Suspension / ChassisQuestions about your suspension? Need chassis advice?
Welcome to ThirdGen.org!
Welcome to ThirdGen.org.
You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, at no cost, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, join the ThirdGen.org community today!
I have spent about 3 hours searching this forum and I have found some great info on the swap on which i am ready to perform, but need a little more help/guidance.
1992 firebird with recent 305tbi to 350tbi ultimate swap/mods (approx 375 horse). Just finished (UMI Performance) subframe connectors, steering subframe connectors, new lower control arms, torque arm, etc. Now it's time to beef up the rear end.
Swapping stock 2.73 limited slip rear end/drum break with a late 80's 3.27 posi rear end with disc breaks.
Simple swap right? Possible proportioning valve replacement, but other than that a quick and easy swap?
I will upgrade the rotors, pads, etc while i am in the process.
Prop valve should be the only thing as far as I know. I had a 9-bolt 3.27 laying in the basement and pondered the swap for a long time before I sold it off. In my research I only found that the prop valve needed to be changed to support the rear disks.
Don't forget the speedo gears. I did the same swap but from a 3.73 drum 10 bolt to a 2.77 9 bolt disc. I've now got a 3.27 9 bolt ready to go together and be swapped in it's place. Get the valve for your year model car, not the car the donor rear came from.
You'll need the prop valve only if you've got the cast iron saginaw brakes, which is pretty likely as only a few of the nine bolts are rumored to have come with the later PBRs. There's also a recall kit available from GMParts Direct for those brakes. It comes with everything needed for a standard re-build and fixes some known issues with them.
Speedo gears are cheap ... you can order from any GM parts counter for a few bucks each. I had a shop install mine in the tranny when I swapped out my 2.73s for 3.42s. There is a thread on here somewhere that has a table showing which drive gear and driven gear have the correct number of teeth (in combination) to make your speedo right (or at least close to right) for your gear ratio. It takes tire size & wheel size into account when you calculate, so have those numbers handy. And you have an electric speedo, so you can re-use your old part that the driven gear attaches to (can't think of the name of it). If you don't change the speedo gears, I'm going to guess that your speedometer will be off by about 9 mph with that gear ratio change.
If you don't change the speedo gears, I'm going to guess that your speedometer will be off by about 9 mph with that gear ratio change.
SOOooo, if his speedometer is registering 9 mph he'll actually be going 0 miles per hour?
The speedo will be off the exact ratio of the gear change (assuming it was correct to start with) So when you're registering 50 mph you'll actually be going 50 x 2.73/3.27 or 41.74 mph. At 25 mph registered you'll actually be going 20.87 mph. I know, , but I had a few minutes to spare.