Ok - here goes. Since I'm "re-vamping" my car a lot - with lots of new stuff, I was considering upgrading the rearend of my car - I'm kind of afraid that with all the new stuff (exhaust, headers, polyurethane bushings, mounts, and suspension), that I'm gonna blow my 13 year old 2.73 rear end. As most of you can relate, I'm not easy on my car at red lights

Sooo - my question was this - has anyone done a rear end upgrade on their 305 TBI with a 2.73 rear end? If so - what did you upgrade to and how much did it cost?

~Camaro88Lover~

 

the ten bolt is plenty strong to handle wht you will see with a 305 until you add nitrous or some other power adder in large portions.
after talkign to several people and thinking about the things that came stock on f-bodies i came up with a cheap upgrade fro a lot of you guys looking for a bit more gear and a posi at a good price.
most of the 6cyl cars were delivered with 3.42 gears. all yo want to look for is a v6 car with the same tranny the you have. pull the rear cover off and have a friend turn the axle around once slowly while you see how many time the ring gear goes around. if it goes around almost 3.5 times for every one time the axle goes all the way around then you have struck gold.
the trick is to find an 88 and later so you have the 28spline axles. then just call up SLP and tell them you want a torson take out diff.
most salvage yards will let you have a complete rear for 200 at most and the slp diff is only 100.
there is nopthing to reset or anything, just switch the ring gear from the factory open diff to the posi. as long as you keep the shims on the right side everything will line up.

hope this helps

later
tim

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91 Camaro RS-LO3,Auto
New Times Coming Soon!
Check Out The East Coast F-Body Nationals Home Page
www.geocities.com/njspeeder
My MAFB.ORG Home Page
www.mycar.net/mafb/registry/detail.cfm?id=299
DSI Racing Home Page
www.geocities.com/foff667

 

I'm sorry, but what is a torsion take out diff? Is that a posi? If so $100 seems very cheap.

 

Just to set the record straight. The V6 thirdgen's only came w/ a 3.42 drum rear in the manuals. The auto's came w/ a 3.23 drum rear. So watch out for what your looking for. But, the idea Tim has is a very good one. It's one the top of my list of things to do.

Paul

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92 Camaro RS
305 TBI
T-Tops
DynoMax Cat-Back Exhaust
Gutted Cat
Hypertech Street Runner Chip
Custom K&N open element cold air intake
Custom Interior
Window Tint

JVC El-Kameleon Head Unit
Pyramid 6 x 9's
Jensen 5 1/4's
2- 10" Kenwood Tornado Subs
Pyramid 600 Watt Amp
Best ET: 15.976 @ 86.01 mph
reaction time: 0.479
60 ft: 2.269

 

Thats what I did and have over 2000 miles on it. Be careful to double check gear ratio and count the axle splines before you buy!!! The first 3.42 rear I found turned out to be a 3.23 when I pulled the cover, I assume from an auto car. I paid extra for a '92 rear from a Firebird 5sp. It had the 3.42s but I never counted the splines and was disapointed to find only 26ers in there.(28 spline axles are needed for the SLP take out posi) I ended having to buy some used 28 spline axles. I spent $180 on the rear, $60 on axles and $100 for the posi. I did just what NJ said bolted the ring gear to the posi and retorqued the bearing caps with no problems!! If you pay attention to the details you can have the whole set up for not much more than new gears them selves!!! Or if your lazy I've got the complete 3.08 posi rear that I took out laying in my garage!!! All the information is on the drivetrain board. I would have never found all the information to do this without thirdgen.org! Thanks Guys

 

it is the rear carrier that comes stock in all 4th gen z28's, formula's, and t/a's. slp removes these units and put in a heavy duty torson when they build the ss's, ws6's, and firehawk's.
it is cheap, but don't be fooled, plenty of fourth gen guys go way intothe 12's and even intot he 11's with this unit just by getting a support type rear cover.

later
tim



------------------
91 Camaro RS-LO3,Auto
New Times Coming Soon!
Check Out The East Coast F-Body Nationals Home Page
www.geocities.com/njspeeder
My MAFB.ORG Home Page
www.mycar.net/mafb/registry/detail.cfm?id=299
DSI Racing Home Page
www.geocities.com/foff667

 

Actually, I had an 85 berlinetta, auto, with 3.42 gears. ALL V6 cars from 85-89 have a 3.42 rear. 90+, the autos came with 3.23, and the manuals got the 3.42.