spitsnaugle

Perhaps more reliably: theres is usually stamped metal tag on the rear cover (of most) ford 8.8 diffs. Mine had 3L73 stamped on it, which translated to 3.73 limited slip.

PM replied. Measure for fuel cell at your stock dimensions, my diff swap will make no major difference there. Sorry I dont add folks on FB unless I've met them.

Nope. My (re)design is avoiding interference the rear uprights. Answer and update: Answer: likely not, since they dont have my car do their own engineering and testing for it. Update: I have a single run quote that they're working on right now for my test fit on my car, then they're pricing me making 10 vs 20 sets. Getting a little agitated getting direct answers in a timely mannor, I keep dealing with Sherri (wife of the owner and sales manager), I should really be talking directly with Dave the owner.

Hows that blue car looking? Got a turbo in that engine compartment yet?

yes- those will have gusset plates, but just inside, past the mounting holes.

ROUGH drawing of the front mount. Ron Tyler style, extended back, bracket on top to mount an adjustable rod end and separate bracket to tunnel.

Hi all, I could use a measurement if anyone has Ford Explorer 8.8 differential from a 2007-2011. (or any others that has two front mounts) My diff only has the front mount on one side, so I need the measurement of the distance between the two front mounts, (center to center) if anyone has calipers large enough to get that, I'd be super thankful!

The rear:

Due to slight differences in the Inner CV mounts between Cobra and Explorers -- I'm only looking at providing the mounting hardware. Axels, etc. is all up to you guys. I'll provide lengths based on what I use once I get my parts back from teamZmotors and can mount everything. I used the driveshaftshop's Ford Explorer 8.8 inner CV mount for 108mm or Porsche 930 CV joint. I think it was $500~ for the set. Numbers below: 108-FD-I-31 Ford Cobra to 930 Stub 108-FD-I-31-2 Ford Explorer to 930 Stub The bushing mounts I'm having made are similar to ArizonaZ, TechnoToyTuning, and Whitehead, I dont know what bushing they use, but mine are based off of Energy Suspension 7.1102G.

Sorry all, I'm extremely slow with remodeling my home at the same time. GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE teamzmotorsports in Michigan has my designs as of this week and are working on on the fabrication work.

That is CX racings kit sold by someone else on EBay. I HIGHLY recommend Hoke Performance's setup. It works with both long tube makers: Hawks headers and CX Racing. Here it is on his site: http://hokeperformance.squarespace.com/store/s30-ls2-engine-mounting-kit

Sorry all, I'm extremely slow with remodeling my home at the same time. I'm not sold on their front mount at all. And I dont like that it requires buying a new rear cover. I was working with technoversions to revise their front mount for my use. I currently have my rear mount all designed up, but havent had a chance to make a test fit, check driveline angles to then figure out the proper height for the front. I could use a couple measurements for a double check if anyone is interested. I have a 71 240z, so I'd like to know if any later years vary- I want to know the distance from center line of the mustache bushing mount bolt to the center line of the axel. Accuracy is key.

Done a quick 180° in a different mount design. Flat 1/4" plate, sandwiched between differential case and rear cover. Should allow any ford 8.8 rear to be used regardless of rear cover design. I've drawn it out, should get it off the waterjet next week.

You going to the June or September event? or both?

No ETA yet, designing the dogleg/drop mounts right now, the originals are in the way of the diff. If the explorer rear cover's mounts were as narrow as the Z car it wouldnt be a problem, but at roughly 14" apart they line right up with the drop mounts for the control arms. I think the cobra's cover would clear without issues, but I've seen enough broken cobra covers to want to avoid that route.

Diff was implied. (there's two more threads by other users on the swap and neither uses diff in the title ) I am only making a front and rear diff mount for it. Everything else can be bought elsewhere if anyone really needs. Zcardepot has a 27 and 39 spline companion flange. I thought Joe was the source. They also have a much cheaper billet aluminum adapter if you're risky.

Well with wfritts911 gone MIA, I've been left to develop my own Ford 8.8 Swap kit. This thread is the progress of the design and production. Design is based on a 2002 Ford Explorer's 31 spline 8.8 inch independent rear diff. I'm using drive shaft shop stub axles, they're not currently listed on their site, however you can call and order them. *Note* though the ford cobra rear is almost the same, the axle seal diameters are different, and are not interchangeable. At the moment I am prototyping the parts. I have yet to source materials or get quotes from machinists. In the end these should be 6061 Aluminum. Rear mounts. Using Energy Suspensions Urethane bushings for the 240z. 3D printed the prototype to check fitment. There a great bar here in dayton called Proto BuildBar, they have a wall of 3D printers, a 3d scanner, soldering stations and all sorts of electrical supplies, its a geek's heaven. Designed up the mustache bar specifically to the ford explorer's cover. (not the cobra sorry) Then had it cut out on my friend's router table. The front mount is a modified ron tyler mount. I dont have images or photos of it yet. Thats about the progress I have made so far, will keep you all posted!

