Mikelly

My point is you guys might want to partner with one of the regular time trial/track day rats to see what improvements can be gained by modifying existing panels, or building out new concepts. being a business man and a bit of a fabricator myself, if I were to take on the project you guys have, I would pick someone and work very closely with them. Then I would take that data, make the improvements and market the hell out of those results. Mike

I have been chatting with the owner, James for some time now. According to James, He and his father both raced Datsuns back in the 90s and are Datsun fans. They have been making a wide range of race car fiberglass parts for a long time and have a lot of forms to build stuff. He admits freely that the parts are long lead time so buyers should beware wanting anything "right now". Patience will be required for anyone buying from him. Unfortunately we are losing more and more vendors. Justin Hodges had a bad rep here, but I bought a number of parts from him and was very happy with the quality of said parts. I hope we dont lose others as well. Mike

I soooo dig this project... Well done man!

WIthout testing in a windtunnel or working closely with a team at a regular track, how will you know if the current designs even work? Please explain further... Mike Kelly

Impressive work there man!

Had a few people ask me offline what the true cost of going to the ford 8.8 was costing me, so I figured I would put it here... 8.8 center unit/pumpkin and axles from pickapart - $140.00 Ford Racing track-lok LSD and complete differential rebuild kit - $309.00 CV Axle parts from Mooreparts.com to use Porsche 930 axles - $390.00 Ford truck Axles and Dodge intrepid hubs - $209.00 Complete conversion kit made by Will - $1100.00 I sold my R200/Q45 MML setup to another member for $1100 with no shipping required because he picked it up. so that's a nice off-set on what the total cost was, but assume $2100 for this conversion. So what's it get you anyway? It gets me serviceable parts same day from most dealers in the FORD network and more importantly, GEAR selections and LSD availability for very reasonable costs. The Nissan stuff, although strong, isn't always easy to get parts for and I don't know of anyone local to me that services them. I'm sure they are out there, but I haven't found them. Even MORE important to me, is the fact that the intrepid hups and the Ford differential parts are VERY easy to service and replace parts on if I am at the track. As a matter of fact, the differential centers are cheap enough, I could see having two units sitting in the car trailer ready to swap with taller or shorter gears. Anyway, that's enough on the topic of differentials and why I switched.

Somehow I missed this list of parts/sources... Ugh... I'm a dummy...

Was more looking for a place to purchase from. Mike

Looking for sources for the other parts needed to make this install simpler. Who has had success with the axles, hubs and other bits?

Looking good man.,.. Getting excited...

Rear Suspension/Q45 driveline was sold off and I have the transmission out of the car and ready to be boxed up and sent south to the gulf as well. Making progress. Will be ordering all the T56 rebuilt parts this week! Mike

ETA? I just pulled my whole rear suspension/drivetrain out. Also, i'll probably send you a new set of wilwood hads to bore out. I want a duplicate setup to keep in the car trailer... Mike

Got a lot done in a short amount of time today!!

Work and "Stuff" have ground my project to a hault. I'm getting ready to remove the rear differential and trans (along with the motor) and sell them (not the motor) to those who have bought them. Might get that process started this coming week. For now I'll finish up the rear LSD install today hopefully.

Two weeks ago tomorrow I got "mostly" a clean bill of health and was told I can return to the track to instruct in cars, and other high impact living, like Mountainbiking and running. While I was sidelined with injuries from the crash I had lots of time to process and think about what I may do in the future when instructing... There are changes a'coming in my aproach to my students and getting them up to speed while limiting my risk in the right seat.

Drysump, Baby...

My oldest son is getting married on Friday. In the process of doing annual inspections of vehicles, my truck failed due to a rusted out exhaust. I ordered the exhaust that was supposed to be here last FRIDAY and it arrived YESTERDAY (4 days late). On top of that, a customer audit, THREE proposal efforts from my contracting efforts and personnel issues have swamped me with 14 to 16 hour days... When it rains, it pours and if darwin can step in to make you reach maximum capacity, he will. Never underestimate the power of "Oh SH!T!"

I'm not nearly as concerned about this as I can have custom hats made from COLEMAN. As long as we know what the offset needs to be. And... I believe that is the hat I am already using in my wilwood kit. Mike

My explorer diff has 3:55s and 31 spline, out of an 02-05. It is sitting appart on my work bench right now. Mike

YES!!!! I'm currently running the 8610 but plan to move to the double adjustables. Also how soon do you need to rotor hats? They are still on my car along with the assembled suspension/rolling stock. Mike

Sent Will mine a week ago Friday... Moving this project along...

Yesterday I spent several hours cleaning up the case and the parts of the Differential that I will be using. I installed new races for the pinion and flange bearings, new bearings on the new LSD and swapped the 3.55 gear from the old diff to the new LSD. I'm ready to start the process of shimming the differential for proper gear lash and then final assembly. Messing with differentials can eat up time if you're not used to building or installed... Amazed at how much time I spent yesterday just getting it ready to put back together.

Wooott

Guys what adapter part number is needed for the driveshaft to diff??? I'm trying to source that now so I can do a plug-n-play on this... Mike

TrackLok for the moment.