hey Tom, I had a question here....

You know the deal w/ my maro.

Anyway, I have a friend that will sell me a '85 2.5l Firebird, as a winter beater. It runs really well and it's a 5 speed. I remember that you put 3.73's in your car, and I wanted to know If I could just swap rear ends, and how hard is it? Didn't the 4 bangers have 3.73's? Maybe 4.10's? I thought they had 3.73's, and hey I could swap rears, and any other parts on it that I really wanted. Besides I'd just get better mileage w/ a IRON DUKE with 3.42's mated to a 5 speed. Another question, isn't the iron duke a 90* motor? Then I can't use the tranny.

 

well, from what i heard the 2.5L came with 3.73, but i don't know if it's posi or not. But you should still be able to do the swap fine. Also, if it's not posi, would you need to do all the work tom had too, i mean would you need a different master cylinder, etc? As far as the motor goes, i'm not sure about the tranny and all. Can you have a 90* inline engine?

 

I am 99.999999% sure that a Firebird 4 banger would not have posi....think about it, most V8s didn't have posi!!! Plus, our V6s never came factory equipped with posi either. So I'm positive a 2.5 Firebird wouldn't have it either.

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Jason E
'89 Camaro RS 2.8
Hypertech chip/K&N filters/Accel 8.8 wires,coil/RapidFires
Eclipse CD and 100x4 amp/Boston plates and 6x9s

JasonEE98 on AOL IM

 

since neither are posi and all, wouldn't it be basically a direct swap? therefore literally swap rears and be done? also even though the rear is off a 4-banger, wouldn't basically be the same as any other 7 5/8 rear? Strength wise and all?

Also how much of a difference does it make? Should I save the tranny?

With the 4 banger being 90*, I thought it was easier to do a 4 to an 8 swap than a 6 to 8.

Well, I figured the bird would be good for parts since it has rust, huge dents, a non-opening hood, a non-opening hatch, a broken passenger door opener (inside) and a multitude of things. But still wouldn't alot of bird parts be able to go into a Camaro?

It's a 1985 Firbird S/E
I have a 1988 Camaro Sport Coupe

I figure I could use the catalytic convertor, the rear, the hatch shocks, suspension pieces that are new, maybe the seats (reupholster in my color) cuz last time I checked, 'bird seats are way better than maro seats.

See my sig. to see my current state of camaro.

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Red 88' Camaro SC
Aero Spoiler
2.8 V6, 3.42 Open Rear
TCI 3200 Stall TC
B&M Transkit
83 Z/28 Hood
Custom Painted GFX and Rims
2.5" Dynomax Catback
IROC Gages
IROC Taillights
IROC Foglamps
'92 Z/28 Bowtie Grille
BFG Radial T/A
P235/60/SR15 front
P275/60/SR15 rear

Blue '86 IROC Camaro
305 TPI, 3.23 Posi, Auto
ALL options, fully loaded
(first owner = $ rich $)Bone Stock
Pirelli's
P225/50/ZR16 front
P245/50/ZR16 rear

 

I don't see where you would have any problems with the rear end switch.Just be carefull with the brake lines.The reason Tom did the brake work was he switched to disk brakes on the rear(If my mind is working properly).
Remove the track bar,brake lines and parking brake cable and control arms...pull the rear out and install the new one.I'm not sure about the sway bar end links right now.Oh yeah....don't forget the drive shaft.
Put the other rear end in and bleed the brakes and you have it!

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http://www.camaroforum.com/
http://v6fbody.com/
http://nethirdgen.org/
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/tristatecamaro

[This message has been edited by Kevin S (edited November 26, 2000).]

 

Kevin's right; the bulk of my headache and cash went to both a rebuild and installation of the 1984's rear disc brakes.

The axle is the same strenth-wise for all 82-92 f-bodies, regardless of motor. The Iron Duke I-4 isn't a 90 degree motor, simply because it's an inline-4 (like 85f-bird mentioned); there's no "Vee" (of a V6 or V8) of cylinder banks to create an angle with. Both the I-4 and V-6 motors used the same automatic tranny, so I don't see why the V6 couldn't use the I4's manual. The clutch might be different, though.

As to axle swap, Kevin S covered what's involved. The same anti-sway-bar hardware is used for all axles. There should be no incompatibility with anything back there hardware -or- brake-related.

What you should do during the swap is replace that body-to-rear-axle brake hose. It's cheap enough, and that +15 year old hose should be replaced by now. You might also want to consider re-doing the rear brakes with new pads & etc.

For less work, you could unbolt your rear drums from your axle. Then unbolt the rear drums from the '85's axle. Then remove your axle from the car, and put the '85 axle in, and re-bolt your '88 brakes onto the '85 axle. This way, you know what kind of condition your '88 brakes are in.

The '84 disc brakes on the axle I bought were shot; I had to rebuild one caliper. The other caliper was totally rotted & rusted, and I had to replace it.

You might want to also consider replacing the rear axleshaft bearings & seals. These are usually "misnamed" as rear wheel bearings & seals. Definately replace the fluid; I doubt it's a posi, but you should be able to tell when you pull the axle's rear cover.

For me, the fastest part of the swap was removing my old axle, and installing the new axle. The longest part involved getting the air out of the re-done brake system... something you wont' have to worry about, since you won't be replacing the master cylinder.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

I just did a rear end swap from an 86 2.8 camaro with 3.42's into my car. It definitely does not require any modifications, just a direct swap which should be the same in your case. Check out this link, it will tell you that the 85 did come with 3.73 www.nastyz28.com/camaro.html

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Mods:Hooker Aerochamber 3" exhaust, gutted kitty,
March 2 piece underdrive pullies, smog pump gone,
14x4 K&N, 3.42 gears,
Eibach springs with KYB's all around.
Appearance: Harwood cowl hood, Z-28 wing, painted black(7/20/00)-original color was light blue
*All these mods were made this year
Stock Options:120,000 miles on motor, 5spd, TBI, 305, T-tops
Run a best of 16.7 @85mph before gears