Some of us still live on a budget. $200 for a 10 year old 8.8 with 3:73 gears and a limited slip and disc brakes compared to $800 for a 50 year old 8 3/4 with a 2:96 open gear center (if any) and shot 10" drum brakes, or a $200 wide width 9 1/4 that needs everything rebuilt, or any 8 1/4 with poor gear choices that probably won't handle the power, or a $2000 for an aftermarket Dana rear, pretty much bare, for something I just want to drive and have some fun with, doesn't make a Mopar supplied rear end very logical. The only useable Mopar delivered rear axle that would fit our old stuff from the last 20 years would have had to come out of a truck, those choices are not good, and most do not have matching bolt patterns, where the 8.8 at least has the 5 on 4 1/2" bolt pattern.
I'm a pretty hard core Mopar guy, but at some point you have to face reality. Gene
You sure use some extreme examples to try to make your point. Most would agree that Mopars are among the more expensive muscle cars to build. And after all these years, even more common pieces like B body 8 3/4s are getting harder to find.
I wish the OP luck in building one of the more expensive project cars on a very limited budget. And given the controlling aspect of that limited budget, I hope that he is happy with the completed set of compromises that will be his car.
P.S. The 8.8 limited slip was never meant to hold any kind of sticky tires and rear disc brakes are a completely non essential item.
