Fox body 8.8 rear end Tech

I recently picked up a V8 fox from a friend and decided to do a 5 lug conversion with a bunch of parts I had laying around. This is just a stock setup so no fancy panhard or poor man's three link.

I used:

fox 8.8 housing(new bearings/seals axle & diff)
3.55 gears(new bearings)
SN95 length axles
SN95 non cobra rear brakes

I put all new Prothane bushings in the rear control arms.

Driving in a straight line the everything seems fine, no whining from the gears. When I make a turn I get some noises from the rear end of the car. It's hard to explain but doesn't sound good.

Any guess on what I did wrong?


Thanks,

Jeff

The most common problem matching your description would be the rotors not being centered in the caliper brackets leading to rubbing under side load. Some times there is a tolerance stack up problem. You might be able to shim or clearance the brackets if this is your problem.


Richard P.

If it is a groaning or moaning sound it may be that the axles are flexing, causing the rotors to engage against the pads and flexing the caliper out of position. Did you install the anti-moan brackets? They are a piece of stamped steel with a u-bolt to the axle tubeon one end and bolted to the cailper mounting brakets on the other. I have a similar noise on the race car but I don't worry too much about it. It can be very annoying in a street car. Those brackets are specific to V6 and GT cars. They are different on the Cobras.

My vote is with Richard. I had to Dremel my caliper brackets down to ensure the rotors didn't touch.

It does have the anti-moan brackets on it.

After I posted this I did think about exactly what Richard had posted. I just haven't had a chance to pull the wheels off yet and take a look at the rotors.

Thanks for the replies. I'll give an update once I dig into it.

So, I had a chance to inspect the rear brakes this weekend.

I first drive around for about 15 minutes and came back with a smoking left rear wheel. There was a lot of heat coming of the rotor and caliper. It looked like the pad had bound up. The right side was fine.

With the wheel off I looked at the caliper and pad I noticed the pad was not seated on the piston all the way. I did not rotate the piston so the dowel on the pad mated with the notch on the piston.

The rotor lines up perfectly with the caliper bracket on the both sides and there is no sign of the rotor rubbing anything but the pad.

After all of this, it still makes some noise but not as bad as before. The noise does seem to be coming from the left rear only. I did check the lateral play of the axles and there isn't much there to let the rotor move around.

Not sure what else it could be.