I can't wait. This Mav is gonna be one bad bitch! From what I've gathered, it should be a direct bolt in!
Hope you don't need any flex lines for the calipers, they are are almost impossible to find these days.
We had a complete Versailles here at the shop. A friend of mine used the whole drivetrain for his 32 coupe..
You might think about converting the 9" to Crown Vic or Exploder rear discs. Like Dave pointed out, the discs on these are unique to a 30 year old car, so the parts are getting very hard to find, and expensive when you do. The newer brakes were fitted to millions of cars, so cheap parts will be around for a long time. Edit: I'm refering to service parts that you will need time to time, like calipers, rotors, hoses, pads, etc...
I'm gonna leave it stock width. Is there a place that will cut down axles if need be? As far as the flex lines, there has to be something out there that will work. I'll also have to figure out wheel offset too! The pinion flange is not an issue because I'm putting a different center section it.
you can cut an axle with a chop saw. there is usually 1/4 to 1/2 and inch of spline that you can cut off. if you need to respline you can send it to dutchman axles, or currie. the problem with resplineing is that axles are case hardened. that means the outer surface is hardened only. when you respline you cut the new splines into the soft metal. most companys wont reharden when they respline. also the versaille has 28 spline axles. they are just as strong as the 8" axles you currently have. is really not worth spending any money on the stock 28spline axles. have new 31 spline axles made or use cut to fit axles made by superior axle.
in my restoration thread i described where i got them, it was pretty easy in the end... the hoses can be made to fit, the mounting brackets should be used from the old hoses.
I'm confused by this talk of cutting axles. I've read of numerous Versailles swaps without cutting anything (Charlie Ping, Sam Mangano). In fact, I have a Versailles bolted into my '73 jack-stand racer, and I don't anticipate any problems. I did get a conversion kit from Currie Enterprises to convert the brakes to 2003 Mustang Cobra brakes. Parts for these are more readily available, and the calipers don't share the Versailles tendency to crack on the "hat". I also got my new flex lines and a Lockar emergency brake kit from them while I was at it. Before putting the diff under the car I also had a 3:23 gear set and a rebuilt Ford posi unit installed in it.
If you want to narrow the rear slightly to make it the same as a Maverick width, why not just narrow the housing and fill it with Maverick axles? Like mentioned, they are equivalent to 28 spline 9" axles that are in that rear right now. Personally, I think it is not so much wider that it is worth the expense, unless you already have expensive rims that you want to retain.
I think if you add up all this expense for a 9" rear that is wider than a Maverick's rear, has disc brakes that were only used on one model of car, made just a short time 30+ years ago, only on thousands of cars, instead of millions, and these rears NEVER came with a strong chunk, desireable gearing, or limited slip... Think about this: Your 8" rear can have the tubes cut off, 9" center dropped in, tubes welded back on, and axles reused. Then you can have much more modern, lighter, and widely servicealbe discs by using Crown Vic rear discs... used on millions of cars, so parts aren't going away, and the e-brake is even operated by the same cable. Add all of this up, and it seems to me that you can get what you want as an end product easier and cheaper than the end product after buying an expensive core then spending a ton on it to get it to the 'end product'. Not knocking the OP's aquiring the rear, to each his own, but the conversation is taking turns that are highlighting my points.