IF I were doing this ... I would find a 57/59 Ford p***enger car rear end ... and weld on the correct spring pads. The 57/59 Ford rear end is 2 inches more narrow than the stock one. That gives you a additional 1 inch per side ... The 9 inch Ford is one of the easier rear ends to work on and it is STRONG. Plus they are way better looking than any of the above mentioned rears ( except the 55/57 Chevy ) ... no ugly bolts on the rear end. They also have the large selection of gear ratios ... and the axle bearings are on the axle shaft ... not in the housing like the 10 bolt Chevrolets Go here for a online tutorial on the 9 inch Ford. http://www.kevinstang.com/Ninecase.htm
I used a '84 monte carlo rear. 2" narrower...if I remember correctly. Hacked everything off of it and put bags, 4link, shock mounts. But I'm sticking with the str8 6, and a new T-5. Not going to be a power beast.
"But as long as you're going 4-link you may as well look at the mid-80s G-body Monte Carlo and the like, maybe you can use the existing mounts on the housing. They will fit under - even the 80s fullsize will fit, although not a ton of clearance with the later rims on." The G-body 80s rear is almost 3 inches narrower than the stocker. I used an 83 gutl*** rear under my 50 delivery. It allowed me to use my 15X8" americans. They had an inch and a half positive offset and even so I still had to do a little hammer work on the inner wheelwells to clear the 285/70s. Tire clearance was super tight but with a little "lip surgery" the tires cleared ok....er except when I had a full tank and hit a big dip at speed. BTW, that whimpy little 7.5" rear axle lived behind a hotrod 400 sbc with a 12 inch clutch and a 4 speed. Car weighed 3300 lbs with full tank. I beat on the car and it never broke...new owner finally broke the ****** but the rear axle lived on.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
Found the wheel bearings at Rockauto.com http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php Looks like they are about $80.
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