Hey, I'm new to the site, but not new to my car.

Anyway, heres the deal. I have a 350 out of a 72 chevy 1500 and We estimated the compression to be about 8.0:1 or so running through the factory 700R4 (It was a 305 SE car and when I got it we dropped in the 350.) The guy that does the work on my car said that with the 3.09 rear gear I'm losing alot of acceleration and such. I was thinking about getting the rear end out of an older truck for the locker and a numericly higher gear ratio. Just wanted to know what you guys though about this idea.

 

Let me get this straight, you want to put a truck rear in your car. Not going to happen without major fab work. Trucks have leaf springs and yours are coil, with a torque arm and panhard rod. Pretty much the only rear that will work with out major fab work is out of an 82-03 camaro, firebird. Just swap out the gears you have or buy a complete 4th gen rear with 3.42 gears.

 

if its a 7.5/7.625 ring and pinion it'll fit in your housing

 

i'm glad you wanted to know what i (we) thought other wise i might of skipped over this. i think you didn't put much thought into it before you posted. like was said truck rears are like nite and day differant, even a 7.5/7.62 ten bolt from another car or truck ( non f body) is going to be differant. easiest thing for you to do would be to find a new rear with the gears you want from another 3rd gen f body and swap it in. seconde easiest would be to find the carrier you want or can use and swap it in. third easiest would be to get the same carrier and install it with a new gear set i nthe ratio you want.

 

well seeing that your car is a pre 87, You have a 7.5" rear with 26 spline axles. Could he have even gotton 3.08 gears with a 700 and a 305?? Get a post 87 rear with the 7.62 rear. They are much stronger. You probably have the 2.73 gears in the back. I had them also. The best quarter i got with them was a 15.6 @ 87mph. I then switched to a 3.23 posi rear and pulled a 14.9 @91.88mph

 

Hate to break it to you but they didn't make the camaros and firebirds in 03...last year was 02

 

Yeah your right that was a typo. Although i do have a 03 1LE SS Z28 Z06 LZ6 427 powered special edition performance model for sale. They only build 3 of them its worth a pile, but i will settle for $100 grand. Wanna buy it?

 

 

I didnt consider the leaf spring issue thanks for bringing that to my attention.

 

nad the whole casting is different as ME leigh as the provision for the torque arm is in the camaro's casting and none on the truck rear end.

 

yeah the housing is different but the center section will work with with your current housing or you could just shop around for a whole unit like it was earlier said i lucked out and found one on another site in the classifieds usually can pickup a drum fbody rear fro $100-300 hell i just sold my 9 bolt disc for $80 but it had 2.77