{"id":10331,"date":"2014-12-18T13:48:51","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T21:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=10331"},"modified":"2014-12-18T13:48:51","modified_gmt":"2014-12-18T21:48:51","slug":"nine-lives-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/nine-lives-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine Lives – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nine-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Spin the clock back forty to fifty years ago, and you\u2019d find that anything with a Ford blue oval on the side and a big honking engine under the hood would have come with only one rear end choice:\u00a0 a 9 inch. If that Ford had one of the nasty engines like a 427 or a 428 CJ then that 9-inch was filled with a 31-spline carrier and matching axles.\u00a0 Most ultimate power Fords also came equipped with a nodular iron center section (and most of those were marked with a big \u201cN\u201d cast directly over the pinion).<\/p>\n

\"There<\/a>
There are a number of different 9-inch Ford cases available today. And because of that, there\u2019s no real need to scrounge the junkyard or classic car sites for parts. At the top of the heap in terms of 9-inch Fords is this aluminum through bolt case from Mark Williams.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ford center sections are manufactured with a separate bolt-in support for the pinion.\u00a0 Cars with nodular center sections were regularly fitted with what was called a \u201cDaytona\u201d pinion support. These supports make use of the same size outer bearing as the more pedestrian supports, however the inner bearing is much larger, and the inner webbing is much beefier. The majority of nodular iron, 31-spline muscle-Fords came equipped with Ford\u2019s clutch pack equipped Traction Lok \u00a0differential (which is a conventional limited slip arrangement).\u00a0 With the dawn of the 1970 model year, a positive locking (gear driven) differential was manufactured by a company called Detroit Automotive Products Corporation, and was made available in high horsepower cars with gear ratios of 4.30:1.\u00a0 These are the legendary \u201cDetroit Lockers\u201d, and we\u2019ll dig deeper into the Locker in a later segment of the series.<\/p>\n

\"What\u2019s<\/a>
What\u2019s a \u201cThru-Bolt?\u201d Simple. Instead of a long bolt threading into a section of the case to secure the caps, Williams incorporates a bolt that goes right through the case into the cap.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n


\nObviously, Ford did something good with the design and layout of the 9-inch.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty much the standard go-to rear end for drag racing.\u00a0 A big plus is the fact the center section can be removed easily and serviced on your workbench; that definitely beats wrestling with a complete housing underneath the car. It is possible to track down most of the stock hardware to piece together a factory-style nodular iron 31-spline 9-inch, complete with a Daytona pinion support and even a Detroit locker.\u00a0The truth is, what you\u2019ll find is old, used up hardware.\u00a0Be prepared to drop some serious coin in order to whip the old stuff into shape.\u00a0 This is less than ideal and not race effective. What is good is the fact there are plenty of choices out there (in the racing aftermarket) for updated aftermarket brute force Ford center sections.\u00a0 The setups we\u2019ll show you are head and shoulders above the original parts. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>
At the front of the case, you can see the Grade 9 bolt shown here. It mounts on a reinforced boss on the nose of the case.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Nine-4B\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Several companies manufacture and sell nodular iron cases.\u00a0 In case you\u2019re wondering, nodular iron is a type of cast iron<\/a> that first saw the light of day in 1943.\u00a0 While most varieties of cast iron prove brittle<\/a>, nodular iron is much more ductile<\/a>, because of its \u201cnodular graphite\u201d inclusions. When you consider aftermarket cases, think about the availability of upgrades.\u00a0 Case-in-point:\u00a0 Mark Williams has a reinforced nodular iron case that is stronger than stock, but is comparable in weight to a stock Ford assembly.\u00a0 These\u00a09-inch cases come complete with billet steel rear end caps that have been precision alignment bored. They also include special billet steel adjusters and studs to secure the pinion assembly.\u00a0 They\u2019re available with 3.062-inch or 3.250-inch bore sizes (the larger the bore, the larger the axle diameter\/spline you can use \u2013 the larger the axle diameter and spline, the stronger the axle).<\/p>\n

