8.5" 10 bolt

[Blake442]

8.5" rears came in:

'84-'87 Turbo Buicks
'84 Hurst/Olds
'85-'87 442's

Those are the only ones that had the 8.5 from the factory.

I don't feel like finding them, so I'll let somebody else post the pictures of the housings...

7.5's have what look like two small 'fangs' protruding from the 5 & 7 o'clock positions on the rear housing.

8.5's have what look like two triangles instead of the fangs.

 

[adumb]

http://tech.oldsgmail.com/axle_ident.php

 

[J$Money]

and any year before '84 would be a leaf spring car am i correct?

 

[O. D. Showtime]

and any year before '84 would be a leaf spring car am i correct?

No...the rear would be coil sprung just that it would be the 7.5. Gbody wise anyway.

 

[J$Money]

pure ignorance on my behalf but i'm not very familiar w/ the cutlass bodystyle. but a buddy of mine has a 442 of the body style in the pic below and i was wondering if the rear would mount under a malibu and if it's a possibility of being a 8.5" before i went into the snake patch looking under the car to see

 

[O. D. Showtime]

As jrm81bu indicated earlier in this post...

"The mid to late 70's a-body 8.5 has been used with the 12 bolt swap arms also, but they are even wider."

The picture of the mid 70's Cutlass you showed would be the 8.5 he refered to.