Engine and Transmission Tech

I'll soon be arranging to have my 8.8 rear end/axles narrowed. It's out of an 88 Tbird - 4 lug, posi, disc brakes.
I plan to have it narrowed to the same width with brake hubs on as the MG rear end with brade hubs on. I might have the shop make it a bit narrower than the stock MG. If it ends up a bit too narrow I can always add some shims.
I'll be purchasing a 4 link rear suspension from Classic Conversion.

Any gotcha's or tips I should be aware of before I take it t the shop?

Steve Melfi

Sounds like you're on top of things.

Does Bill Guzman provide u-bolts? You might want to ask about that. I found that stock MGB u-bolts wouldn't fit around the 8.8's tubes. Some shops actually bend u-bolts to suit, but IMHO it's preferable to buy u-bolts that have been heat treated after being bent. The shop-bent u-bolts won't have the same anti-corrosion finish either.

The shop that narrowed my axle got the spring perch angle wrong by a couple degrees, so I needed to correct pinion angle with aluminum wedges.

Measure twice, cut once.
Wheel shims are not a wonderful thing. If your wheels center on the hub you lose that.

Jim

Not to worry about Bill's 4-link u-bolts.....he now has them (and the shock/lower link brackets) sized for the 8.8 in his kit....you need to specify. (The 8.8 is 2.88" dia vs 2.5" for the stock "B" axle, if my memory serves me).
A couple of "heads up" issues come to mind. If you are welding on MG spring seats, now is the time to really investigate the documented issue of the std MG axle bias to the left side (typically 3/8" more tire to wheel opening flange measured on the left vs the right hand side). I welded on my spring seats 3/16" off symetrical and could have gone a little more (0.20") to totally centre the wheels/tires in the wheel wells.
You also need to look at your axle breather location (to ensure that it does not interfere with any of the susp upper link brackets that are welded to the axle) and look at the location of the brake drop hose "T" connection attachment (to ensure non interference during axle articulation).

Might want to consider putting that housing on a diet by removing the excess metal.

Also C clip eliminator kit. It uses 9" Ford pressed bearing type axle retention. I would narrow to WW axle width, about 1 1/2" narrower than steel wheel MGB axle and eliminate the bump stop hump in the wheelwell. Posi?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2009 07:47PM by mgb260.

Jim,
As I've been working on the car I keep glancing at those bump stop humps and wondering if they can be eliminated so as to yield some more wheel/tire width but I haven't looked closely at it yet.

Steve, those are easy to remove. In fact I'll be doing that mod on my car in a week or three. The details are laid out in the MGB-Roadmaster thread. Five short cuts with a zip wheel, a couple of welds, and you're done.

Jim