FORD nine-inch diffs have long been the go-to third member for street machines. Back in the day, if you wanted to put a nine-inch under your car, you had to source a complete diff from a production car and modify it to suit your application. More often than not, that involved having a fab shop shorten the housing, cut and re-spline the axles and remove the stock bracketry, before hacking the brackets off your OEM diff and fitting them to your used nine-inch housing. Once that was done, you'd end up with whatever gearing, centre section and brakes happened to come with your donor diff - along with whatever wear and tear it had incurred in its life thus far.
With horsepower now cheaper and easier to come by, demand for nine-inch diffs is greater than ever, but second-hand examples are getting thin on the ground. The good news is that the aftermarket is now meeting the demand, and these days you can have a nine-inch built to your specs from brand-new parts and shipped to your door.
For the past 10 years, I've had a shortened ex-Commodore 28-spline BorgWarner diff fitted to my LC Torana. It has served me well, but with a new engine in the works aiming for more grunt and lower ETS, I had some concerns about its longevity, and began looking into nine-inch conversions.
My search led me to Castlemaine Rod Shop's 31-spline nine-inch, which is offered to suit most Holdens, Aussie Fords and Valiants, plus a handful of American models. It is supplied as a bolt-in unit built to order, meaning you can customise the length to suit your application, choose from a full spool or a torque-biasing geartype limited-slip centre, pick your optimal gear ratio, and select from a range of brake options.
I specced my new diff on The Rod Shop's website (rodshop.com.au), and SM staffer Kian Heagney then headed along to The Rod Shop to see what's involved when the team builds a custom, bolt-in nine-inch from scratch using brand-new bits.
Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Street Machine Australia.
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Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Street Machine Australia.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
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ANIKA HODGES
THE CAR DROVE INTO OUR SHED AS A CREAM 202CI VC AND DROVE OUT AS A SILVER CAR WITH A 355 V8
STAGE FRIGHT
IT TOOK OWEN SCOTT MORE THAN 20 YEARS TO BUILD A TROPHY-WINING, 600HP EH HOLDEN UTE THAT WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME
THE Ummmal SUSPECT
FORGET WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT MINI-TRUCKS. THIS SUMMERNATS TOP 60 HILUX IS A PROPER STREET MACHINE
FULLY UTILISED
HARDWOOD ROD & CUSTOM TURNS DARREN ISON'S HAND-ME-DOWN HT INTO A SMOOTH OPERATOR
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
ARBY’S EFFORTS TO IMPROVE HIS VG VALIANT’S 60-FOOT TIMES YIELD PROMISING RESULTS IN THE RUN-UP TO STREET MACHINE DRAG CHALLENGE
PEOPLE POWER
WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT 36 YEARS OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS - AND MOST DEMOCRATICALLY AWARDED - HONOUR IN OUR SPORT: STREET MACHINE OF THE YEAR
OUT-AND-OUT MAYHEM
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BAD TO THE BONE
THANKS TO HIS SON, ANDY, THE LATE MARIO COLALILLO’S 39 PLYMOUTH COUPE IS BACK ON THE ROAD AND STILL ONE OF THE BADDEST HOT RODS IN THE COUNTRY
THE CHALLENGE IS REAL
FROM TRACK DRAMAS TO SOARING TEMPERATURES, DRAG CHALLENGE 2024 THREW US SOME OF ITS TOUGHEST TESTS YET, BUT IT ALSO BROUGHT SOME OF THE QUICKEST TIMES THE EVENT HAS EVER SEEN
