t-bird 8.8.

[muh'stang]

Picked one up with the driveshaft today for $116 from the u-pull it yard. No brake assembly or drums. How can you tell if its trac-loc? did they ever come trac-loc? its an '87, auto so i presume it has 3.73's? Is the driveshaft too long? Yeah 20 questions I know but theyre quite simple.

 

[TIMMY2734]

You can use your stock driveshaft. It should be a trac loc unit. Whether or not it still works is hard to say. Check the tag on the diff cover to be 100% though. The rear also used disc brakes, not drums which is one of the advantages of the swap

 

[MadMatt5oh]

The rear used drums unless it was a Turbo coupe. Auto turbos would have 373s with discs 5 speeds would have 355s with discs. As just a plain jane t-bird? Damn, I had a few! Its an unlucky grab bag at best. You probably have 273s

 

[BlackFox5.0]

Open it up, does it have an S-sping between the spider gears? If so, it does.

 

[TIMMY2734]

im assuming that he does have the turbo coupe rear, seeing how its a very popular swap

 

[MadMatt5oh]

im assuming that he does have the turbo coupe rear, seeing how its a very popular swap

True, I wasnt being contrary on purpose . Hopefully he's talking about a turbo rear

 

[muh'stang]

no it was a 5.0L, had drums. Ill go check the tags tomorow. I wasnt planning on picking up the rear end untill i spotted the t-bird. I know the t-birds are a bit wider, that inspired me to start pulling it. Plus my car has a 7.5.

 

[MadMatt5oh]

Damn, looks like you pulled a 273 bro

 

[MadMatt5oh]

As far as I know none of the 87's offered an HO option on the 5.0s

 

[muh'stang]

2.73's in an auto?

 

[MadMatt5oh]

As far as I know yeah, my first car was an 87 Cougar 5.0 non HO and it had 273s. Hopefully Im wrong bro, I doubt it though

 

[muh'stang]

well i can always not take the gears if they 2.73's, I need the housing and the axles anyways.

 

[MadMatt5oh]

Yeah, and that would probably do

 

[351LX]

There is an 87 T-bird at my local wrecker with a 5.0 and it has a 7.5" rear.If you pulled an 8.8 out of it chances are it came from something else so it could have any gears.

 

[muh'stang]

Its an 8.8 for sure. Im heading to the scrap yard to pick it up.

 

[muh'stang]

ok so its not 2.73:1. I marked one lug and pointed it at 12o'clock, then I put a wrench on the pinion(?) nut and pointed the wrench at 12o'clock. It took me 3 1/4 turns on the wrench to get the marked lug back at 12 o'clock. Did they make any gears for 8.8's in the 3.10-3.30 area? Its not 3.45 or 3.55, and im fairly certain they arent 3.08 or 2.73.

*something I noticed*-when I disabled the drivers side axle from spinning, it only took me in the ballpark of 1.5 turns of the wrench to get the marked lug back to its 12 o'clock position.