Which rear...8.8 or 9"???

[slow46gt]

Gonna be picking up a 01 WS6 next week and am already thinking about upgrading the rear before spring. I have a couple locally that are around $100 for the housings. Just wondering which everyone preffered to fab and why.

[jmro]

The 8.8 is the way to go if you are able to fab it up. there are guys that run them up to 1000hp. It has less power loss than a 9in, and will not cost a quarter of what a 9 will.

[slow46gt]

Good deal. I have owned several Mustangs in the past so the 8.8 is nothing new to me. I have done several gear swaps in them. Just wasn't sure what most people were going with in an F-Body.

[slow46gt]

Anyone have a good write-up on how to get the 8.8 fabbed to work in an F-Body?

[Firebirdjones]

Much easier to drop a 9 inch in there. The 8.8 has no provision for a torque arm, and unless you want to delete the torque arm with a 4 link setup then the 9 inch is the way to go. Very simple to adapt. We were doing it to 3rd gens long before drop in housings were made.

Once you have a 9 inch narrowed to the correct width it's as simple as calling Currie, they sell all the brackets as well as the torque arm bracket that easily adapts to the 9 inch. Much less headache and a cleaner install.

There are those that try the 8.8 route, sometimes by brazing a torque arm to the cast iron center section, and some even go out of their way to adapt the 7.5 axle tubes into an 8.8 center section (which are different sizes by the way) and in my opinion just looks like a hack job. No need for that when the brackets are out there to be bought.

It's up to you, but you'll need fab skills either way, the 9 inch requires less fab skills and is much simpler. If not, then a ready made drop in unit is the way to go.

[slow46gt]

Thanks for the response. I will definitely look into the 9" also. I am all about less fab work as I would like to be able to take it to the track this spring to get some numbers for it being a full exhaust car only, so I can do some comparison after the next round of mods.

[Cutlass]

Anyone have a good write-up on how to get the 8.8 fabbed to work in an F-Body?

Here's the only one I can remember seeing.
http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2537811

What is your fabrication skill level? Almost no one fabs in a rearend for these cars when you can buy one off the shelf. Plus the torque arm mounting scares people away from fabbing a rear

[Firebirdjones]

Ya I've seen that, and I don't mean to take anything away from Southpaw, but if I fabbed a housing for a customer like that, I'd be out of business.

Much better ways to go about that. For starters, why bother trying to adapt the Fbody axle tubes to the 8.8 center section just because it has proper brackets on it.
He would have been much better off buying the brackets new, and welding them to the 8.8 axle tubes, and then change the ends to a 9 inch style hub/bearing setup, from there the brakes are a simple bolt on. Then you have a bolt in 9inch style axle without C-clips, much stronger and safer, and a much cleaner install that way....because whether you adapt the tubes, or simply weld on new brackets,,,,,,you'll still have to setup the tubes or brackets with an angle finder for proper location,,,so nothing was avoided by using this method.

Fabbing shouldn't scare people away. When it comes to the 9 inch it's a piece of cake. Currie makes the torque arm bracket, it only installs one way, you can't really screw it up. They also sell the correct spring perch brackets as well as the lower control arm and panhard bar brackets. These brackets only require a tape measure and an angle finder, along with some welding skill.

If you really wanted to save money, you can carefully cut off the factory brackets from the 7.5,,,radius the mounting area to fit the larger axle tube, and weld them onto the 9 inch.
I much rather prefer to buy the brackets new from Currie, they come already made for the larger tubes. Saves time and time is money.