Makin some chassis upgrades.........

Replacing my old ladder bars and rearend/axle assy with some stuff that would make Chuck Norris proud...........

The old stuff served me well..................


Mike at MDRC whipped me up this housing, it stared as a bare unit from Strange with the beefier axle tubes. internal bracing etc, added some Olds style billet housing ends, new brackets, and his own bracing system. My old Prostar rims were 15 x 12 w a 7.5 bs, I bought a used set of Weld Alumastars from the Jack austin project, added my rim screws, these are m/t 13 x 31 w tubes. I lost 2.2#'s per wheel.


15" wide on the left and 12" on the right.


Old set up had 35 spline stuff, went with 40 spline gun drilled axles from Strange, there was only 150 bucks or so diff in price so this was a no brainer. The new rims also allowed me to shorten the axles and housing by 4" on each side. I have yet to weight the differences but I will.

I reused my Strange iron carrier, pinion yoke and gearset, I replaced the old Strange big bearing alum support with a ball bearing unit, the bearings in the pinion, carrier, and the gearset were all REM finished, the place that does it is in the same complex as MDRC so it makes it a simple deal to get done.

Mike also built me a set of his custom ladder bars, he makes these out of like 1.25" dia cm with a wall thickness of like .160 or so, bigger adjusters etc. I had to bring the stuff home to verify the fitment before he put the final welds on the housing ends, also the bars are so stiff I had to se pinion angle before he finished welding the bars and put the braces in them, other wise you wont be able to get the bolts in the housing brackets.

This is some double tough shyt, it wasnt cheap, but it never is lol.

Good looking stuff. Should work great.

Ole Duffy knows his stuff. Looks good.

now you need the rest of the car to go with the slick new rear !!!

looks beefy........

Good lookin rear end

The counterbored rim screws look great. I know it really doesn't make a difference, but I'm curious if they are still considered SFI legal, since they have been modified. Most any other part isn't, if it's been altered. I would consider doing that to my wheels if it was.

56Tbird wrote:Good lookin rear end

I have a real problem telling a guy he has a good-looking rear end

look'n good hErO!

ran the stuff back up to Mike for final welding..............the new axles are 5.8#'s lighter than the old ones, with the combined weight loss of the new rims thats 10.2 #'s..........considering its all rotating weight I'm happy..........


On the countersunk rim screw holes I'm not sure how it affects the SFI, if these had been new rims I would have had beadlocks done, but I ain't no baller lol. They will never be checked at any tracks I run, in fact I peeled the "rated for high horsepower" worn out stickers off.........

richter69 wrote:ran the stuff back up to Mike for final welding..............the new axles are 5.8#'s lighter than the old ones, with the combined weight loss of the new rims thats 10.2 #'s..........considering its all rotating weight I'm happy..........


On the countersunk rim screw holes I'm not sure how it affects the SFI, if these had been new rims I would have had beadlocks done, but I ain't no baller lol. They will never be checked at any tracks I run, in fact I peeled the "rated for high horsepower" worn out stickers off.........

the new bars are gona make up for any weight loss and without the sticker on the wheels your "not rated for high horsepower". you f****d,looks nice tho.

the stiffness of the new bars will offset the added weight................ you guys gotta quit thinking just about horsepower....................

richter69 wrote:the stiffness of the new bars will offset the added weight................ you guys gotta quit thinking just about horsepower....................

i hear you

richter69 wrote:the stiffness of the new bars will offset the added weight................

Honestly, I picked up 3 tenths on my old Futura with the addition of a full roll cage. I guess 7-8 years of hard street racing (sans cage) takes it's toll on a unibody.

richter69 wrote:the stiffness of the new bars will offset the added weight................ you guys gotta quit thinking just about horsepower....................

that 6lbs of rotational mass will make a difference too. When you get ready, I have a set of beadlocks for you. LOL

Looks good Jon! Duff does some nice work fo sure!

BigDave65 wrote:The counterbored rim screws look great. I know it really doesn't make a difference, but I'm curious if they are still considered SFI legal, since they have been modified. Most any other part isn't, if it's been altered. I would consider doing that to my wheels if it was.

Before I bought my SFI wheels from Billet Specialties I asked them if drilling them would void the certification. This the reply they sent. I wouldn't think the counter-bore would be any different.

Drilling the wheels for tire screws will not effect the SFI certification. The certification in more based on the abuse the center and rim will encounter during use, rating and testing is focused on the spokes, lug area, and where the center is welded to the rim.

whatbumper wrote:

richter69 wrote:the stiffness of the new bars will offset the added weight................ you guys gotta quit thinking just about horsepower....................

that 6lbs of rotational mass will make a difference too. When you get ready, I have a set of beadlocks for you. LOL

10.2 pounds.............


The part I countersunk was really just the outer lip that was rolled over............it will be fine. lol.

richter69 wrote:

whatbumper wrote:

richter69 wrote:the stiffness of the new bars will offset the added weight................ you guys gotta quit thinking just about horsepower....................

that 6lbs of rotational mass will make a difference too. When you get ready, I have a set of beadlocks for you. LOL

10.2 pounds.............


The part I countersunk was really just the outer lip that was rolled over............it will be fine. lol.

Forgot to add in the wheel weight, my bad. Keep us posted.

Work looks damn good Jon.

The counterbore looks good on the wheel lip... You going to use a track locator or a wishbone?

diag bar. I just got an email from Mike the stuff is all done, will go get it tonight and start puttin this thing back together................

Did the donkey swing by with that intake yet??


Boo Boo

first thing I did yesterday when I got it was throw it in the parts washer to get your peter tracks off of it boo boo.........

So you got a nice rubbed on intake now too?