Bite the bullet or modify?

[Built6spdMCSS]

Yea, I can see that, been there before. Pull the old one out and sell it.

I built my SS late 2010, had a bunch of parts ordered, yanked the 305/2004R and put the car together with a 408 LS/Built T56.

I ordered a Quick Performance Gbody Housing standard width with Fbody endcaps. The reason why is I had a 1995 Camaro Z28 before I bought my SS and that car fell apart with the engine setup that was in it. I installed a 9" in it as well so given the Gbody one was a hair narrower I could cut the Axles down and use them. Transfered over the Center Section I had too.

Crammed under the back of my SS..

This is the QP Gbody Housing with Moser 31 Spline Axles, Strange Nod Iron S Case, Detroit TruTrac Diff, Aluminum Daytona Pinion Support with larger Bearing, Forged 1350 Yoke, Richmond 3.89 Gears. Total invested cost at the time right about $2k. I flipped the 9" Fbody Housing for what I paid for it.

Rear Disc Brakes are from my old 1995 Camaro Z28, perfect fit in a 15" Weld Wheel. I had this car on the track at the time so it had a track setup, these clear perfectly.

 

[UC645]

The members who have commented before me know their stuff. For those new to swapping diffs or just hungry for knowledge, here are a few relevant links for your reading pleasure.

Malibu Racing G-Body Rear End Swap Guide: https://maliburacing.com/g-body-rearend-swap-guide/

GM 10 Bolt Guide @ Chevy Hardcore: https://www.chevyhardcore.com/tech-stories/drivetrain/10-bolt-chevy/

How To Swap Different Rears Into G Bodies, from this very forum: https://gbodyforum.com/threads/how-to-swap-different-types-of-rears-into-g-bodies.63755/

Bullet Proof 10 Bolt? On ThirdGen.org: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/transmissions-drivetrain/397601-bullet-proof-10-bolt.html

Beef Up a 7.5 Rear @ Classic Oldsmobile: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums/drivetrain-differentials-6/beef-up-7-5-rear-125382/

ZR2 S10 8.6 Rear in a G Body Build, from this forum: https://gbodyforum.com/threads/zr2-s10-8-6-rear-in-a-g-body-build.63106/

Differential Knowledge, Opinions, and Ideas by Dominic Orlando, hosted on Angelfire: https://www.angelfire.com/my/fastcar/diffey.html

What Makes The Ford 8.8 So Sought After, Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/projectcar/comments/eib6n9

1981 Cutlass Rear End Swap, Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GBody/comments/etkthy

There was a great How-To on ws6transam.org on building a truly great 10 Bolt, but the domain has died.

I also recall someone basically cutting off the G-Body tubes to retain the lower control arm mounts, brakes, and axle length and mating them with truck center sections. One set of tubes slid inside the other with only minor modification. The resulting hybrid utilized a thick plate sandwiched under the rear cover that extended upward and forward to provide mounts for the upper arms. That's what I hope to go with when I finally get to that point.

I remember a rumor flying around that the F body guys would take those truck centers and drill out out the spot welds on their centers for the axle tubes, pull them out and weld them into the truck centers for a cheap 8.5 or whatever they had that would fit their tubes.

Makes me wonder what could be mashed together with that method.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

Gbody 7.5 could be done the same way if the Fbody guys did that.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

drill out out the spot welds on their centers for the axle tubes, pull them out and weld them into the truck centers for a cheap 8.5 or whatever they had that would fit their tubes.

Essentially the same process. I really thought that it was a member here doing what I saw, and they had a jig setup, a working prototype, and even spoke of potentially doing it for money.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

Even if the housing had openings for bigger axle tubes if you had a spacer to fill the gap, set it up to where it was true and got it to weld in that would work too.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

Gbody 7.5 could be done the same way if the Fbody guys did that.

Are the F-Body axle tubes the same O.D.? I think ours are 2.75"

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

Don't have one infront of me to measure but one would think a 7.5 is a 7.5..

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

Don't have one infront of me to measure but one would think a 7.5 is a 7.5..

Weren't they 7.625?

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

That's the Ring Gear not the Axle Tube..same stuff to me

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

That's the Ring Gear not the Axle Tube..same stuff to me

I have much to learn, and just aren't sure if the 7.5 and 7.625 had different O.D. tubes even though they have interchangeable parts. It wouldn't shock me if some F tubes were larger due to the switch to torque arm suspension. I want to say the 7.625 came about in '86, but GM first implemented the torque arm in the mid '75 Vega (& friends), and the Camaro received it in '82 so maybe the F tubes never sized up. But if they did, I guess it would happen '86.