How difficult would it be to put 3.73 gears in a 90 rs camaro 305 5 spd.

 

not hard if you have the tools and know what you are doing.

If you dont know what you are doing, you can ruin a set of gears quick.

How mechanically inclined are you? There are several "how toos" around the internet showing how to set up a rearend. Might want to check them out. It is definately not something that you can just throw together.

 

i like to work on cars. i know how they work. i know more than the average joe but no mechanic for sure. what does it involve and special tools as well?

 

You'll need a dial caliper to measure shims, and a magnet base dial indicator to measure backlash. You are supposed to measure pinion depth too and there is a special tool for this. You can check the pattern on the teeth with some compound to see if your pinion depth is fairly close. There are also half moon shaped pieces used to help install the shims and the carrier but I made mine out of an old leaf spring. You'll also need a big strong breaker bar to tighten the pinion nut. This nut does not have a torque spec, but rather you need to tighten it down by feeling the resistance on the pinion gear.

Overall 3rdgenmaro got it right. Its not hard once you know how to do it but you can mess things up real easy.

 

well would it be worth having a shop do it for me. any ideas of that cost and who would even do it? would the money even be worth it in the end?

 

If you dont have the tools and are doubtfull weather you can do it properly or not, I would let a shop do it. Price could vary but I know at the dealership I work at, I charge about 4 hours to rebuild a Mustang rear axle which would be the same as yours. We charge $95 an hour so its about $400 labor. Before I knew how to rebuild them I found someone to rebuild the 9" thats in my car now and he charged me $200. But there is no warranty with that either. If you want to find someone on the side you may call some speedshops in your area and ask for a recomendation, but be warned your still going to that person at your risk.

As far as wether its worth it in the end or not is up to you. What gears do you have now? Are you trying to make the car fast, does gas mileage matter to you?

 

well i believe they are the stock gears. so im looking for more acceleration. dont care about mileage as it is a weekend driver.

 

How much of a difference they will make as far as what you feel will be dertimined by what gear you have now. I'm not sure what most of the 5 speed cars came with, but there could be several different ratio's. For instance if you have a 2.73 now and then change to 3.73, you'll notice a big difference. If you have 3.42 now and then go to 3.73, you wont notice as much of a difference.

 

yeah i believe its a 2.73. so i would have to remove the axle and then install the new gears then reinstall the axle. correct

 

No, the axle housing stays in the car. I dont remember exactly how the muffler sits, but it may be easier to remove the muffler as well. Then you slide the actuall axles out and then pull the rest of the stuff out till you have an empty housing. Remember to replace all the bearings as well.

 

i not positive maybe someone else who knows knows alittle more can chime in but stick cars came with higher gears than auto cars , I would assume you have atleast 3:23 or even higher you wanna run your rpo numbers (it's on the console lid) it will tell you what you have so you don't waste your money if you already have a high gear in there.

 

thanks for the help will definately have to do more research before attempting this though

 

it has 3.08 gears not 2.73 my bad

 

through looking at the list on here you should have 3:08 gears the auto came with the 2:73's .

 

Call around. I know a local guy that charges only $100 labor to setup a rearend. He does it in his free time for a lot of the local drag racers. You might get lucky and find someone like that around your area.

 

This is what I would do

 

yeah will definately have to look around on problem with that is i wont learn anything and i have never brought my car to a shop and dont even like the idea of thinking of that. im sure most of you guys on here feel the same way

 

With gears 3.08 or 2.73 you have a series 2 carrier like I have.
If you go to a 3.23 or higher gear you will need a series 3 carrier, like myself I plan on installing 4.10 ( 5 speed) and 3.73 (auto) gears but have to install a series 3 carrier .

 

Actually you have 3 choices to put 3.73's on a series 2 carrier.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/D...?Ns=Rank%7cAsc

 

The 7.5 10 bolt is the only rear end that I know of that has 3 series gears available to fit the 2 series differential. These gears are made with a thick ring gear so that they will work on the 2 series.

To install the gears you must know how to set the pinion depth, bearing preload and backlash. You also must know how to read thee contact pattern so that you will know what adjustments need to be made to the pinion deph and backlash. You will need a few special tools. The 3rd gen Camaro is a little hard to work on with the rear end installed becasue the exhaust pipe and torque arm get in the way when trying to set the pinion bearing preload and crush the spacer. The problem that many people run into is that the shop that they take their car to really doesn't know much more about setting up a set of gears than what they did. I've seen MANY botched up gear installations done by GM mechanics and others who should have known what they were doing.

 

Interesting , all information Ive come across as well as the drive train shops have all mentioned series 3 carrier required for gears 3.23 and higher