85 gs with 302, rear end question
 

hey all i have an 85 gs im swapping a 302 into, motor is from an 88 f-150, switched from the efi to a carter afb 625 cfm aluminum intake and bbk shorty headers, the rest is stock for now. just wondering what you other guys are running for the rear end? ive seen modified ford 9 inches even been told to swap a tII rear end in. ive got an extra rear with the drums as well to swap in if i blow this one, just curious whats the best way to go in the future

thanks in advance, David

Forgot to mention I have a C4 for the transmission

What horsepower is that motor rated at?

Sorry totally missed this, before everything I changed the motor was 185hp and 230ftlbs I believe

My 5.0 Ford was dynoed at 250 hp to the rear wheels, which is about 300 hp at the flywheel. My 84 RX7 weighed only 2650 lbs with this engine and a mechanical AOD trans. I drove it on the street for 9 years with the stock GSL rear end, no problems. If you are not going to run more than 300-350 horsepower and you do not drive like a complete idiot, your stock rear end will be adequate. Your best choice would be an 84-85 GSL rear end with the disc brakes. If you are going to build a high powered drag racer, ignore this post.

However, if you are going to be street driving, I highly recommend an overdrive trans or your engine will be really screaming when you drive on the freeway. DO NOT buy a Ford AOD trans or you will regret it. When you can afford it, buy one of the later Ford overdrive automatics and you will have the capability to make it shift when you want. The people at Transgo and Baumann will give you a lot of bullshit about how they can make your AOD work perfectly, but they absolutely do not understand how those transmissions work. I wasted a lot of time and money before I figured that out.

Some details of my swap are shown here: stilettoman.info