Lots of guys prefer a 9" Ford, because of the removable chunk, & wide range of gears & parts available. Might be able to get a complete 9" for a bit less than $3000, from Quick Performance. The base price is $1800. But after you add all the upgrades, plus shipping, you're up to nearly $3k.
OR, you can locate an 8.5" 10-bolt, out of a '70's X-body, then have it completely set-up, by a rear end expert. Guessing this will cost at least $2000.
OR, you can hope to luck out & find a factory 8.5 or 12-bolt, that has all the stuff you want in it, & is for a reasonable price. The easiest thing to find is probably an 8.5 out of a 2nd gen Bird or Camaro. The leaf spring brackets must be moved in a bit. But, lots of 1st gen guys have done that, thru the years.
Make sure the axle tubes are tack welded to the center section. I learned this the hard way, when the pinion came up thru the floor. 4 good tacks, 90° apart is enuff. I raced several 12-bolts that I did this to. If you try to weld the tubes solid, all the way around, the heat could pull the tubes out of line. I always put 2 small tacks 180° apart. Then added the other 2. Never had a problem doing it this way.
There is always a chance of breaking an axle, and having major problems, when using C-clip axles. For this reason, it's best to not have C-clip axles. But, millions of cars have probably traveled billions of miles, with C-clip axles. We never broke a stock axle. But we were only running low 12 & high 11 sec bracket cars.
