Well.. Took a break from working on the motor this past week because I had a tire that kept going flat and I realized it was siting against the frame rail. I had just put 275/60s on the rear, and when I installed them, they seemed to clear. As far as I could tell it was bc the air shock on that side was completely toast. I would add air, the left side would raise, no clearance issues but the right side didn't move. I tried airing the tire up and realized when it was full of air, the inside was sitting against the frame rail. I was told by the previous owner there had been some rear end damage when he bought it and a local body shop put new quarters on it and straightened the frame. It had been rear ended, or backed into sitting in front of his house right before I bought it. Bumper sagged a lil, I thought it was a bumper bracket, I'll get to it when I do body work on the car. Well I got underneath it to put the drag shocks on that I bought and found a huge problem. The frame is cracked and leaning over against the tire causing my tire problem, while also finding ANOTHER problem.... They is roughly a half inch of in and out play in my axles. I'm assuming the c clips are worn smooth out, and possibly the groove on the axles. I had already been looking for w rear end on Craigslist because I will not put a dime of my money into a 7.5 10 bolt. With over a month of searching previously I continued my CL search. I don't have 9 inch money, and as much as I know a 9 inch is a set it and forget it rear end, my strict mindset for this car is to build a reliable toy on a budget. I wanna show that fast fun can be had without dumping a house payment into my car every month. Well, I found a winner today. 8.2 inch 10 bolt out of a 67 Chevelle. Rebuilt 1500 miles ago, everything new but the brakes, which need relaxed. 3.36 open gear. Not quite the 3.73 I wanted to go behind my th350, but it's a def improvement over my current which is somewhere around 3.00, I'm assuming it's a 3.08. I know the 8.2 inch 10 bolt is not as desirable as a 12 bolt or even a 8.5 10 bolt, but all the A body 8.5s I'm seeing are 600-850 bucks. 12 bolts are outrageous. This thing is practically brand new, 28 spline, 3.36 gear. I'm gonna add a mini spool and a set of brakes. I bought it for 250 bucks. Since its out of a 66-67 Chevelle, it's only 3/4 of an inch wider on each side instead of 2 inches wider like the 68-72 chevelles. This will do nothing but help my tire hitting the frame problem, since I have ample room on the fender side. It will bolt right up with the control arm swap kit from umi. To fix the frame, I'm going to use a come along to pull the two frame rails together so the one isn't leaning, weld the crack, put patch braces on both sides of crack and weld a cross member in between the frame rails near the bumper.... My list is getting longer.
