Thread: Project "Left Overs" is back alive !

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Don - a place that most overlook is the lowly Pinto. Although they have 4 lug axles many, not all, have the standard everyday 8". I found a very nice 3.40 ratio punkin that I ended up using in my 'bucket

Oh really, I didn't know they had 8 inchers in them. Problem is, you never see a Pinto anymore, or a Vega either. I'd love to have one of either to make a little drag car, but they have all been gobbled up, or are so pricey these days.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Oh really, I didn't know they had 8 inchers in them. Problem is, you never see a Pinto anymore, or a Vega either. I'd love to have one of either to make a little drag car, but they have all been gobbled up, or are so pricey these days.

Don

The ones in the rust belt ended up at the crusher quickly but there are still a few left in back woods salvage yards - if you can get in to do a wander. And that was only some of them that had the 8's. Guess I shouldn't have put my last two out for the trash collector last summer

Nice job on the shortening, can't even tell where the were cut!

What are you still doing up, Steve? Oh, that's right, you are in California., 3 hours behind us.

Thanks. When Dan proposed that we cut 2 inches off of them I was really looking for another solution. It just seems wrong to cut up a new pair of $ 300 wishbones. But he was right, as usual, it really made them fit much better. One thing about Dan, he isn't afraid to cut something up and start over.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

One thing about Dan, he isn't afraid to cut something up and start over.

Don

With his skills he should have no fear. Dan does beautiful work.

Getting back to the 8-inch Ford rears, this was told to me by a friend who is a devoted Ford guy. I make no claim about the accuracy: The 2.79 and 3.00 were probably the most common gear ratios (Both of mine are 2.79s). The 8-inch rears were used in Mustangs, Falcons, Fairlanes, Comets, Mavericks, some Mustang IIs, and a few Pintos; 2.79s in automatic trans cars and 3.00 in the sticks. Other ratios and posi units were "special" for performance cars. The Pintos and Mustang IIs that came with 8-inch rears were the V-6 cars. V-6s were more common in the mustang II than in Pintos, but Ford made some of both.

Jim, the tried and true 8" was also used in the Granada/Monarch, many smaller motored Torinos and many more misc Ford cars. Most 200cid 6 cyl manual Granadas used the 3.50/3.55 while the 250cid versions used the same 3.40 as the Pintos. That differential out numbered the 9" by a lot. It will hold up well on the street up to 400-450Hp as long as you don't have drag slick kinds of tires and continually do hard launches. Before you crawl under or buy a Granada rear end, a warning that some of them used that odd ball drop out the back, Chebbie type rear end. And, unfortunately there are too many of then that were 2.75/2.79/3.00 ratio

Don I usually get home around midnight from work, so I see your late postings from what must be 3a.m., so I take it late night nights at the shop are probably cooler in florida. When you guys work that late what time do you get up at?

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

What are you still doing up, Steve? Oh, that's right, you are in California., 3 hours behind us.

Thanks. When Dan proposed that we cut 2 inches off of them I was really looking for another solution. It just seems wrong to cut up a new pair of $ 300 wishbones. But he was right, as usual, it really made them fit much better. One thing about Dan, he isn't afraid to cut something up and start over.

Don

Steve, since I have gotten older and retired my sleep patterns have changed a lot. I seem to sleep in 3 hour shifts now and it drives me nuts. Last night I got to bed around 3 and was back up at 6. I plan on going back to work somewhere in the late fall, so hopefully I will start sleeping regular hours like before.

You are also right about it being cooler at night here, so I sometimes go to the shop and work late, but now the mosquitos are so bad they eat me alive.................can't win. Fall can't come too early for me.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

..............it drives me nuts. Don

Some would say that's a short trip.

(NOT me of course, just some...)

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Steve, since I have gotten older and retired my sleep patterns have changed a lot. I seem to sleep in 3 hour shifts now and it drives me nuts. Last night I got to bed around 3 and was back up at 6. I plan on going back to work somewhere in the late fall, so hopefully I will start sleeping regular hours like before.



You are also right about it being cooler at night here, so I sometimes go to the shop and work late, but now the mosquitos are so bad they eat me alive.................can't win. Fall can't come too early for me.

Don

Bats eat mosquitoes..................LOL-I am just saying

Don If you don't mind, since I have never built a front end of this type why are the wishbones adjustable. It looks to me when the spring is anchord you have nothing to adjust anyway???? As I said If it dosen't take 2 pages let me in on whats going on
Thanks

Thanks, Dave. Good info to have. I'd like to find a couple of those 3.50/ 3.55s for a reasonable price. Anything for an 8-inch around here is scarce and at least double the price of a 9-inch. Ford may have made millions more of them, but they apparently didn't survive. Everybody wanted the 9-inchers, so the 8's just got scrapped. The Spicer style "drop out the back" rears have been common since the 70s and that's about all you see in the junkyards around here...

The 9-inch has been around since 1957 and was used in full-size cars as well as trucks and vans. Do you know when they stopped making them? Just a few years ago I could buy them complete drum-to-drum for $50 - $100; now $250 is sonsidered a steal. Supply & demand I suppose. That's what makes the Toyota pickup rear so attractive...

Charlie, the wishbones as they come stock from Ford on these earlier cars are not adjustible. Ford just kind of counted on their wishbones being straight enough to put the axle in the correct spot for proper alignment. But when you split the bones you have to use some sort of rod end on each one, either a spherical rod end or a tie rod end, and those screw into threaded bungs. You then have the ability to dial in the front end alignment by shortening one wishbone and lengthening the other side.

As for being able to move the axle, actually, it will pivot on the spring perch in the center. All that keeps the front end from swinging on that spot is the tightness of the perch bolts, so if you loosen that up you can move the front axle anywhere you want, within the limits of how much threads you have left on the rod end. What you want to do is initially square up the front axle to the rear axle so that both are going in the same direction, then use the adjustibilty of the rod ends to fine tune the alignment. It's funny how big a difference one turn on the rod ends will make in changing the wheelbase from one side compared to the other side.

Don

Jim
They are like gold around here. I paid 350 for my Ford 9" off a econline van(same width as the 48 ford, and direct mount match with the leaf springs, but that included switched out 3.0 gears and new brakes and decent drums. I thought it was really expensive but it took a month just to find a wrecker with the setup I needed!

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

Thanks, Dave. Good info to have. I'd like to find a couple of those 3.50/ 3.55s for a reasonable price. Anything for an 8-inch around here is scarce and at least double the price of a 9-inch. Ford may have made millions more of them, but they apparently didn't survive. Everybody wanted the 9-inchers, so the 8's just got scrapped. The Spicer style "drop out the back" rears have been common since the 70s and that's about all you see in the junkyards around here...

The 9-inch has been around since 1957 and was used in full-size cars as well as trucks and vans. Do you know when they stopped making them? Just a few years ago I could buy them complete drum-to-drum for $50 - $100; now $250 is sonsidered a steal. Supply & demand I suppose. That's what makes the Toyota pickup rear so attractive...