Hello have a quick question,family member picked up a 82 mirada.
It has a 7 1/4 rear .He wants to replace it .
What would be the easiest rear to swap in ?
Thanks

8.25 . . . pretty sure they came in the mirada. Or diplomats . . . should be direct bolt in.

Thanks, problem is that there is nothing like that in my area,most of the junk yards are picked of old parts .I was more wondering about swapping in something out of a newer car or suv .

You can fit anything into anything with enough time & money, but I think you'll be a lot better off sticking with a factory option like a12rag mentioned....seriously, even if you have to look hard & ship it. Most "newer" cars are front wheel drive anyway.

You might also see if you could pick up a narrowed 8-3/4" or maybe an A-body 8-3/4" if you plan to race the Mirada....maybe check the race section. At least a few Miradas have been turned into drag cars.

And to answer your question.... the "easiest" rear end to swap would be another rear end just like the one that's in there now.

thanks ,ill keep looking ,was hoping some one had luck with a ford or jeep rear etc. I can weld new perches on just not looking to spend a ton of money .

Late model JEEPs ! May not be a bolt in due to leaf spring VS coil spring mounts but the wheel bolt pattern is the same. Cherokee, Grand Cherokee...I've seen some guys at FABO chat about these.

The only thing you need to watch going to 8 1/4 and probably newer axles too is driveshaft length and speedo gear if the ratio isn't the same. If you can find another 7 1/4 from a Diplomat or 5th Avenue that's the quickest. Unless of course someone plans on doing some performance upgrades to the car...

Thanks for the help , ill just hit the local junk yards and start measuring .

Jeep diffs are too wide. I had a dart someone put one in, made the wheels stick out. I would look at the ford explorer 8.8 diffs and shortening one side. Lots of info out there, guys are putting them in everything from darts to jeeps.

Jeep Liberty rears will apparently work. This guy did it: https://www.forfmjbodiesonly.com/classicmopar/threads/jeep-liberty-8-1-4-rear-swap.6055/


I used a 66-70 B body 8.75" in mine since it's the perfect width, but those are probably hard to come by now.

Thanks for the link ,I might be getting a 70 b-body 8 3/4 .

now that's the way you do it! seems that fit in a DAK also.

opens up the future for fast gear changes.

That's what I did on my 82 Cordoba. A couple things to be aware of though.

Your Mirada uses an isolated rubber mount setup on the rear end. There is a large plate with rubber in between the spring and rear end. The hole in the spring perch is very large so the new rear end won't just bolt up. If you want to do away with the isolated setup, you'll need to buy some old style shock plates. With the isolated stuff removed, the new rear end will bolt up just fine.

What I did was retain the isolated setup but had the spring perch holes enlarged to match. I don't remember the exact size of the hole but it's large.(1 1/4" or something crazy like that) With the perch hole opened up, the rear end will bolt up and you don't need to change the shock plates.

Secondly, the spring perch centers are slightly different between the 7 1/4 and the B-body rear. Maybe 1/2" or so. Some people just push the springs in 1/4" per side and don't worry about it. That does put pressure on the bushings but I don't know if it's enough to worry about. You could have the perch holes redrilled to compensate for that.

1966-1967 B body 8 3/4. Open the spring perch holes up.
1968-1970 rears a little bit wider but will work. Spring perches are 1/2"off but it's not a problem at all. Driveshaft will move forward 3/4" roughly but most cars thats no problem too.

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