I have a 9" with a mini spool in mine (4.11`s) but I only drive my car on days with 20% chance of rain or less! (Yes I have weather channel dot com as my Home page on my browser lol). I usually drive my car about 3 times a week. My opinion on this is: I havent had a problem with the spool on the street...But I havent driven with it on a wet road yet, I think it would be "interesting" to do so....but if you are careful and did`nt drive aggressively it would be OK . I would`nt run one in a daily driver
spool. I have a mini spool in mine. It sucks. You have to put around like grandma to keep from having the back come up to meet the front if it rains, it's a pain in the ass to jockey around in parking lots especially with manual steering and a 13" Grant wheel and it scuff the hell out of tires. Don't forget about always having a little movie playing in the back of your mind about how fun it would be to break an axle shaft. I'm going to switch to one of those powertrax units when I can summon up the money. My opinion of course.
spool Get good axles, no one should run a spool or a mini spool without forged axles. the axles are the weak point (but then so is an 8" rear)
Yep, after many years of running an 8in decided to shorten a 9 and use the same 8in axles. They are still in my car after 12yrs of running with mild 302's (11 sec 1/4 ) and 351 (low 10's ). That little 8in held up for so long too, with 28x10 slicks. Stick shift cars better have a 9, the spool deal on the street in my oinion is for ego booster. The squeal is going to make everyone think you have one bad ass car, which may be the case. However the true test is a race or time slip from the track and on the motor only. Silly gas is great for those who can afford it and don't have time or knowledge to go fast with ingenuity etc. Guess by now you all know I despise the stuff, course I am ancient and should probably not say more since I have never used it. Have repaired many engines that blew up at one time or another on the stuff. Apologises to those of you that run it, just venting a little cabin fever syndrome.
axles 28 or 31 spline doesnt matter if they arent aftermarket axles then they are weak very week and I do not recomend using a spool with them and especially not a spool with sticky tires. Dave
Well... They're not that weak n2o. plenty of folks have made 11 adn 10 second passes on stock 8 inch rears. (see dave's previous post) I do agree that aftermarket axles should be had with a spooled rear, but if it's primarily for racing, the stock axles should be okay unless you're making gobs of power and running very sticky tires. I think street driving is a lot harder on them than the track. Maybe I'll eat my words this season. I plan to be well into the 11's by the end of the year if I can get a hold of a pair of 10" slicks. my .02
Mistakes We should try and learn from other peoples mistakes. In 93 I had a 72 nova with a blown 383 chevy in it with a 9" 31 spline 4.11 and a spool. It was a true street car I ran it on cheater slicks (10") and pump gas ran 11 flat all day long, I drove it to the track for a street car shoot out and decide to up the boost with a 2" pulle VS the 2.4" i had on it normally, increasing the boost from 8 psi to 12 the car changed drastically it left the line soo hard it was unbelievable about 100 feet out one of your famed OK ford 31 spline axles broke and sent me into the the left lane and up the concrete barrier destoying everything I had worked so hard on I learned my lesson, my 60 ft was a 1.49 so what was I going to run maybe a 10.50 either way for $300 you can get forged axles so why dispute the fact that they are needed. All you guys on spools and detroit lockers should upgrade, its not manditory its common sence. How many people run scatter shields vs regular bell housings, not many but talk to any racer that has had a clutch come apppart. have them show you the scars from the debris that came up through the floor pan. Suit your self the 9" is amazing so Is the 8" (my 69 falcon ran a 8" detroit locker with good axles its whole life mid 11's at 121 never one problem) Its like being a motorcyle rider you will go down, and you will break an axle. Dave
