Thread: Please help is my 10 bolt strong enough

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I know, have known many people that ran 10 bolts without issues for years, but that is the weak link. If you are going to drag race it the 9" is the better way to go, and you won't be scared of grenading the rear.

I've watched the Mustang guys stand 'em on the bumper so much I dream about 'em. Those 8.8's are tough. One friend of mine runs 748rwhp through his and another guy I know runs 5.70's. I've got a nova rearend under my '35 but it's the little 7.5, or whatever it is...same length as an early camaro. I needed something to replace it so I got on the hunt for a Nova 8.5 and had no luck locally...the Mustang 8.8 were in the back of my mind though. I did a little research and realized the 8.8 is the same rear as the GM 12 bolt. the axle bearings,axle seals, axle splines, carrier bearings, c-clips and I think one of the pinion bearings are all the same. They've both got 12 bolts holding on the ring gear and they are manufactured by the same company. I measured the width of both rears between backing plates and the 8.8 was 3/16 shorter than the Nova rear. So, I marked the 8.8 backing plate around the housing with a sharpie. I unbolted it from the 8.8 and cut the center out along the marks. I centered it up and tacked it to the back of the nova backing plate. Then I drilled through the Nova backing plate using the mustang piece as a guide, making it the same bolt pattern as the 8.8. I bolted the nova backing plates onto the 8.8 with the 8.8 backing plate spacers in place and measured again. It's now 1/16 of an inch shorter than the nova rear between the backing plates. I then ordered a new set of Camaro/Nova axles from Moser, standard, not even custom axles, slid 'em in the 8.8 and slid the c-clips in place. The parts for the 8.8 are plentiful and cheap. 28 spline, 31 spline, C-clip eliminators, girdles, and gear choices are all plentiful. I now have basically the same rear as a GM 12 bolt with GM brakes and lug pattern and it is very easy to find. Best of all it can be done at home without having to change the length of the housing and it's way cheaper than that $1700 9 inch. The only custom work really is cutting off the old lower 4-link brackets and welding on new mounting pads.....No more hunting hard to find early rearends for me and these rears are proven to work.