Being new to the forum, please go easy on me.

I am in the planning stages of changing the entire rear end on my camaro for this coming summer and need opinions concerning the following:

My current gears (stock) are grinding and progressively getting worse, so reguardless of what I decide, something has to be done.

I obviously have the rear drum setup, and if I am going to go through the effort (and expense) of swapping the rear, I will go with a rear disc brake setup.

Here's where it gets a bit murky for me in planning.

Used complete rear ends are generally in the $250-$350 range that I have seen. If I buy a used rear, then my thoughts go towards should I go ahead and have a shop rebuild/replace the gears prior to me installing it. At that point, I start thinking that I could just keep the current rear and have it rebuilt and put discs on the rear through the procedures on here ?

I'm not trying to get into a discussion about which gears are the right ones (i still am reading on the search done three days ago), but I am sure that someone out there has done something to this extent and has some advice. I'm not looking to put the car on the strip or anything, but want a reliable rear with the convenience and stopping power of rear discs.

Not sure I'm making sense here, but I enjoy my car and all repairs and mods that I do on it. I do them to last since I will probably still have the car 4 years from now (I tend to buy and hold them). This car is a daily driver and sees about 8000 miles per year or less.

Thanks in advance to any guidance

 

Does your current rear have the Posi limited slip differential? It was optional on the V6 models, and standard on the V8 models. If you don't have a Posi rear now, it would make sense to get the complete rear axle assembly out of a 93-97 V8 model. That gets you the disk brakes and the Posi.

Higher numerical gears will increase performance, street or strip. Which ones you need depends on how you use the car, and what is most important to you. 3.73's would certainly wake it up. I don't know what gear ratio is standard with the V6 cars.... I though they were 3.08's, but someone told me there were several possibilities. You can look at the RPO codes on the build tag (on the end of the dirvers door, or in the glove box). Look for the code for your current rear axle ratio.

GU2 = 2.73
GU4 = 3.08
GU5 = 3.23
GU6 = 3.42

You can also look to see if your car has the Posi option, which is RPO G80.

If you opt for moving up to 3.73's, you would have to replace virtually everything in the differential as part of the install - gears, seals, gasket, bearings, shims, cruch sleeve, etc. That gets you an almost new rear axle, with only the clutches in the Posi being in question.

When looking for a full replacement rear axle assembly, look for one that came with at least a 3.23 rear axle ratio. That gets you a 3-series carrier, and that makes it easier to put in 3.42 or numerically higher gears. If you found one with a 2.73 gear set, it would have a 2-series carrier, and that requires special thicker gears or a spacer if you put in gears 3.23 or above.

 

thanks for the info Injun. No, I do not have the G80 RPO code.

So the advice is to go with a posi rear end and gears above 3.23?

Once I find one, I expect to replace the gears (unless I just get real lucky). Anything else to look for that shows abnormal wear?

 

When you have all your info and find a rear that suits your needs, make sure you open it up and inspect the internals. This way you can clean everything up and change the fulid before installing. Also a good time to Por-15 the whole rear.

 

Por - 15 ?

 

A very good or great rust resistance paint.

 

ah, I understand now.

 

I would go with the entire rearend from a V8 car. I picked one up from an 02 SS for $200. Just like it was said earlier make sure you look at the wear pattern on the ring. You should however stick with the LT1 M6 style. Do some double checking on it, but it should be compatible with your ABS

 

From what I understand, all 93-02 rears are interchangable with the exception of the traction control (i.e., I don't have it and shouldn't get a rear off a car with it). Is there any reason to go with the M6 style other than the gearing?

Actually just looked, 98-02 have 12" rotors rather than the 11.7". Also, what is an integrated parking drum? 98-02 also seem to have that as well.

 

I would say the gearing would be the #1 reason to go with the M6 rearend

 

My 96 3.8 Firebird had disc, 3.42 gears {GU6}, and posi {G80} from the factory. That car was not TCS. It had the ABS sensor {1} for the rear mounted in the top of the reaend gear housing. If you buy a rearend, you may want to make sure the donor car is non-TCS, which means it will have the sensor mounted where mine was. If you get a rearend out of a TCS equipped car it will have a sensor for the TCS and ABS located at the outer end of each axle housing and will not have the neccesary sensor, to work with your non-TCS car.

Now I'm partially highjacking your thread cause I have a related question, but this info may be useful to you also in case you find a TCS rearend you can't live without to install in your non-TCS car:

Is it possible to drill the top of the gear housing on a TCS type {sensors at the axle ends} rearend in order to mount a single sensor there to use with a NON-TCS 3-channel ABS system car? I assume the same boss for the factory machining option exist on all the 10 bolt 4th gen f-body rearends but I don't have a TCS rearend to look at to see.
I realize there is no reluctor ring mounted on the carrier inside the housing, but that is an issue that I know has a solution, which is, 'order a ring from SLP and press it onto the carrier'. That's do-able, I've done it, that's not my question.
Anyone got experience with this?
Thanks