Newbie help ford open 8.8 rear end upgrade help?

[Midnighter1]

I have a 1969 ford torino fastback with a 351w making 400hp with a built C6 tranny, that has a OPEN stock ford 8.8 rear end. I think the vehicle weaighs about 4000 lbs. It has 18 inch rims wrapped in low profile toyo tires I am looking to upgrade it for better acceleration and also looking to add a locker. This vehicle will be used for mainly cruiseing and showing off from time to time as well as limited highway use. If possible does anyone know what type of quality, but budget minded parts I should use or the part #s to look for ? Thank you so much for your time and answers
P.s. Does anyone know any good tech article right ups on doing this kind of upgrade?

 

[jaymax173]

I would not just stop with a locker I would go with 20 percent higher gearing so its more drivable and it will be slight bigger gears with a .5 decrease in quarter mile but its worth it if you want to drive it almost every summer day.

Think about what your going to do with it you might not want bigger gears so you can go up and down through the gears like a circle handling based track. You might want a stronger ring gear with a lower ratio to make stronger gears so it pulls harder at the drag strip but I don't recommend higher ratio axle with a bigger tire that causes more drive train stress.

 

[Mike R]

Summit will have all the available parts for the posi conversion (just put a trac-loc spool in it with your choice of gears) IMHO that car is heavy enough to deserve (and it came with, in HO applications) a 9" rear. I have a 9" housing that came from a Torino in my shop. The venerable 9" is strong enough to handle anything you throw at it. The 8.8" is tough, but a 9 is way stronger and very common.

 

[JaneM]

i have a 67 mustang with a 350 posi 9 inch that i restored several years ago. it has a hot little 302. i wanted a cruse around town car for weekend use . well everything is ok but the rear end. it is a total waste to put low gears and especially a posi in a car that you are not going to drag race most of the time. it runs at high rpm,s all the time and eats gas. its just not a joy to drive. well the posi is now in the barn and i have a 8inch 3.00 installed and the difference is amazing. you just cant take any type of long trip with low gears. this may not be what you want to do but i would try to find a good 9inch to invest in and you can always change the gears. lockers are the noisiest rear end you can use. a friend of mine bought a posi center chunk for his 8.8 and liked it. for more cheap hp, headers with duel flows and a windage tray in the oil pan is easy.a double pumper carb with an aluminum intake is good for extra acceleration. you probably already have these upgrades. always keep your original parts for you car because it will never go down in value.