Bought a house that has a much larger garage with a 12ft ceiling... time to get a lift! Bolted most of the car back together to transport it. Heres where I finally get a feel for the whole thing with the flares. I focused on remodeling the house for a year, and poor car sits mostly untouched. (Basically gutted the house) I then met Keith aka RebekahsZ and his beastly LS2 powered 240z at the Ohio Mile. He was generous enough to let me drive it around the pits. That LS2 was addicting, my plans changed then and there. Engine out, again. '' Found an LS1 longblock mild ported 241 heads and a mild cam. Now: Holley XP 750 Carb + Holley Intake 211/230 .558/.552 122.5 Cam 1.7 ratio rockers, MSD 6LS Ignition Controller LS2/3 Coils Meziere electric water pump, Hawks 1-7/8" stainless headers (american racing produced) Hoke Performance (beta tester) motor and trans mounts. I've owned almost all of the headers for a 240z and a LS engine ... the only one I havent is JCI's JTR (Sanderson) - Shorty Headers CX Racing - Long Tube 1-5/8" OD headers Hawks - Long Tube 1-7/8" headers - ordered specifically without the collector welded on so I could route how I wanted. I compared JTR and CX in a thread, but didnt have Hawks at the time, I'll be building a thread for a final comparison of the three. CX 1-5/8" Long Tube Headers: Like the flange. Don't like the short collector. Most welds are good. Would prefer a slightly larger diameter (and avoid the instant step down at the flange). (Forgot to take a photo inside collector.) JTR / Sanderson 1-3/4" Shorty Headers: Dislike the ground down-weld flange. Welds look like quick MIG work. Like the Larger Diameter tubing. Hawks 1-7/8" Long Tube Headers: I asked for these to come with the collector loose so I could angle it around my Auto trans myself. I totally forgot to take more photos, and have since sold the headers off. These were the nicest headers of the three, a wonderful collector with a flow guide in the center to prevent turbulence, nice equal lengths, flange was perfect. 😕

While working around the fenders I knew there was some bondo in the dogleg. So I decided to see how much... @*(&!#%! it was worse than I thought. made a hole to inspect the damage sandblasted entire area cut the cancer out ordered Tabco replacement doglegs. Even though they're local Ohio made - it was cheaper to order from MotorsportAuto. little bit of hammer persuasion and they're a good fit. made a small peice to replace inner fender bit that was rusted through. welded, then ground the excess off While I'm on the rust kick... took a look at that hatch sill area. It was toast. Cut it out, then cut the metal below it. Remade the metal below it with a small metal brake, welded that back in, then ordered a Tabco replacement hatch sill plate, I welded some areas of it, and used modern unibody adhesive for some of it. <that was a test fit, I didnt take a final photo when I was done, but I will soon.

Late 2012: Bought some new Rota RB-R 17x9" -13 Front and 17x9.5" -19 Rears, Hyper Black with Polished Lip. Fitment is just outside of the fenders: Time to add flares. I went through two (bad) sets of ZG flares before I was happy with the fitment of the third (and fourth extra wide) set I've owned. I bought a set from ebay, they didnt fit the body for crap, a set from a big Z vendor, they slightly closer, but still left gaps I wasnt happy with, so I did some research and found Marugen Shoukai made the best quality ZG's available, but no one was selling them in the states. I worked with an interpreter and tried to get a group buy together, but dropped that after contacting Russ @ RHDjapan, and got them to sell them on their site for us. Fitting: *NOTE: Last photo is the extra wide rear flare for comparison. Cutting the fenders: I followed the thread by 240Hoke on his flare install and fender work: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/47525-how-to-mount-them-there-zg-flares/ I did more cutting and rust repair before rolling the car outside for some photos with the flares back on. Those will be posted below at some point.

I started stripping the interior to fix some rust I knew was in the front corners of the floors. I spread out dry ice on the floors to harden up the factory coating then hit it with a hammer, the coating shattered right off. Left me pretty clean metal to start with. Unfortunately I didnt take photos of the small patches I did in the front corners the floors. Yanked the Engine and Trans to clean up the engine bay: dirt, rust, & botched A/C install. ...pardon the Instagram filter Found the usual battery tray rust. decided to counter-sync the battery down into the fender. Another member here had done this, but I cannot recall who now. Figured while I was at it, why not weld in some bracing into the engine bay, I'll see if I can find my templates for this later. I cleaned, wire-wheeled the inner-fenders, did some light sand blasting in some spaces, then repainted them with chassis paint: Did the same to the underside of the fenders, you might notice I cut an opening for a vent in the fender while I was doing this. Cleaned the engine bay up again. Hit it with epoxy primer: ...and PAINT! Its a BMW dark blue metallic. Dropped in a new 280z brake booster + Wilwood 15/16 master cylinder + new pre-bent brake lines from classictube.com Carefully dropped the engine back in... (this was before deciding to go LS!)

A history, and progress of my 240z. What was originally to be a simple street/autoX car, now going a new direction. Most everything I've done to the car has been from research and knowledge of on members here, hopefully something useful can come of this thread for upcoming members. *A disclaimer: I tried upload all of these images to hybridz's gallery so the images would be future-proofed. It failed, repeatedly, so they're using my own server. Bought this rusty beast January 2011, I drove it home in the snow, made me cringe, it hasn't seen a cloudy day since. 1971 (late) 240Z L28 5speed trans. Bob Sharp intake and Holley 650 carb P.O. said "rust free" ...that was hilarous. I autocrossed it for the first year, drove it around town a few times, other than replacing a few broken bits, I didn't do much to the car till that fall.

sell the mounts, keep the headers, and go buy hoke performance's mount kit. completely bolt in. and the rear mount braces both inside and outside of the frame rail.

so you going to do anything to the motor in the between time? say, Hawks headers, fast 102 intake (some used on eBay every now and then), cam, and a dyno tune?

WTB: Fritts' 8.8 IRS swap kit. Will pay their original price. Ideally looking for the the cobra brakes version, but I can deal with whatever. Fun note: Ryan @ zCarDepot says they're in beta testing with their 8.8 swap kit. And Gabriel at Tech Toy Tuning is considering it as well, but is 3 months out on other projects. So hopefully we'll have competition on the market soon.