Ford 8.8 install in my 67 coupe

[ZPD]

Hey guys, I don't post here very often but I do a lot of lurking. I thought that I would post up the results of my Ford 8.8 swap into my 67 coupe.
I have owned my car for a few years and the rearend always had a whine to it. I have built axles before for other vehicles and so I pulled the third out of my 8" and discovered that the front pinion support was broken. Rather than buying a new third and gears I decided to find and axle out of a 96+ exlporer.
The 96 and newer Exploders had disc brakes which is nice and are fairly close to the same width as my 8". They are also common swaps that people do in Jeep YJ's and XJ's. I found an axle out of a '99 Exploder with 40k on it for $250.
I cut the old perches off and welded some new ones that I had from a previous axle project. I also welded on some nuts to hold on the brake lines because the original exlporer spring perches were used as a mount for the brakelines.



There are a few problems with the 8.8. The pinion is off center and it uses a unique flange on it. To deal with the flange, I took it off and ordered a yoke for a 1310 u-joint (1 1/16" caps) from Inland Empire Driveline




When I mocked it up I found that a flange on the housing would hit my exhaust due to the pinion being off center.


So off it came via my sawzall and grinder



I painted the axle, bought a brakeline adapter, some new u-bolts and bolted it up. I also used the Explorer u-bolt plates (left plate on the right side and right plate on the left side)and bought some adjustable shocks off of ebay for a newer mustang. This part was a bit of a gamble but it paid off. I needed a shock with a stud on the top and an EB1 eye on the bottom. After a little bit of persuasion with the hammer I was able to adjust the position of the lower shock mounts in a good place.





After all that I gave it another coat or two of paint and put it in. Well it all works well but there are a few problems. I was afraid that the offset pinion would cause some issues. There are not any noticable driveline vibes up to 90 mph (I haven't taken it over that due to steering issues) but the yoke hits the tunnel when I hit a bump. I would imagine that if I had left that flange on then it would have been worse. This may be caused by the 4.5 mid-eye leaf springs I installed which made the whole car a bit lower than I expected. I also need to redo the bumpstops because right now they do not hit anything. Ultimately I think that I will try to find a long axle shaft (one side is shorter than the other) and lengthen one side of the axle and redo the perches. This should center it a bit better.

[Huskinhano]

Your pictures aren't working.

[ZPD]

pics fixed- hopefully

[Scode67FB]

I did something similar for 65-66 Mustang application. I converted the housing to use 9" late style "Torino" ends and extended one side slightly. I used 31 spline axles from a 81-82 F100 since these have the regular 5 X 4.5" bolt pattern, and had them shortened to match the housing. I hate C-clip axles. The pinion is now centered, but the project hasn't been completed because I hadn't figured out the shock solution. Are you sure the late Mustang shocks fit and operate properly?

[ZPD]

I was afraid that the compressed length of the shocks would be too long but they don't bottom out before the tires hit the fenders. The shocks I bought have an adjustable rate so I drove it around on different settings until I found one that I liked.

[Scode67FB]

Installing the Explorer 8.8 automatically lowers the rear by about 1/2" due to the differenece in tube diameter.

[ZPD]

Originally Posted by Scode67FB

Installing the Explorer 8.8 automatically lowers the rear by about 1/2" due to the differenece in tube diameter.

It actually lowers it by the difference in the radius of the two axle tubes. I think that the 8" tubes are 2.75" (or is it 2.5"?)and the 8.8 is 3" diameter. The perches I used were some leftovers from a Jeep build and they were a little taller than the 8" axle perches so that added to the lowering as well. The whole car was a bit lower than I was orignally expecting but it still looks good. I need to redo the bumpstops though because they are not hitting anything. The shocks, however, are installed on the u-bolt plates so axle diameter does not play a factor in shock length.

[6d6coupe]

I just ordered the KYB shocks for my 66. I am doing the same swap. I hadn't even thought that I would have to get different shocks.

So the 65-66 rear shocks will not work with this Explorer rear-end? And you said you used the explorer mounting plates, but had to swap right to left and vise-versa?

How much was the yoke? I will have to order one soon. You used the stock driveshaft with no problems?

[ZPD]

The stock u-bolt plates won't work because the 8.8 is larger in diameter so when you buy larger u-bolts they won't line up with the holes on the plates. I took the exploder plates and swapped them side to side because on an explorer the shocks are behind the axle and on my mustang they are in front of the axle. I couldn't use stock shocks because they use a stud type mount and the explorer u-bolt plates use a eye mount. I also had to tweak the shock mount on the u-bolt plate a bit to get it to line up.
The yoke was around $65 and I didn't need any mods to the driveshaft other than a new u-joint.

[6d6coupe]

Do you have the Part number for that yoke? I didn't see it listed in the website. Is that 1310 u-joint the stock mustang size? And the shocks were standard Late Model Mustang Shocks?

[ZPD]

Go to here: yoke at the bottom of the page is PY-8.8-1310.
The 1310 u-joint has a cap of 1 1/16" and a width of 3.291" which matched the yoke on my 67 driveshaft. The shocks I used were for a 94-04 GT

[6d6coupe]

You are really helping me out. In fact, I am doing a 66 project, and my roomate is doing a 65. We have a pair of these Explorer rearends sitting in my garage as we try to figure this out. WE REALLY appreciate your help.

I suppose the driveshafts are the same 65/66 as 67/68? I have yet to hunt this down. Where can I find the lengths of these drive shafts? I was keeping my finger crossed that I may be able to re-use the explorer shaft, but imagine it is too long.

[ZPD]

No problem. If you like I can measure my driveshaft length tomorrow night and post it. After all was said and done I had about 1/4" of travel left in my slip yoke when the axle was fully compressed. It is close. When I center the axle I may have to shorten the drive shaft just a little bit.

[6d6coupe]

Awesome. I would really appreciate that. Does anyone know if his 67 driveshaft is compareable to what I need in my 66?

[ZPD]

u-joint to u-joint is 51"