mustang rear end conversion

[66blue mustang]

i'm doing the I6 to v8 conversion om my 66 coupe.i'm needing a 5 lug rear end. at a junkyard today there was a granada that had a 5 lug drum brake rear end.the owner said that it was a chunk rearend axle though. i did learn that meant that it did not have the cover on the backside to get access to the gears. what are the advantages and disadvantages of this type rearend?

 

[PickupMan]

The one out of the granada should bolt right up. I never did measure the granada rear so I would just to make sure it fits. The advantage to having a "chunk" rear is when you get the 8" rear from the granada and it has 2.79 gears in it you can "Chunk" them when you pick up your 3:55 Posi off of ebay for a cool $400 and "Chunk" it in, in less than an hour. (I did mine a few weeks ago about an hour before I was supposed to be at a wedding!!!! I love ford rears) disadvantage...??? it's an 8" and not a 9" rear!

 

[bnickel]

should be basically a bolt in, it might be a tad bit wider that what you have now but it shouldn't present much of a problem, you just need to be careful when oredering aftermarket wheels to make sure you get the correct backspacing. like i said though it should be basically a bolt in.

 

[LMan]

Some Granadas had gears as tall as 2.75, so take a look at what you are getting....and find a 3.55 quick

 

[65up2d8]

I may be mistaken here, but I believe that all of the Granada rears were 9" differentials. My understanding has been that all Monarch/Granada/ Versailles rears had 9 " differentials, but that all Versailles and only a very few Granada and Monarchs had the disk brake version 9" rear. If I am mistaken, I would appreciate anyone's correction as I don't want to mislead.

 

[bnickel]

yes you are mistaken. ford put almost all of the passenger car rearends they were using in the granada/monarch/versailles at some point. from the lowly 6.5 salisbury rearend, the 8" , the 9" with drum brakes and the 9" with disc brakes

 

[geostang351]

Yeah, my granada rear from '78 is a 3.00 8"

 

[65up2d8]

Okay, I stand corrected. However, Pickupman siad that he's looking at an 8" rear end. How do we know its not a 9"? Were all of the 9's disk brake equipped?

 

[bnickel]

not all 9" granada/rearends are disc brake rears, but all of the disc brake equipped granada/monarch/versailles rears were 9" rears. helpful?

the only way to know for certain is to look for the identifying features, bottom 2 bolts on the third member can't be reached with a socket on the 9" and the 8" is more squared looking than the 9".

chances are it is an 8" and not the 9" since the 9" was basically only used on the police/taxi granada/monarch cars, although i beilieve there was a heavy duty use package for the grandada that consisted of the cop/taxi suspension and running gear also the 351 equipped cars got the 9" as well.

 

[outlaw66]

I want pickup man to lead me to the location on ebay for the 3:55 posi "for a cool $400.00" I've been checking and the best i've found is the $550.00 range.
I need a "chunk" now and $400 sounds great.

outlaw

 

[LMan]

IF you can live without a trac-loc, 3.55 8" open chunks can be had for as little as $150.00

 

[bnickel]

you can look for the 3.50 or 3.40 trac lok rears in pinto/bobcat wagons and some mustang II's with the v6. they are actually quite plentiful in the v6 pinto/bobcat wagons believe it or not. they are your best bet for a used one.