboII transmission.
Going for 1.3# 60 ft time. :lol:

Nice 60ft, whats your 1/4 time? And can you post more about you setup

You had a second gen before correct?

Yes, use to have a white 2nd gen around 5 years ago

Still testing a few things but here's the slip.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...8-30082214.jpg

Short shifted out of 3rd gear. To much wheel spin and let off a bit in 4th gear. Installing a rear spoiler hoping that eliminates the wheel spin. 1/8 mile mph is down around 10, drifting has no place on a drag racing track.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...9-01124154.jpg

Nice man!

Post some videos, I would love to see her running down the track. Big thumbs up!!

Your diff setup is exactly what I have been looking for! Any idea where to get the tool for alignment with the larger 31 spline axles? and where did you get that big pipe cutter?

Pipe Cutter - Get this Pipe Cutter for less at Harbor Freight

Cut three inches of the driver side axle then inserted a shorter axle and kinda just eyed it strait. then welded. It is only for 1/4 mile at a time so getting it perfect was not a concern of mine. So far it's done around 100 1/4 passes and no noise on the return road back to the pits.

Attachment 694385

1.38 60ft
stock turboII trans
running rich at the top of each gear, reason the mph and some et is down.
4.1 gear with 28 x 10 x 15 Hoosier slicks


Attachment 694386

Car looks mean! What did you have to do to fit the 28" tall tire in the stock wheel well?

Have you played with the instant center for better launches ?

??
How much better 60ft you think a stock trans can take?

Just looked up what instant center is. Not played with at all. Using the stock mounting location on the chassis and there are no adjustment on the axle. But the bottom bar is level with the ground and the top one points downwards toward the middle of the car. Between the middle of the door and bottom of the front tires.

There is no fender left. Top is cut out to the max and cut out 2 inches from the front and rear wheel wells. It's ugly but that's how I roll.

But not afraid to go 100% throttle in 3rd and 4th gear. Now to turn the boost up where this S480 like to be.

you will have to make adjustment points either on the rear end housing or on the body.i also have a set of custom links that are adjustable so you can change your pinion angle.there are some nice gains to be had if you know what to do with the 4 link.

How much better can the 60ft time get with a stock trans?

You may be right that the 60ft can be improved with a few pinion adjustment but is it going to cost me broken trans output shafts? If you know the trans can take some 1.2 or 1.1 60ft times then I will make the adjustment.

there is another first gen on this forum running i believe in the 9's on a stock t2 tranny.i think it was from demented performance.just out of curiosity why did you put such a big tire on the rear ?.

:lol: Please do not compare my car to another car. Only thing that MAY be the same is the body style.

The motor and turbo in this car has gone 145mph and did do 9 second pass. Car was totaled a year ago and in the process of getting everything transferred over to this car and retune.

Reason for the 28s. it's hard to explain but to calm the car down. Watch the video of the car you mentioned and you'll see what I am talking about. On page 3 in the drag racing section

Instant Center Calculator for drag car suspensions

There you go. Just something I thought could help if you need it.

Btw, did you keep the stock link lengths?

I wish I could make angle changes but did not make provisions to move the rear arms up or down. But I am going to do some measurements to see how far off things are. Thanks for link post.

side note. In the process of installing a aftermarket trans. Hope to be done in two weeks. :egrin: As some one told me "should be a game changer here in san antonio import scene" Will post some pics in a few days.

Broke three turboII trans since going with the 28s Hoosiers. Case cracks at 7500/8000 rpms in 3rd gear. At least the wheel spinning has stopped.

broke 5th gear at/just after the 1000ft mark.

Just a bit more info on the set up.

The upper link is 8 inches and lower one is 19 inches long

Lower link is parallel with the ground. Upper link point toward the lower part of the front wheels.

Installed 10 inch 100lbs rear spring with new Monroe 31089 shocks. 11" compressed and 16" extended, 20$ each.

Video shows how the rear squats now with the new springs. Going to install a larger jet in the flow control valve to get the 60ft times down. currently getting 1.5s
Now that the two step issues are getting better, increasing the flow control valve jet should net me better 60ft times.

replacing the front struts next week. current ones are blown and not keeping the front up on launch.

Forgot to add, pinion angle is zero with the drive shaft. So drive shaft and pinion are in a strait inline. If there is a angle it would be the pinion face upwards 1 or 2 degrees.

Since all joints are solid hiem joints and when the car squats the pinion angle goes downwards.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps7upppyjq.jpg

Finally bought some wheel that fit without adapters or spacers.

5.5 backspace with tire with a 11.7 section width. Tire is a 28x10x15

It looks like a 8 inch wide wheel would fit perfect.

Attachment 655464

I bet with a smaller tire like a 9inch one the backspace could be increased to 6.5 and still fit nicely.

Attachment 655465