First read the tech article on this site
https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...hgenrear.shtml


The 4th gen rears retain all of the third gen stuff, all shocks/springs, panhard bar, lower control arms and such.

If you lower the car, get an adjustable panhard bar to recenter the rear… if not it will kick out on the driver’s side. Mine did that with an eibach pro-kit

Might need brake lines… 2 lengths of brake lines… 20 and 26 inches should cover it. Stock lines might work tho too if you have a disk rear from the factory.

The only thing that isnt a bolt in deal is the ebrake cables. For that to work, you need to make a bracket to hold the cables to the top of the trans tunnel.. or get different cables and mod them to work

LS1 98+ rears go here for Ebrake cable info. It covers part numbers, custom brackets and such. Basically, The Bendex P/N# C1621 are the ones to get, but I guess they are discontinued? So use Tru-Torque# C94597 which are 1460mm long. Page 2 of the bottom link goes into good detail on these cables and mods. Also you can use the stock LS1 cables if you mod them as mentioned in the link

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...=&pagenumber=1

if you have a 93-97 rear, go to a parts store like advance auto, or pep boys or whatever, and ask for e-brake cables for a 90-92 camaro with rear discs. this will give you the right cables. you'll need 2. 90-92 F-bodies used identical rear disc brakes as the 93 to 97 4th gens. A lot of ppl use the 91 or 92. Get the first design, as there are two I believe.


For the drum rear to 4th gen conversion, you can use the stock 3rd gen master cylinder...some have even used the stock-proportioning valve with out problems. However it wouldn’t hurt to put in a disk rear proportioning valve or an adjustable one from summit racing or wildwood. I’d recommend it. You will need the proper brake lines from the calipers to the T-fitting at the rear. You can keep everything factory from that fitting forward. The rear brake lines and the parking brake are the only things you'll need to modify when swapping to a 4th gen rear

LT1 and LS1 A4 cars had either 2.73 or 3.23 rear (gotta check that out) and T56 cars had a 3.42. The LS1 rear is preferred in a lot of cases because of the brakes that usually come with it. They are pretty big and work good.

Also, for rears with traction control and abs... you can run the stock rubber hoses to the T block and you can run new hard lines from the T to the calipers. this might be the same for the non TC 4th gen rears.

The 93-97 4th gen rears are 3.8" wider from hub to hub so the stock thirdgen wheels will stick out some. A lot say that its even with the fender lip so its not all that bad. Some stick out abit past. the 98+ rears are abit shorter, at about 3.5 inches wide

Few pics at the bottom of this thread… describing stock wheels sticking out

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...h+gen+rear+end

some info on beefing up 10 bolt rears

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...h+gen+rear+end

Quick run down of the install courtesy of Zepher

Jack up the rear of the car and support the body with 2 jackstands.
Place 2 jackstands under each of the axle tubes.
Remove the wheels
Remove the 2 long bolts the hold the torque arm to the pumpkin on the rear end
Move torque arm to the side or pull it off
Unbolt the driveshaft from the rear end, leave it in the tranny and lay the end on the ground being careful not to damage it or knock the end caps off
unbolt the sway bar from the rear
you can leave the sway bar attached to the endlinks but it will make it harder to move the rear end out from under the car
remove the brake lines from the drums
unbolt the lower control arms from the rear end
unbolt the brake line "T" from the rear end, if you are changing the brake lines, remove the lines from the "T" before unbolting it
unbolt the shocks from the rear
using the jack under the rear end, carefully balance it and jack it up a bit and pull the shocks out of the rear end, shocks will just hang there.
move the 2 jackstands that were under the rear end.
As you carefully lower the rear end, grab the coil springs as they will start to fall out.
roll the jack with the rear end out from under the car and place it somewhere.
Put the 4th gen rear on the jack and roll it under the car.
jack it up about level with the shocks and place the jackstands under the rear.
Position the springs back on the perches and carefully jack the rear up
Bolt up the shocks
Bolt up the Lower control arms.
And just start bolting everything else back up.



this is pretty much all that i learned so far about this swap. For those who have done this swap, please feel free to add to this and make corrections... PM me details and i'll edit this post for the new info

I am about to purchase a 4th gen rear and figured i'd make a thread about info for it since i didnt see one. once i start the install next spring or so, i will give a report on the process with lots of pics!

 

Great info!

TOT

 

Great job Orr. This is a good start for a sticky. I would send the moderator of this form a PM and see what they say. Seeing how this question gets asked all the time it would be fitting to make this a sticky. I would only suggest a few more links, a little organization and saturate it with as many referenced threads as possible. Perhaps make a writeup for each type of conversion. Drums to LS1, Disk to LS1, Drums to LT1, Disk to LT1 and discuss the items that may make that swap a bit different (brake lines and ebrake stuff) than the other 4th gen rear swaps. Plus, when you install your rear you can add pictures to it to point out the differences and such. This is a great, and much needed, start

 

yeah it could use abit more work. but yeah, a good start for sure. i was hoping others could check it out and add to it.

 

Ok, unless I missed something (which i'm sure I did), your wheels are going to stick out as much as shown in those pictures? That is WAY too far IMO.

 

the front wheels are 0mm offset and stick out really far.

the rears are 16mm and will stick out to about even with the fenderline, which aint too bad but is abit far for my taste. i dont think its too bad but its not the greatest fit. i plan on going to ZR1 wheels or so as soon as possible after this swap tho.

 

might be a stupid question but can one still use his third gen rims with the 4th gen rear end??

 

Yes - I just installed an LS1 3.42 posi rear in my 1992, and kept the 1992 wheels (for now anyway). I have the 16inch wheels though - not sure if 15's would fit over the LS1 brakes.

And for the cost savings, I can live with the wheels sticking out a tad - I only paid $175 for my LS1 complete rear! Another $125 got me all four 4th gen wheels as well, so I can later swap with spacers and get everything tucked back in.