My '68 Mustang fastback came with a fairly typical 8" open rear end with 2.79 gears. Most people pitch the 8" and upgrade to the now famous 9" Ford rear end due to its strength. My expected flywheel horse power is 350-400 and I don't plan to drag race it so I think the 8" will be fine. However, it needs a fair amount of work before I can get put it back in the car. The stock drum brakes don't fit with my restomod theme so they got replaced in favor of 2003 Mustang Cobra 11.65" discs. The conversion kit from Mustang Steve was used to adapt the Cobra calipers. The 2.79 gears were replaced with a 3.50 True Trak limited slip center section. The housing got a thorough cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. New brake line will need to be plumbed but I will get to that.
A couple of before pics. Getting the rear out of the car was very difficult since the leaf spring bolts in the front of the car had seized to the leaf spring housing. The only ways to remove the bolt is a home made press or a sawzall with a carbide blade. The hardened bolts just laugh at bi-metal blades so don't even try them. Even with a good carbide blade it's quite a chore.
To remove the axles you just unbolt the 4 nuts behind each hub and pull the axles out. Remove the 10 bolts holding the center section and pull it off. Of course in my haste to remove the housing I forgot to take the axles out first. So when I cracked it open I couldn't remove it but all the oil was spilling out everywhere (no drain plug). If you have never coated your garage floor and most of yourself in 80 weight oil you don't know what your missing! YUCK!
As you can see from the previous pics the housing was VERY dirty and rusty. I sanded it down to mostly bare steel and found that it was lightly pitted from rust. To prevent the rust from coming back to bite me I cleaned the metal with PRE paint prep and then hit it with rust converter paint from www.eastwood.com. Some satin chassis black over this and it looks great.
Just like the front I went with the Mustang Steve Cobra brake conversion kit. I am using the 2003 Mustang Cobra PBR calipers with 11.65" cross drilled and slotted rotors. The kit is fairly straight forward but it does require a bit of engineering on the users part. You must fabricate your own brake lines as well as a bracket to mount the soft line. The axles have to be pulled to get the bracket installed and while they are out new seals are a good idea. With the axle off you have to cut the old bearing off, then install the bracket and press on new axle bearings. Then replace the axles and you are ready to go. Its a fair bit of work and requires some engineering but it sure comes out nice. If you want an easy weekend project buy SSBC or Baer brakes which have complete kits with all the parts you need.
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