Strength of the corporate 10 bolt rear

One of my teachers says he will basically give me a rear end out of a 77 Camaro. It was the plain jane stocker with a 6 cylinder that he turned into a circle track car. He's got a 9" with a mini spool so he doesn't have any need for this rear end. It was never used in racing. I'm not sure what gears it has since I haven't looked at the codes on the axel tube. According to nastyz28, the 6'ers with the auto came with a 3.08 rear ratio.

According to nastyz28, the 71 and newer 10 bolts are larger than the 10 bolt in 70. 8.5" ring vs 8.2", 1.625" pinion dia. vs. 1.438", both have 28 spline axels stock

Suppose I took the rear end off his hands and intalled some strong axels and a posi. Would it be reliable and hold up to about 400 horses (I am planning on spraying my car or getting better heads/cam). If built well, how much power do you think they can take from an sbc?

thanks all http://web.camaross.com/bb/smile.gif

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Andy
aim: Andyman350
1970 Camaro (http://camaroz28.cardomain.com/id/70camguy) - 355ci, cam, heads, the normal stuff
pics of me and stuff (http://photos.yahoo.com/ayates128)

Yeah, it should work fine. Especially if you put stronger axles and posi carrier. I remeber reading a mag a while back where a guy was running high 8's with an 8.5. Mine's been holding up fine with stock parts, my engine is 460 hp, 550 ft.lb.

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68, 468, 700R-4
home.earthlink.net/~mutert23/ (http://home.earthlink.net/~mutert23/)

I have those articles archived. If someone knows a good place (perhaps Brent Franker's page?) I could scan them so they could be posted online somewhere...

One of the keys to making an 8.5" rear live, is to keep the 'insides' from coming 'outside'. Check out www.taperformance.com for a rear end girdle/cover. I've also seen guys run 8's with the 10 bolt - they ALL had girdles in place of the regular cover though.

Hey guys thanks for the info:). I picked it up on Thursday this week. The only thing that is bugging me is that he cut the hard brake lines when he removed it. I guess thats not too hard to remedy but I hate bending line :cry:;)

I think I will get the girdle, might as well build the rear so I won't have to worry about it.:) I'm curious though, does it reduce flex in the case or is it more like a scattershield for your rear end?

One of the sales guys at work said I should also get C-clip eliminators for the axels. It looks like Moser makes a kit

One last thing, between Eaton and Auborn posi's, which would you choose? Is there another brand that I should look in to? Rear end stuff isn't really something I'm well versed in

Eaton or Auburn .. both work well. If you plan on abusing it much, take the time to weld the axle tubes to the center section. The only thing that holds them in is some small spot welds :(
The girdle style cover puts a slight preload on the bearing caps, to keep things from moving around when you load them, and are actually cheap insurance for any rearend :D