Got a guy who wants to sell me a narrowed 9 thats was in his camaro with 15in tires. Says its 41 wide,center pinion. Has bracing on top and bottom, disk brakes, nodular center with 5:13 gears and 40 spline axles. Just wondering what it would take to possibly put this under the mav.
Considering spring perches in our Mav/Comets are 43" wide (center/center), not going to work in a stock, unmodified Mav/Comet. David
I knew that, just trying to get sense of everything thats involved with doing something with that rear end.
Kind of depends on what you have already, and how far you're willing to go. At the least, you'd have to move the leaf springs inboard, which, in itself, isn't too bad. That would involve welding on new leaf spring perches on the axle tubes, which any competent welder can do. You're going to have to fabricate new front and rear spring perches. The rears aren't too bad, as you can get rear sliders and weld those in with little drama. The front mounts are going to be a little more involved, You'll need the mounts to be on the same plane that they are now to retain your ride height, and they'll have to be built very solid. 1/8th steel plate isn't going to cut it. After that, you're going to have to address the rear frame rails and shocks. You're going to definitely have to reposition them, and if you're going to go through that trouble, you might as well go with new frame rails and coil overs or something similar. This is all if you want to retain the leaf springs. Depending on how narrow it ends up installed, you're going to have to either cut and extend your current wheel tubs, or go with aftermarket steel or aluminum. If you want to go with ladder bars or a 4 link, then you have those to purchase, as well as specific frame rails for whichever you decide to go with. The floor pan has to be cut and replaced, depending on which system you decided on. It's not exactly a bolt it, but, if you've got a good deal on the rear, it would probably be worth it. PS...if you pass on the rear, shoot me a PM with the guys contact info. I might be interested lol
Well unless you are going to cut up your rear section, tub out the wheel wells, install custom suspension and/or 4 link set up, gonna cost a bunch of money. What exactly are you going to do with your Mav? Unless you are going to hack up your car to make your buddy's custom 9 inch fit, you would be better off building a 9 inch to fit your car....
Well im pretty much at crossroads with the car right now, im not entirely sure where i want to go with it drag specific or a nice street strip. He just happened to get ahold of me out of the blue to let me know he was looking to part ways with it and thats why i asked the question, to get a sense of what it would take to go this route.
You'll pretty much have to back-half the car to use a rear that width, either a 4-link or ladder setup...
I agree with the others. Even if it were free.. probably still not worth the extra effort to try and stuff it in one of these cars.
But...If the axle is cheap/free...The chunk can be put into a proper 9" housing sized to fit your car...The center section is generally the most expensive part of the whole set up. Just a thought...
An excellent idea, no doubt. I was just somewhat dramatically pointing towards the hassles of trying to mount this whole deal under the OP's car as not being worth the added expenses. Sounds like a serious setup.. wonder if it's running a spool too. Also just noticed that the OP stated the pumpkin is centered out too. Not too sure.. would a centered setup even work in our cars?
Can't you remove the old tubes and replace them with the correct length and weld on new spring perches? Yeah I would at least get it for the center if it's cheap
The centered pinion does pose a problem. Also makes it easier to fab a housing...No offset calculatoins. Could re tube the housing but, when all is said and done. coulda had a proper housing fabbed up... In short: Not cost effective, even if you do go the whole tubbed/narrowed back half route.
If you have someone who can cut and weld this isn't that bad of a job, here's what I did. I took out my 8 and used it as my patteren, I shorten and cut the ends off the 9 and used the ends off the 8 so my brakes bolted right back up, used the axles as a patteren too and just order new moser 31 spline for my diff, got the leaf spring perches from summit and welded them on and that was it.
