ok guys its time for tim to learn about the maverick rearend. as most of you know i purchased a 71 grabber 302 car with a 3 speed manual trans and the rear gear ratio is 270 or something like that. i wont have the car for another week but its time to see where i want to go with this car. for now i want to leave the basic car stock. but i do want to change the gear in the rear or the complete rear. now what is involved with just changing the gear and what should this cost and what is needed. how strong are the stock rearends. do you just change the gear on these or the third member. i might want to run some custom rims just to switch the look of the car from time to time. i was looking at a set of rims and tires sizes are front 17x8 with a 4.50 backspace tire size 235/45zr17 and the rears are 17x9 with a 5.00 backspace tire size 275/40zr17 would these even fit? the set up that is on the car is what i think is called magnum 500 i guess this is a factory style wheel for fords? please guys be patient with me i have been a chevelle guy for 25 years. its going to take time to learn the ford jargo and parts. thanks tim
Well where to start. the 8in rear will usually with stand 450hp if not doin 5000 rpm starts.there are gear ratios from 279, 300, 325, 350, 380, 411, 462. just pull the chunk(aka hogshead,centre section) and reinstal 1 with the gear ratio and posi you want. probably 2hrs or less to do. regarding wheels and tires. Do lots of measurements and make sure the larger dia will work with the 4in or better offsets. Most use a 15in with a 3.5 up to a 41/4 offset with 275/60/15s BFG.JMO
Magnum 500s are a popular rim if in good shape. the centre section ranges in price from 500 to 800 new, but you might find 1 used depending on the ratio.I have several centre sections with posi or spools. but just to costly to ship. weight cost money. If you know the person selling those rims , ask to try to see if they will fit in. He shouldn't object.
so what are your thoughts on the 9 inch lincoln versailles rearend. i have seen some coments that this is a bolt in rearend and you can have discs on the back? is this true. tim
yes the versallis rear disk brakes are pretty much exclusive to that car they are getting hard to find parts for and they are not the most effective disk brakes you can get for the money involved in putting them on. You get the stuff for the rear from mustangsteve and do a front disk brake conversion also and be time and money ahead and end up with a better end result. As for the little ford 8" it pushed alot of ford cars around for years from mustangs and mavericks and took allot of abuse from many a teenager(and their parents) at many different horsepower ranges (and I hate to say it there are a good many people that mistake it for a 9") and it has allot better reputation then a C-clip corporate 12. ..So yeah unless you are going to go extremely wild or be really abusive to the car the 8" should work just fine especially in as light of a car as a maverick, just get a better gear ratio.
If a 8in is built rite, Good axles and the good chuck housing ( i think they have 3 horizontal and 3 vertical bars). They will stand a lot of abuse, I would be safe to say that without STICKEY tires you probably couldn't break it in a Maverick. At somewhere around the 400 hp range with sticky tires, The main caps will break in half.
so what would one use if they wanted to upgate to a nine inch? what is out there that is a direct bolt in with very little modification? tim
Most of the 9" axles you will find are under trucks/bronco's or the big ford cars like an LTD so they will all have to be shortened or you will have to change the backspacing on your rims. If you are going to go that route you would probably want to talk to Currie. If you are just worried about an axle that is similar dimensions and has disk brakes you should look at an 8.8 out of an explorer or an lincoln, they are a little bit wider and you will have to cut all of the extra brackets off of the housing and put leaf spring pearches on the housing. They are a good axle that will take a good deal of punishment, they use the same bolt pattern as the maverick 5 lug and they are fairly easy to find, and have the newer style disk brakes if you get the right axle. If you use the search you can find a bunch of posts about those axles. http://mmb.maverick.to/search.php?searchid=1802559 also the explorer axles come with gears like 3.73 and posi units from the factory so they can actually save you some time. Also if you want to use the new style wheels like the 17" on the new mustangs it would be almost what you would need so you dont have to run wheel spacers.
If i may suggest also, what is your long term goal. do you want a stick or auto? are you going to update it to Overdrive? these two questions will change what gear you will want later on. i am still tossing around the AOD idea, but would have to budget the rearend to change at the same time.
my goals are to pull the factory 302 and set it aside, then i would like to purchase a 347 turn key crate motor. at this time i would like to keep the manual trans or maybee put a 4 speed in the car. thats why i want to get the rearend done and out of the way. if its cheaper in the long run to just buy a custom 9 inch that has been made for the car then i might do that. i dont have to have rear discs for now. i just dont want to get into cutting rearends and making things fit. again not to sound lazy, but i build cars 6 days a week. on this car i wont mind swaping parts around, i just dont want to get into makeing parts and customizing everything to fit because then the car will never get done. the last thing i need is another custom car to build. i will drive this car hard. most of the chevelles we do have a minumum of 500 horse and most are in the 650 and up range. i will try to keep the mav in the 400 horse range. i figure a good motor, nice trans, and rearend for now, and i can live with so so paint for awhile. maybee in a few years i will strip the car and give it a real nice paint job. for now, just go no show. tim
so i guess i would be better off just contacting a place like currie rearends and see about having them build a rearend from the dimentions of my mavericks 8 inch. that way i can swap them out and be done in a day. tim
