English to Atlas axle

[welshmike]

Ok guys, got some questions about axles. Im sure the knowledgable people of OSF will have the answers.

 

Ok, so ive got a 50" English under my Mk1 Capri and I want to fit a full width Atlas from a later Capri as Im hoping to be throwing 250+ horsepower at it soon

 

I understand the width differance but my questions are, will the 9" drums from my English fit onto an Atlas? Will the prop fit both diff flanges? And will it fit onto the leaf springs ok, ie are the spring seats on the axles the same width apart?

 

Thanks guys

[Col-ashtonmobile]

the drums are not interchangeable as the centre of the half shafts are different sizes ,

the prop will fit the diff flange ,

the spring saddles should be in the same place,

hope this helps

[welshmike]

Thanks very much mate, huge help

[rallyesport04]

put a narrow atlas on it that should bolt straight on an take the power you want to throw at it

[livewire7116]

the brakes will fit as long as you use the complete set up, ie backplates and shoes and drums

[welshmike]

put a narrow atlas on it that should bolt straight on an take the power you want to throw at it

 

I would, but they are a fair bit more expensive and i could do with the extra couple of inches in width to fill my arches

 

So the brakes do fit? I have the whole setup in use on my car, so i could just swap it all over?

 

What usually breaks on English axles? shafts? crown wheel and pinion? Would I be better off keeping the English and just upgrading it with beefier shafts as ive just put a new LSD in it. Ill be running just over 250hp initially and possibly up to 400 odd in the future.

[Vista]

A full width atlas won't fit under a mk1 capri without either making the wheels stick out or running very narrow wheels with a large offset. Narrow wheels would defeat the point of going for big power as you wouldn't have the grip to use it.

 

An LSD equipped English could just about handle 250 bhp providing you're not running wide grippy rubber or doing hard launches, but I wouldn't want to try one with 400bhp. With rubber narrow enough not to break it, you wouldn't have enough grip to make decent use of all that power anyway.

 

I'm also not sure that the spring saddles are in the same place as the mk2 & 3 capri are physically wider than the mk1.

 

Oh and typically it's the shafts that fail first.

 

Edit: just confirmed with someone who trial fitted a mk3 capri axle to his mk1. The saddles ARE in the same place.