[Masteryota]

I agree. A semi trailing arm set up would free up some space around the engine and give you the ride you are looking for. I saw someone do a similar frame up build with a sled engine and heavily triangulated tubular trailing arms. All said and done, it articulated very well, but the builder used unknown donor axles and inferior design(my opinion) but the finished product functioned very well.

IMHO, you are already way ahead of the game with product knowledge about the axles and where to find them. The rest is in execution. I have given the same design some thought, and when and if I decide to do such a build/mod, I think I might look into some of the small car AWD rear axle setups with the small open diff center section. The Matrix rear end comes to mind, and the hubs are pretty cheap from after market suppliers. Whether or not the diff would be used in the build would depend on the engine, but I do like the joyner type center section for the chain drive.