1952-59 Ford Help to find direction for a Build

Those rears are very close ! The spring perches might be a little of but I think they are very close to fit .
What gears are in it right now ? I am looking for a 3.00 to 3.25 , open is fine .

Jim

 

I think only 2.79 they have another one so will see what gears also but havent got a price on the rear yet only 1hr from house

 

got alot of my parts in yesterday that I ordered...def going to be taking up alot of space...

 

what do most recommend for stripping paint?

soda blast or chemically removeing

 

Read the post I just did about the different ways and the pro and con of them .


The rears gears most common in the Mustangs & Mavericks are a 2.79 and 3.00 . Very few had a 3.25 . But for a stock engine and an auto trans without O/D are decent on gas . If you have an O/D trans to use the gas on the highway will be great ! If you have a 5 speed standard trans the 2.79 or 3.00 rear will be OK . If you change to a bigger performance cam then you will need to bump the gears up to at least a 3.55 to 3.73 . If you are just using a mild RV or torque cam you can still use the 2.79 or 3.00 rear gears . That will save to money too . Personally is you have a stock engine or a rv cam the rear in the car you have now will be fine unless you try to make a drag car out of it . The rear you have now id a Dana rear .


Jim

 

I cant believe some junyard just quoted me 500 for a maverick rear

 

Just put a wanted ad on Craigs List for a Ford 8" rear for a 1964 to 1970 Mustang , Comet and Maverick . Don't pay over $200 . I got mine for $100 . Make sure you get the backings plates and drums and make sure they are not a 4 LUG AXLE ! If they do have one tell them that you will need to get new axles and cut the price down . Then take it home and have a machinist drill a 5 lug pattern for you . I have done that many times and works fine .
If it comes with a posi make sure it's a real posi and have them pull the 3rd member so you can see the numbers on the ring gear to see what gears you have .
Just some advise to go by .

Jim

 

I found a maverick rear 5lug complete for $200...finally should get in couple weeks

 

should I try to sell my original rear or just s****e it with another rear housing I have..

 

Your original rear will fit a 1949-56 Ford car(station wagons used a Dana 44) check the wanted cl***ifieds here and also post it for sale, $100 would be a fair price and give you some project $$ I have seen some ads pop up for 49-51 shoebox Fords looking for rears.

 

that works I'll see how fast I'll swap them out so I can post...getting the 8" on Sunday but need to pull the 55 dash for a buyer since im putting the 56 dash in

 

Jeff ,
That 55 Ford rear will fit under a shoebox Ford with no trouble . I just wish I could find some better gear ratios for mine in my 55 Ford . Then I would keep the rear ! I ave an 8" with 2.79 gears but will change them .

Jim

 

picked up the 8" it has 3.00 gears in it..so will just run that till I have to rebuild..should be able to clean up the drum housing and use..so im glad for 200

 

still need to dis***emble more of the car so can do some bodywork

 

what all can I do to the steering column since its a manual and im going to go AOD on the floor?

 

Finally found someone interested in the engine in my car so will be gettin that pulled and continue to dis***emble everything to do paint and body work

 

Keep us updated and with pics!

 

you have to pull the steering wheel to pull the column shifter out it's a pain. if you didnt already you can pull the clutch pedal from the brake pedal ***embly it's a little time consuming and difficult to put the bolt back into the brake pedal but once it's done it'll really clean up that area including around the gearbox.. keep an eye out for our power steering conversion a lot of us guys are doing. it's not too difficult..just takes time and make sure you have all the parts you need before hand.

 

I will be pulling the dash out and the clutch pedal setup...when I change over...ive got more time than money

 

just pulled engine and ****** yesterday...PIA inside a garage...

 

I am going to pull mine in a couple weeks luckily I have a big tree im going to hook a come-a-long to and should be too difficult I know what you mean about the PIA in the garage, I wanted to do it there but my ceiling isnt real tall and figure it might not get the engine and ****** high enough.

 

If you're interested in doing disc brakes in the rear, you could also try to find the rear end from a 95-2000 (I think) Explorer. They all had an 8.8" rear end with 31 spline axles. All had Trac-Lok and disc brakes. They came in several gear ratios up to 4:11. Plus, finding parts for the 8.8" is pretty easy. As far as the width goes, I know it'd be too wide for the car. I think they measure right around 62". I was gonna put one in my '63 F-100 and the 8.8" was 1/2" narrower than the DANA 44 that was in the truck. But, if you have a good buddy that'd do a little machine work for ya, he could shorten it and the axles pretty easy. Don't forget to have him weld the axle tubes and plug in, otherwise you have a weak point. Sounds like a lot, I know, but I looked into it for my truck, and it was actually gonna be pretty easy. The hardest part was gonna be welding the leaf spring pads on at the correct pont, but an angle finder was easy enough to get my hands on for that.

 

Im at a dilemma...

I cant find a good price to redo my cars bodywork and paint work...
I just dont have 8k to spend on this part of the project...
8k includes media blast everything...epoxy primer everything painting the frame..painting underbody and then 2 stage everything else...

I know im kinda of doing a restomod type setup on this car but wondering if I should do this or just buy another car that I wont have to paint for a while...

 

going to sell car so if I can part it out to get more then I will otherwise I have a roller for sale

 

Wow that is a big change from the first page. 8K for body work is cheap. Good thing you figured this out before hand because most people think it should cost $10.

 

yeah it is just didnt want to be 20k into this car...and still not have power steering/ or disc brakes..etc

 

still have car..have done nothing to it but sittin in garage...I keep going to car shows and im getting the ich back to continue this project...but space is a problem right now...

I have 2 harleys and a welding setup in the way plus all my tool boxes/ air compressor etc...I so need a new house with land to put a good garage on it