\"Out<\/a>
Out back, the bolt secures the billet cap(s) at the rear of the case. You can see the flanged twelve point nuts in these photos. What you can\u2019t see is the special alignment bushing used to mount the hardware<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0\"Nine-5B\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For a light, small displacement, lower horsepower application, Williams offers a special \u201cLight Weight\u201d aluminum case.\u00a0 The case is based on their nodular iron assembly, and is cast with the same material as their high horsepower (capable) \u201cThru-Bolt\u201d cases.\u00a0 Unlike the \u201cThru-Bolt case\u201d, the Light Weight case does not have additional reinforcement and heavier walls (and obviously, doesn\u2019t have though bolts \u2013 more on them below).\u00a0 The light weight case is 15 pounds lighter than an OEM Nodular iron case and is also 5 pounds lighter than the \u201cThru-Bolt\u201d case.\u00a0 This setup can also be used on the street and on certain oval track applications, but it\u2019s particularly compelling for something like a normally aspirated 4-cylinder or dragster application.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Instead<\/a>
Instead of shims for the carrier, the typical high performance 9-inch setup uses a form of side adjuster. Shown here are the heavy-duty billet steel adjusters Williams uses in their racing and street-strip cases. As you can see, the design is such that the adjuster is positively locked in place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Nine-7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cThru-Bolt\u201d aluminum case is manufactured by Mark Williams. However, this is no ordinary aluminum; this is a highly refined, extreme-duty component that has become the standard in virtually all NHRA Pro Stock cars. It\u2019s also used with regularity in slower class drag race cars, \u201cpro street\u201d cars and any number of seriously quick street machines (the center section you see here is going into a strong LS-powered, small tire machine).\u00a0 It weighs 11-pounds less than Williams\u2019 comparable nodular iron carrier or a stock Ford carrier.\u00a0 Cast from an ultra strong aircraft alloy (30% stronger than 6061T6), the case is engineered with special \u201cThru Bolts\u201d that go completely through the center section to secure the main caps.<\/p>\n

The actual main caps are machined from 7075 aluminum and include billet steel carrier adjusters. The pinion pilot-bearing bore incorporates an extra length bearing that is\u00a0completely\u00a0captive and retained by fasteners. Meanwhile, the pinion support is held in place by way of large diameter 7\/16-inch studs.\u00a0 The case is manufactured in three different bore sizes (3.062-inch, 3.250-inch and 3.812-inch, although for anything short of an all-out drag car, the 3.812-inch piece isn\u2019t necessary).\u00a0 All thru bolt case configurations have clearance for 9-1\/2-inch gears (9-1\/4-inch actual diameters \u2013 more on these down the road).\u00a0 Fluid passage ports for external lubrication systems are pre-drilled.\u00a0 Additionally, the case is setup so that you can add a load bolt if necessary. What\u2019s a \u201cload bolt\u201d? Essentially, a load bolt is positioned in close proximity to the backside of the ring gear, but not in contact with it.\u00a0 It only makes contact with the ring gear if there is deflection under severe load.\u00a0 FYI, Load Bolts were originally used on heavy duty truck differentials.\u00a0 They prevented chipped teeth if the driver\u2019s foot slipped off the clutch when backing up. Bottom line here is, it might be necessary in extreme power applications, but for us mere mortals, it\u2019s not required.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next issue, we\u2019ll look at the carriers \u2013 spools, posi and lockers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0 Nine Lives<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Mark Williams Enterprises<\/b><\/p>\n

765 South Pierce Avenue<\/p>\n

Louisville, Colorado\u00a0 80027<\/p>\n

PH# 866-508-6394<\/p>\n

Website: www.markwilliams.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drag Race 101: Part 1 of a four part series on Ford 9-Inch center sections.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":10347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3448,9],"tags":[1707,961,2,43,1708,321],"class_list":["post-10331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-race-101","category-tech-tips","tag-9-inch-rear-end","tag-drag-race-101","tag-drag-racing","tag-ford","tag-limited-slip-differential","tag-wayne-scraba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Nine-1-FEAT.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-2GD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10331"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10366,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10331\/revisions\/10366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}