I am thinking of changing out my rearend because I want more gears. A budy of mine has a 1997 ws6 posi rearend with 3.73s. He only wants $110 for it and I know it is in good condition. My only question is will it just bolt right in? And what kind of gains will I see over a 10 bolt with no posi and 3.23s. Thanks.

 

A complete 97 rear axle assembly will swap directly into a 96, but you have to match up the ABS or ABS+TCS sensors. Both cars need to be either ABS-only (3-channel), or ABS+TCS (4-channel) or the sensors will not match up. Then you will need to have your 96 reprogrammed for the 3.73 gears. Your car will feel like you added 15% more rear wheel torque with the 3.73's.

Why did your 96 not have a posi rear? It was standard equipment on all the V8 cars.

 

I am not positive why it dosent have a posi in it. I know it was hit hard when the previous owner had it. I am thinking he put a non posi unit in. Or it could have been when I first got the car I had rearend noise and had it rebuilt. I am thinking the person I had do the work could have took the posi and gave me a non posi.

 

I hate to hijack, but I might be swapping a 99 LS1 rear into my 96. I will be doing the complete (brakes and all) rearend. I've been told that all I will have to get is LS1 style e-brake cables.

 

I got a 94 z28. Now if i don't have that little trac control on/off button. That means mine is abs only correct? Just curious thinking about a ls1 rear myself.

 

Correct. Although I would visually verify on the rearend. All you are looking for is 3-channel (ABS sensor in the top of the "pumpkin" part of the rear end) or 4-channel (ABS sensors on each axel). That is the major part of the rear end swap, verifying you are putting the correct channel rear end in.

 

OK I put the rearend in and the car pulls a lot harder down low.But I have not had it retuned yet, what am I leaving on the table without the tune.

 

They never actually sold TCS on the 94 models, as far as I know. It was in the catalog, but not available. If you don't have the button, you don't have TCS. If you don't have a big ugly box sitting on top of the driver's side valve cover, you don't have TCS.

 

The speedometer is now wrong and you are adding up miles quicker, other than that a tune isnt really necessary, just the easiest way to fix the speedometer/odometer issues.

Edit: Well, after reading your sig I would say its probably time for a tune if you have all those mods and havent had that done yet. Otherwise what I said above.