| Adapting a Ford 9" to the Firebird |
| I picked up a Ford 9" rearend from a friend on the car forum/club I belong to. $200 got me what you see below. When I first got it, it was setup for coil-overs and a 4-link system.. Too bad I can't easily use that in the Bird. So, besides being setup for everything I would have needed, it came with a posi and some 4.11 gears as well as all the brake hardware. On a side note, the posi was blown come to find out. Good thing I took it all apart when I got it. So I had to get a new posi unit! Anyway.. I took so long getting pictures and everything it is all done. I'll take some finished pictures at least. I have since driven the car around the neighborhood since I don't have any legal way to actually drive the car. I.E. insurance or licence on the car at this point in time. It's been sitting way to long to pay for that right now. |
| Price List: Rearend- $200 Second 3rd member - $50 Bearings/Seals- $120 Misc.- $100 Total: $470 (why didn't I just buy a new 3rd member?) Oh wait.. I pretty much did. |
| Well, after getting the rear in and driving it a little bit, I noticed the car pulls a bit more to the right, and gets a shake to it at about 50 or 60. Not sure since I don't have the correct speedometer gears in yet. Upon further inspection, the rear is in at a slight angle, so some adjustable control arms are next on list, and pinion angle still needs set, which could explain th?e vibration, so an adjustable torque arm is next on the list. |
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| Here are some pics of the extensions I had to make to drop the swaybar down below the housing. Unfortunately they are not right, so the bar is too far forward. Guess it's back to the drawing board. |
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| Ahh, it's all in and I only need to make the adjustments for alignment and pinion angle. |
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| Pics of the torque arm on the car. I had to notch the arm to get it to work with my bracket, so some sheet metal about the same guage as the arm was used to give it a bit more strength to get me by until an adjustable one is either made or purchased. Be sure to get another passenger side park brake cable for the driver's side . |