8.8 Rear Axle

V8 Index

Upgrade or Replace The Axle

When you fit a V8 engine to a Capri you need to either upgrade or change the rear axle otherwise the torque will soon break something. I decided change to a stronger 8.8 axle, the Mustang version I used also has Traction-Lok differential (LSD), and the Ford 8.8 axle is commonly used by hot rodders. The ratio on my axle is a little low at 2.73 but should make a great motorway car with the 5 speed gearbox.

Comparing Axles

You can see my original Borg-Warner axle (South African car) compared to the Mustang 8.8 axle (8.8 is the diameter of the ring gear).
The ratio on my axle is a little low at 2.73 but should make a great motorway car with the 5 speed gearbox.

Narrowing The Axle

We decided to go as narrow as possible, as I wanted to get the deepest dished wheels I could, it is 2 inches narrower than the original, this may have been a mistake as the calipers were too close to the left hand shock absorber, this meant we had to move it in front of the axle. I believe they put one in front and one behind to help prevent axle hop but we have tramp bars and single leaf parabolic tapered design which gives better axle location, so hopefully it won’t be a problem.
We had the axle centered as most 8.8s have offset pinions.

Job For An Expert

We did some of the work ourselves, like removing the old suspension mounts, but took it to Andy Robinson Race Cars for the axle narrowing, he does some great work, and he fitted Strange Engineering Half Shafts and C Clip Eliminator plus brake caliper brackets.

Designing The Mounts

We then made the axle mounts, making sure we got the propshaft angle correct. If fitting an axle to a Ford Capri, please note that the shockers angle in at the top about 10 degrees, we initially made them from u channel then realised our mistake, luckily before welding and I know a few other people have made them straight and have that found the shockers bind and wear out very quick.