In order to get your vintage Mustang, Camaro, or other model of muscle car to rotate appropriately on an autocross or a technical track, some retrofitting is necessary. The conversion from cumbersome cruiser to agile muscle car can, in part, be made possible by Moser Engineering‘s Pro Touring kit. This kit, developed through wheel-banging oval racing for a robust construction, gives you the ability to convert your existing rearend housing into a performance unit utilizing the best floater hubs and brake combinations available for a serious street/road course application.

The Limitations of the Flanged Axle

When it comes to racing your classic car on road courses or cone-lined parking lots, one of the first setbacks you’ll likely notice is brake knock-back. This is a situation that is common with flanged axles in high load corners. Increasing the side loading with large wheels, tires, and rotors (in turn) increases the leverage effect on an axle flange. The heavier the car and the tighter the track, the more flex occurs at the caliper. This pushes the piston back into the caliper, which means the bite won’t be there for the next braking zone. Whether it causes a crash or merely a missed braking point, brake knock-back is something that needs to be avoided.

A complete rearend can drastically transform the reliability and predictability of your Pro Touring car or truck.

That flanged axle serves double duty by both supporting the weight and forces at play as well as transmitting all the power to the wheel. By swapping over to a floater-style setup, you fix the knock-back and begin to delegate the forces a little more evenly. With a floater, the weight of the vehicle is supported by the hub and snout, while the power is transferred by a double-splined axle shaft that is only required to supply power to the wheel.

Advantages Offered by the Floater

A floater increases the margin of safety; if the axle were to fail, it would only eliminate drive power and not result in a loss of the wheel. Additionally, this design allows you to easily replace a broken axle by merely removing a cap, pulling out the old shaft, and sliding a new one into the housing.

Though aggressive driving could easily damage a flanged axle, a floater’s bump in strength and reliability allows for more aggressive approaches to rumble strips and over rougher terrain. For a vehicle that only sees the street, it’s excessive. However, the enthusiasts looking to better their times on the road course ought to try this route towards modernizing their car’s old rearend.

The hub and axle package is available for those who don’t mind a little cutting and welding.

All Moser floaters, hub packages, and axles are made in the USA by Moser and use its own designs with US-sourced steel. The snouts are through-hardened for longevity and the hub packages are the strongest available for this application. According to Moser, “Our hub packages use 100% American-made 4104P Aircraft quality steel with a hardness of 302 (Bbn)—most others on the market rate at 197 (Bbn), making ours 35% stronger than the competition’s.”

Depending on your level of mechanical skill and plans for your car, the Moser Autocross products are available individually or as a complete package. Either you convert your existing housing over with some cutting, welding, and a good alignment bar, or, for many stock applications, you can order them all as a complete bolt-in kit. Either way, you’ll be bringing your vintage car into the 21st century and getting the autocross observers scratching their heads in disbelief.