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Zebra3
05-14-2010, 04:12 AM
Hi all,
My first post here so be nice! :) I'll get round to posting something in the intros shortly (wrong way round I know), and a give a few car details there.

To cut a long story short, part of my long term plans for my Cortina is to prep it for fast road and occasional track day use (circuits not drag racing).

I'm considering a currie/strange aluminum 9" housing, but just wondered if the axle tubes are still steel? I presume they are so that ends can be welded on etc.
Therefore how are they fitted into the housing / pumpkin? Are they essentially a press fit?
Cheers guys.

CamaroAJ
05-14-2010, 08:07 AM
yes the axle tubes are steel. i had one in my last car i built and loved it. yes they are pressed in and then there is 6 IIRC set screws per side. if it wasn't for building a 3 link in the new project i would install one again for sure.

Kenova
05-14-2010, 05:34 PM
Any idea as to how much lighter the entire housing is with the aluminum center?

Ken

Gitter Dun
05-15-2010, 07:44 PM
Any idea as to how much lighter the entire housing is with the aluminum center?

Ken


Yeah, Im interested also. Whats the weight savings and are there horsepower limitations?

LSx_88_Ciera
05-15-2010, 09:44 PM
Are you talking about the Strange aluminum gear case and standard housing or the Strange and Currie aluminum housing.
If you are talking both being aluminum then I say go standard there really isn't as much weight diff as you would think the Al has to be much thicker to give you proper strength and much of the weight savings is lost. No to mention with the required gusseting that is built into the housing you are limited with what you can do as far as setup/modifications.
I am biased though as I prefer a 3-link with watts link which would be much more difficult with the Al housing so I prefer the stronger F9 fabricated housing for the same money.

Bryce
05-16-2010, 08:00 AM
I have a moser aluminum gear carrier in the 65 mustang. They reccommend it for drag and little stret use. They are not designed to take starting and stopping forces.

Zebra3
05-16-2010, 12:53 PM
I was asking about the housing not the gear carrier, but was intending to use both the strange/currie ally carrier and ally housing.

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41675
This thread mentions the weight differential (no pun) between the steel and aluminum carrier (33lb vs 13.6lb), but not the housing.
I can't find anything on the currie site about the weight of the housing, so suspect LSx_88_Ciera is right and there is not much difference.

I'm keen to reduce unsprung weight but not at any cost so if anyone does have info on any weight savings to be had from using the aluminum housing I'd be pleased to hear.

For info I'm hoping to use SBF (302/331/347 etc) probably no more than 400hp, but this will come later when the rest of the car is ready and I can afford it. For starters it will have to stick with the V6 it currently has which will certainly not trouble a nine inch diff.
Use will mostly be road, with 2 or 3 circuit days a year. not intending any serious drag race use.

Falcon65, not sure if I've misunderstood, but did you mean that moser do NOT recommend drag use for their alloy carrier?

Thanks for replies so far

Bryce
05-16-2010, 09:30 PM
moser only recommends the aluminum carrier for drag racing. Road racing is too hard on it; so a reduced life span.

Zebra3
05-17-2010, 04:24 AM
Fair enough.
While we're on subject of the carrier, am i right in thinking that the one sold by currie is actually Strange?

CamaroAJ
05-17-2010, 01:25 PM
the shipping weight of the aluminum houseing was 40 lbs. that was just the houseing with no axles in it. assembled i could pick up the whole thing with out a problem. made putting it in the car a breaze.

this is what i'm talking about. http://www.currieenterprises.com/cestore/productsRE.aspx?id=1567

Zebra3
05-18-2010, 04:11 AM
Thanks for info CamaroAJ. What sort of use did your car get (street/strip/circuit?), and did you notice any problems? did you use aluminum carrier as well? I'd assume that would be better choice if using alu housing as any heat expansion between the two should be similar?

I'm not looking to three link so shouldn't be an issue for me (going for six link, (four link plus chassis mounted watts linkage).

CamaroAJ
05-18-2010, 08:40 AM
autocross/street and road track. i never got it out to the road track. the new owner has taken it to mid ohio a few times with no problem.

yes it had strange aluminum 3rd member.

ace_xp2
05-19-2010, 12:08 PM
Not the same housing, but there's a listing for one here at 15lbs 8oz.:
https://www.lefthanderchassis.com/viewproduct.asp?idproduct=0145243
The only comparative listing for steel center sections is at currie:
http://www.currieenterprises.com/cestore/categoriesre.aspx?id=1142

Sadly, they list the weights of the various units they offer, but have no reference for what a stock one would weigh. (I also note the housing from Lefthander is cheaper than the steel currie ones.)

Interesting that they found a nearly 20lbs difference between the casings, Preston posted up a difference of about 10lbs on Corner Carvers:
http://corner-carvers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=767258&highlight=aluminum+weigh*#post767258
Mind you they were loaded, but each with a lsd or atb style differential. Maybe differential weight itself is something to look into.

Zebra3
05-24-2010, 04:32 AM
Good info, cheers.
Moving slightly from my original question, I'd been considering a full floating set up, I presume there's no reason you can't do that with aluminum housing? Or is there?

ace_xp2
05-25-2010, 07:47 PM
Full floater should be fine. The axle tubes would still be steel, so AFAIK you'd just weld floater ends to the tubes.