What GM rear housing is the best fit for a 1950 Mercury 2 door coupe? I need a taller gear set like...3.73
Ford Explorer 8.8 is perfect and has 3" tubes for a little help with lowering. Both disc and drum,and a ton of gears and trac-lock available at all junk yards. Not a GM but thought I would just try and help.
The stock wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface of a 49-51 Merc is 61 1/4 in. You might want to go a little smaller if your car is going to be lowered a lot. In 1997 I met a guy with a 50 Merc in Daytona at the TRR and he told me he installed a 72-76 Nova rear in his 50 Merc. Said it was a direct bolt in and the spring pads lined up also. The car looked great. He owned a paint and body shop in NC. I saved his name and phone number if you want it.
Ether, I can't recall for sure but I think the Ford 8.8 in pumpkin is offset quite a bit to one side. Does that create drive shaft or sheet metal clearance problems? Do you know what the WMS to WMS distance is on the 8.8 disc brake rear? I want to say 59.5 in. but am not sure. Thanks, JIM
Find a 330 factory rear end, the DANA 44 is a solid rear end ! no fuss no muss, only hard as hell to find.thanks again Ether!
GM 10bolt Camaro Nova mid 70's early 80's. There about 1" narrower than the stock mercs. Easy to find and cheap as hell. The dana 44 that was mostly used in the baby Lincolns would be great but they are hard to find and expensive to work on. Also the dana 44 u-joint input flange is very weak when compaired to a GM 10bolt. Oh the GM rear end also has a diffenent wheel bolt pattern 5 x 4.75" so you will need different wheels.
Thanks for the help guys...The GM rear in there now is hosting 2.56:1 gears. I know it is a 7.5 10 bolt rear but still cannot figure the year of it. I was curios to se if it was cheaper to buy and install a new gear set in my housing or install a whole new rear that I knew had the right # ratio??? The body is off the frame too.
Well I'd think a 7.5 10 bolt GM gear set would be around $150, try Summit or Jegs. I'd just swap the gear if that's the only issue. Are you sure it's 2.56 gears? I recall GM offering 2.73's, 2.56's would be maybe late 60s Chevy's?
Just for more info- IF it has 2-something gears..... You MIGHT have to replace the carrier,as a 3 series gear might not fit.. ALSO- What wheels are you planning to run with? I will be using the stockers myself,AND,if switching to that nova rear,can the axel have enough room to be re-drilled to 5x5 1/2? Just a thought....Good luck on your build!
I used a 9" out of a 59-61 F-100 measures 61" stock merc is 61.25". Let me keep 5.5 bolt pattern and run my stock wheels. I did have to move spring perchs though. It allows the use of any 9" gear sets. Just another option.
I'm about an hour away from you, and have 2 or so complete non OD rears (3.92) and 1 or 2 OD rears (4.27). If either of those work I would be ok with a trade.
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