I've built hundreds of narrowed 8.8 rears, in my opinion the best housing core for a muscle car is the Crown Vic. It uses medium thickness 3" dia axle tubes, so overall much lighter than the Explorer/F150 housings. Center casting is also lighter, and you don't have to cut off the ugly Explorer abs sensor "guards". Good compromise of strength vs weight. The CV disc brakes are also much lighter than the Explorer disc brakes. Mustang 8.8 housings are lighter yet, but they use small 2-3/4" dia thin wall axle tubes, which are very easy to bend.
FYI the 31spl Explorer bearing journals are larger than a 9" axle in that area, which means an 8.8 axle can be turned down to accept 9" bearings directly. Turns it into a 9" style axle, eliminates the need for c-clip eliminators. Just install 9" ends on the 8.8 housing and use modified 8.8 axles with 9" bearings installed. Torino style billet 9" housing ends from Dutchman Machine are around $100/pr.
If you want to build an even narrower 8.8 using stock parts, the Ranger housing has short/long axle tubes much like an Explorer. 56-1/2" AF/AF using two short side Explorer axles, 53-1/4" AF/AF using two short side Ranger axles. Ranger 8.8 center castings look like the Explorer/F150, but the Ranger axle tubes are large Explorer sized where they plug into the center housing, but the outer ends are small to take the Mustang/Crown Vic sized 1.40" axle bearings. 31 spline axle Rangers do exist, but most common is the 28 spline. Both Explorer and Ranger are 5 on 4-1/2" lug patterns.
Grant
