Limited slip differential

I´m the proud owner of a Brasilian Maverick 74 gt 302 V8.
This car are all stock condition asides its mag wheels and 215/70-14 tyres.
Since it is stock, handling is not good and it differential doesn´t help much with its free slip of the wheel off the ground.
Since also i don´t know how to recognise the differential measure (7", 8", 9" or betweens hehehe), how can i make it "limited slip"? Is it possible? What parts I need?
If is impossible, where can i find a limited slip differential that fits my car?
The streets here looks like trial tracks ( with bumps all over the city) and the differential makes all the difference in the handling, even more than the suspension stiffness.
Thanks in advance

Marco Antonio

 

Marco: Wecome to the board! Brasil must be nice,never been there "yet" I hope someone here can help You out.

 

Marco: Wecome to the board! Brasil must be nice,never been there "yet" I hope someone here can help You out.

 

The 7in has no drop out center section and a cover on the back of the housing, the 8 and 9in have drop out center sections. You can tell the difference between the two by trying to put a socket and exstension on the bottom two nuts of the center section. On the 8in all the nuts are accessable with the socket, on the 9in the bottom two cannot be removed with the socket because of the case interferrence. Must use a wrench on these two, you can purchase a mini spool to replace the differential spider gears in the 8 or 9in but are not to be used for everyday driving because both axles will be locked together. Don't know if there is a posi trac unit made for the 8in now, Ford did have a Trac-Loc unit for them at one time but not sure if you could find one now. In the old days of dirt track racing we would weld the spider gears together to get the same effect of the mini spool. Not a good idea now though, mini spool is only 20.00 in my area, 7in rear are 4 bolt wheels and 8 are either 4 or 5 bolt. 28 spline axles. Will try and send you more info later check online Jeg's catalog for possable aftermarket units to fit your size housing. Welcome aboard.

 

you might try looking on ebay under ford. of course you don't know what kind of condition they are in. after all they are about 25 years old. currie enterprises carries 8 inch third members in their catalog. they say they are available in open, trac-loc, detroit locker, auburn, spool and mini spools. you can get a catalog from them at 1480-B n. tustin ave, anaheim, calif, 92807 phone is 714-528-6957 fax 714-528-2338. also moser or strange makes lots of rear end parts. you can probably find them on the internet. another one that i have info on but i don't know any more about them is west coast differentials in calif. http//www.differentials.com/products.htm hope this helps a little

 

Thanks for all of You guys!

I´m getting some hard work translating the technical names for the differential parts. As i never needed to put my hands in a differential, kowing how the parts arre called in english is a little difficult and almost a try & mistake game.
Just to show 2 cases:
Motor mount in portuguese are called "coxin"
Rods in portugues are "biela"
I did know the name of the parts in my language, but in english...

I am reading the www.differentials.com and i think it is OK to my problem, i just have to discover what are my differential size!!!!
By yours tips, i know that i can exclude the 7". Rest the 8", 8.8", 9" and the 9.75".

Here in Brazil, all fords V8 and even the V6 Ranger (assembled here) uses the same differentials, since that they are of excellent record history, but nobody knows or call it by its size. Understand my problem?
Thanks one more time and if possible , keep coming info. The more the better.

Marco Antonio

 

If it has a removable plate on the back of the housing, it is the 8.8. The 8 & 9" rears come out the front of the axle housing. Here is a picture comparing the 8" and 9". The 9" (top) has a more rounded bolt pattern especially noticable across the top 3 studs. Also, as it was mentioned earlier, you cannot get a socket on the bottom 2 studs because the pinion housing drops in front of them. The 8" (bottom) Has all the studs easily accessible with a socket.

 

here is a good picture of the 8" bolt holes

 

Here is the 9". Note how low the pinion is. By the way, what transmission do you have in your car?

 

In a need of spare time

My spare time is too few this week...
I´m take an epson digital camera tomorrow and then i´ll take some shots from the car and the differential...
Unfortunately, my batery short-circuited itself and my garage is too dark, so i can´t see how is the back of my differential to conclude whats the size.
See you tomorrow or next day

Thanks all you folks

Marco

 

Shots from differential

Well , it´s me again

I´m afraid that MAVHOLIC shots doesn´t help too much, unless i take off the backplate of the differential. I take some shots of my differential to ask you if it is of your knowlegde this one.

 

Another one shot

Here, a small close look to it

 

Limited Slip

So, thats all i can offer about it
Like i´d said before, my garage is toooo dark and the flash of the EPSON digital photoshot doesn´t help much, even with all lamps i put in the garage.
If someone knows what is my differential, please tell me.
Thanks all of you, in special MAVAHOLIC, who take the hard job of shot 2 diff. only to exemplify the what is what.
About the Brasilian Mavericks photos, i will open another tread to it.
Thanks

Marco

 

marco, the reason that everything looks different is because your rear end is not an 8" or a 9". i believe this is probably a 6 3/4" ring gear. which was used on some mustangs and pintos. they may call this a 7", i'm not sure. the 8 and 9" inch third members come out from the rear end side that faces the front. they do not have a plate on the rear side.