Does anyone know if I can put an 8 inch rear end from a 2dr mav into a 81 fox body mustang? will it fit with no fabrication?
the hot rear ends for those mustangs are the 87/88 thunderbird turbocoupe rear ends. those rears can be had for CHEAP, $150ish from the yards, they are an 8.8 rear, and come from the factory with 3.73 gears (auto) or 3.55 gears (manual),track lok, AND rear disc brakes. It's a direct bolt in to the fox years, right down to the rear discs. (need slight mods to the brake lines) do a search under turbocoupe rear on google, corral.net,stangnet,foureyedpride, and you'll get all your answers.
The Maverick is a leaf spring suspension and the Mustang is a coil spring suspension. The upper control arms on the Mustang mount to the rearend housing. Extensive modification is needed on an 8 inch to make it fit.
ok...i know where a thunderbird is...80s.....i got the front seats from it already....the rear end according to wht you say is "they are an 8.8 rear, and come from the factory with 3.73 gears (auto)" will this bolt into my 71 maverick?? this has me all excited now....if this will fit....the one that i know...still has everything on it...i might get the guy to sell me the entire rear end assembly for less than 200...and it still has rims and tires on it,... will it fit...
It will not bolt in. You will need to remove all of the brackets from the new rear and weld on new spring perches. The upper trailing arm brackets on the 8.8 may cause interferance issues with exhaust on a Maverick. The rear will also be wider which will require the correct offset wheels.
as I read the original post, I think the original poster asked if an 8" will fit into his mustang, that's why I told him to get the turbocoupe rear, as that will fit into a stang, not a mav. There are some people here who have successfully modified that rear into a mav though.
The 3.73 rear with disc brakes was only on the Turbo Coupe Thunderbirds. The engine must be a turbocharged 4-banger.
