Hazzer Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 All, Toying with the idea of ditching the standard Ital rear axle and wondered if people had any suggestions for a better alternative - perhaps a Ford unit? If anybody has experience of doing this then I would appreciate their feedback? Currently car if off road while I consider the options available... Cheers in advance Haz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bare Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Toyota Corrolla GTS Mid 80's to 90? type comes to mind.. disc brakes, LSD, Legendary Toyota durability. Problems are: 100mm Wheel bolt circle and 1 1/4" Propshaft offset to the right. Will still need the horrid piece of Boiler plate welded to it's backside to counteract the silly A Arm thing tho.. but that also applies to any axle tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Ford "English" axle is the proven alternative. Many Caterhams have used this axle including some factory cars I believe. Guess it depends what you mean by better and why you want to ditch the Ital axle. Benefits - English axle is widely available, right width, right pcd to match the de dion front, stronger, good choice of diff ratios, easy access to lsd's, upgradeable with Quaife bits, disc conversions etc. Cons - slightly heavier than the Ital axle. Edited by - Chelspeed on 5 Apr 2005 17:15:57 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.Mupferit Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 The Ford 'English' axle is a doddle to fit as you just need to get Arch to fit the appropriate brackets. You do, also, need to modify the back of the transmission tunnel to give sufficient clearance and also fit an Anglia flange to the diff nose (for the same reason). I got mine from SP Components in Redditch who supplied all the necessary kit. I did this to my old live axle 7 including fitting discs and Sierra calipers and it was a very easy job to do. Have a search for Phil Waters website, he did the same to his car (excl. discs) and goes into some detail on his site of how to do it. Brent 2.3 DURATEC SV. In the final weeks of gestation. SVA booked. 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elie boone Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Maybe a TR7 unit will fit, it surely will be heavy'er but parts supply is exellent. When i bought my LX chasis at Caterham i directly said that i would fit a Ford axle so that Arch could mount direct the correct tunnel, but the diff flange is not even close to the chassis rail on the lower side of the tunnel i could even mount the original Ford diff. flange if i wanted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xflow7 Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Brent, what bracketry has to change to fit the English axle? Oh, or do you mean fit the brackets on the axle housing 🤔 Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.Mupferit Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Sorry, I didn't make it clear but just bracketry welded on the axle and diff housings only rather than the chassis. Honestly, it is such an easy upgrade to do I am surprised more people haven't done it. Have a look at Phil Waters website for more details. Brent 2.3 DURATEC SV. In the final weeks of gestation. SVA booked. 😬 Edited by - BRENT CHISWICK on 6 Apr 2005 08:51:02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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