[Mark Brye]

Why do people say that the E36 rear end is not strong?

The original 8.8 inch rear end in the mustang 5.o in 86 had what, 205 HP going to it on a 3200lb car? And ran as much as 240 or so from the factory with the same spline axles in later years. Most people out there are probably running this same rear end in there cobra's without failure.

BMW ran 260 HP on the same E36 diff on a 3600lb with more weight on the back end of the car back in the day. I would think they use the same engineering std's that Ford does for margin of safety.

Either rear end can fail if its put through lots of abuse. When it happens, you upgrade the parts!