Me and 4mula88 were at the 'yard today and found an '88 Camaro. Well he's got an '88 Formula that's a TBI 305, 700-r4, 2.73. He want's a posi and possibly 3.42 gears, but may consider 3.23.

It'd be easy if we could just swap out the entire rear end. So we looked in the center counsel and found the RPO sticker. It said G80!!!!!!!! :lala: :lala: :lala: (That's a posi for those who don't know).

So I asked him if it was a GU6 (3.42) and he says "no it's a GU2." I'm like "GU2? I don't know that one by heart."

So we get back to my house, hop on the computer to the RPO Decoder, and find out that GU2 is a 2.73

WHY IN THE HELL would GM put a posi on a 2.73? IMO that's just retarded. I know that maybe it was ordered that way by a customer, but isn't that just odd as hell? It's like ordering a WS6 package on a V6.

Anyway, I guess I just had to vent. Just one more thing that GM does to confuse us.

BTW, he may get it just for the posi, but I'm not sure. I told him don't spend more than $100, it ain't worth it.

AJ

 

Forget everything you know about building a performance car, and what you think would make sense in a car in that context. Replace it with the real world as seen through GM's eyes.

They have 4 issues they have to constantly contend with: CAFE; emissions; liability insurance; and the whole cost / price / competition thing. Selling a car with performance badges, a motor that feels really strong at low (city) speeds but basically produces no power at all above 4500 RPM, and slipping in a grocery-cart gear ratio, all fit very neatly with all 4 of those driving concerns. For the 5% or less of the population that actually wanted real maximum performance in their new car instead of just the image, the better combos were available, but at extra cost and extra effort and extra delivery time.

Fortunately the world has changed somewhat in the years since then. The 70s were even worse.