I am on the quest to get a somewhat inexpensive 9" for my 66. what is the best bang for the buck going with a new housing & internals or finding an old housing and having it shortened and internals replaced? I have a hard time finding 9" rears around portland area.
the route i took was i bought a rebuilt pumpkin off ebay (3.25 posi, 28 splie) for $340, got a housing cut for me at a nearby shop for 240$, and then reused my axles from my 8 inch. With a couple bucks of supporting hardware, i got the thing complete for under 600, which I think is pretty good. I've heard the 28 spline axles can hold until about 400 hp/tq with decent tires, so they should be good to go for me.
You're going to be hard pressed finding a 9" to bolt right into your car. Maybe you should talk to some shops around you about getting a housing narrowed. Then you can pretty much find one out of almost any vehicle to put in your car. And shop for a center section like Sad did and you'll be in good shape.
:OT: Hey SadbutTrue, are you ever going to make it down to Diego? I'm moving into a new house next month and it looks like my 70 is going to make a trip to Arizona.
hrmm, i can try to over xmas break. I might head down there eventually anyway to visit my bro who goes to UCSD. Is your new house still in the area? And good luck with the trip, i still don't trust my car enough to take it on a long distance voyage as of yet. I'll definitely give you a call if I'm heading down that way though.
I'm moving a couple miles down trhe road. We're going from a two bedroom to a three bedroom. Too bad the garage doesn't get bigger as well. We're towing the car out there. It would be kinda hard to drive it with no engine, tranny, interior, steering wheel, and pedals. But it would be fun.
the rolling would be fun. I could see getting it stopped being an issue though. Gimme a call sometime, definitely look me up if you're in the Ventura county/San Fernando valley area over the holidays or during summer, or in the Bay area during the school year.
if you can find the rearend from a 76-79 lincoln versailles it is a bolt in and has disc brakes as well. i have one for sale but it might be more than you want to pay, though