Ford 9" here I come!!

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:04 pm

My 1993 Volvo 940 td estate has a live axle, 2 trailing arms, coil springs, and a third upperlink

Dont recall what resists lateral motion....I'll take a nosey tomorrow.

No idea if its a strong axle or not, but Volvo do have a reputation for building strong stuff.

Another option might be a Toyota Supra rear end, although its IRS. It would be pretty damn strong, and if you bought a complete car, Im sure someone would buy the engine, and the gearbox is defo sellable.

If of course you have room to break a car.

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:16 pm

Cheers Stevie
I think the Volvo axle looked a good option if its tough. I didnt take any notice of what sort of axle location device it had though.

I have just replaced the broken shaft and I'll fit the other new one tomorrow. It looks like the shaft may have had a flaw in it. It broke at the widest point about 4 inches from the wheel bearing. The sheer marks are well off centre and beside the sheer marks are some marks that indicate that there may have been a manufacturing fault.
I might give the new shafts a bit of stick next Sat at the Pod.

I may as well give it some welly before I fit the new engine eh!!

JC. · Post by **JC.** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:45 am

stevieturbo wrote:
Which Granada ? If Its a MK2, LSD's are like hens teeth. And whilst my setup survived a long time, I wouldnt say its safe for 400bhp. The diff is fine, driveshafts and CV joints arent.

An diff its MK3 Sierra style, its only a little stronger.

And both setups have very very crappy geometry.

http://www.hoyle-engineering.co.uk/html/suspension.html

Geometry is irrelevent in the hoyle setup as John has designed his own system retaining just the ford hubs. He supplies his own modified and shortened driveshafts.

It's a cracking bit of kit. Infact, there is a member on here who has this system fitted to his MGB.
Where are you, Geoff?

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:50 am

I would have to say, that is a very nice piece of work !!!

ian.stewart · Post by **ian.stewart** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:34 am

Volvo axles are strong, if you can find a v6 turbo I think they came with LSDs

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:31 pm

This is getting better. I'm going to start trawling the scrappies next month. I've just got my old axle back in with new shafts. And a metallurgist friend has confirmed the break in the shaft was due to fatigue in a manufacturing fault. It would appear that only half of the shaft was doing the work, the other side was just slowly opening up. If you look at the break, you can see it quite clearly.
well, thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!

v8viva · Post by **v8viva** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:19 am

My HB Viva V8 is running a scimitar axle with jag powerlok diff which i am very impressed with.I have 4 linked it and it has sierra rear discs and calipers.
A scimitar axle on ebay goes for about £100,£150 ish for a powerlok diff,£350 ish for bearings and machining and around £200 for rear brakes.
The man to speak to if anyone needs any info is john sharp at john sharp engineering who has been playing with these set ups for years and knows his stuff

chodjinn · Post by **chodjinn** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:03 pm

I have discussed that Hoyle set up on MG forums a couple of times. Yes it appears to be the best option, but it is also by far and away the most expensive. I mean honestly, £3.5k on a rear axel/setup?!? That's just ludicrus to me. Me and another guy priced up the Jas IRS system for about a grand if you do most of the work yourself.

Reckon £150-250 upwards for a complete IRS depening on condition and diff (recon ones are quite expensive), £250 for shortening bits, then you have to factor replacement parts: coilovers (4 of them), brakes, plus bushings etc. it could mount up.

Personally, the scimitar option looks good, or used an SD1 axel and do a similar thing. Even with a potential 400bhp I could not justify the hoyle set up if I were you.

ian.stewart · Post by **ian.stewart** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:20 pm

Whoops, another option to try, if you can find one is a Toyota Celica, series 2 [hatch] I think the ST was the only one fitted with the LSD, they are strong as fook, it what I use, and as yet, have not broken it, and I think I am right in saying the stud patern is the same as MG

Geoff King · Post by **Geoff King** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:59 pm

I’m here JC, but as Perry wants to retain a live axle I didn’t see much point in participating. However, for what it’s worth John (Hoyle) track tested the IRS with 400 bhp and found it totally reliable. I’ve only got half that power - or a bit more than half with the latest engine – and I’m not worried about the diff or driveshafts in the slightest. But then I’m not into ¼ mile as quickly as possible with sticky tyres malarkey.

I’m more than happy with IRS and the total cost represented less than 10% of the price of the parts I purchased for the MGB rebuild/V8 conversion. The alternative was perhaps a GTV8 axle with anti-tramp bars, a Panhard rod, disc brakes, parabolic springs and telescopic dampers but that would not have been cheap, and neither is the four-link conversion from Frontline.

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:50 pm

Geoff Hauser has asked me to bring in a spare half shaft. He says Moser may be able to copy. Might be worth a quote !

Boosted LS1 · Post by **Boosted LS1** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:53 pm

Interesting thread.

I think the volvo axles are based on the jag axles. That's certainly the impression I got from reading an axle article in a magazine some years ago, they also recommended the celica axle which often has an lsd.

Also, I have an 8.8" thunderbird axle for my TR8. It's an inch to wide and 5 stud pcd. I'd like to really beef it up, narow it and make it 4 stud. Any recommendations for this work, maybe 5 stud will be safer?

Boosted.

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:05 pm

Boosted LS1 wrote:Interesting thread.
Also, I have an 8.8" thunderbird axle for my TR8. It's an inch to wide and 5 stud pcd. I'd like to really beef it up, narow it and make it 4 stud. Any recommendations for this work, maybe 5 stud will be safer?

Boosted.

Do it yourself !!

I got my Moser shafts via Hauser. They can make any length/PCD etc you want.

I just got new ones to suit my 5 x 112PCD and widened the axle to suit my car/wheels.
Im sure any of the above people mentioned could easily narrow yours too, or widen.
I'd need to look at the old shafts, but if its only 1" you need to lose, you could probably just cut the current shafts ( fitting c-clip eliminators to mount the shaft to the axle )

I got a stepped sleeve made up to insert into my axle tubes to locate them before welding. No reason why you couldnt do the same when shortening the axle.
You can see it tacked together in thus pic

Moser shaft with c-clip elim fitted. Its just a press on bearing, used to hold the shaft to the axle. Normally there is a c-lip inside the diff.

Boosted LS1 · Post by **Boosted LS1** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:13 pm

Wow, thanks Stevie. much appreciated. Axle narrowing wasn't a concern but I was worried about the shaft aspect. I still want to build my blown 427

especially as I know it fits.

Boosted.

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:22 pm

The other axle was 4 stud. Here is the old shafts. No idea if it was the same width as yours though ??

Perhaps these shafts could still be of use to you ?

4 sud, something like 114mm PCD ( 4.5" ? ) Obviously a yank fitment, 28 spline.
You can see the c-clip groove at the end.

The splined section is short, but I think you could lose 1/2" ok.