So a friend of mine gave me a disk brake rear that he had sitting in his basement for years. My 87 Camaro has a drum brake rear so I'd love to swap it out. From what I've seen most disk brake rears have the calipers on back side of the axle but mine has them on different sides. It has 3.23 gears and an open diff so I plan on going with a posi and 3.73's. Is this rear worth it to swap out and put money into it or should I look for a different rear?

 

Its probably the same rear end you have but with disc brakes.I think the the disc brake stuff will swap from the new rear to the old rear in your car now.You will have to swap the axle shafts too(as long as both rears are the same 10 bolts)because of the smaller outer diameter for the rotor to fit..GM started putting left caliper on the rear and right caliper on the front side of the axle in 2 gen trans am's.This was done because of the staggered shock absorbers on these cars.Not sure why they did it third gens however.May save some cash and find one used with a posi and a 373 set up already.

 

The iron Delco calipers used before 89 are crap. You're further ahead with the stock drums.

 

The 10-bolt FAQ sticky above may provide some useful info.

JamesC

 

I would not waste money on a rear with the Saginaw calipers.

I can only guess; but my guess is, they arranged the calipers on the rear so that they would be the same part on both sides, instead of being mirror images.

People all the time come on here and talk about "I can get this core [block, motor, rear axle, shell of a car, whatever] for cheeeep [or free]" and then put hundreds or thousands of dollars into "fixing it up". Problem of course is, the finished product CANNOT be any better than whatever core it's built out of. In the case of a rear, that means, what brakes it has; in the case of a motor, whether it's plagued with The Problems of the 70s; and so on.

In this case, you will spend $200 on gears, $400 on a posi, $250 on axles, $150 on bearings and other small parts, $??? on labor and cleanup and whatnot, and oh by the way $XXX on the brakes; but when all is said done and spent, you will STILL have a rear with Saginaw brakes that are nothing but dead unsprung weight on the rear, but you will have made the car slightly faster by way of weight reduction concentrated at the driver's wallet to the tune of $1200 or more.

The core is usually THE CHEEEEEPEST part of a project. Of ALL the places where economizing pays off, the choice of the core is NOT it. Sell or give away that thing and spend what it takes to get a better core; one that has the 89-up PBR brakes on it instead. Or even, a 4th gen rear.