1995 Trans Am
LT1 A4
2.73 Gears

Next year as some of you may already know im gunna do a cam swap with the lt4 hotcam w/lt4 sping kit and 1.6rr. A buddy of mine that is going to be doing the cam install also has a rearend out of a 98 ss camaro which was totaled and he grabbed this and fully built it up from scratch. i know it has 373s in which is what i wanted to do down the road and i kno 410s will be too much for an A4. He payed 900 (Canadian) for the complete rearend and has close to the same amount into with perf goodies. I know a stall would bring my A4 to life and definetly wake it up a tone. I currently have 273s in it now so you can see i need some gears for the giddup and go. for the price i can get the rearend at would it be anywhere near the same price for a stall and installation to go with?

Pros and Cons give me some feedback here guys...

 

Its a tough choice, both gears and stall will really wake your car up. But to answer your question, the cost of the converter, tranny cooler (which is always a good idea), and the installation will most likely reach the cost of the rearend (not sure how Canadian converts to US dollars).

 

why would you buy a new rearend? is it because it allows for bigger gears? In any case why would you spend around $1800 for somethiung used, and guarenteed to break at around 330 RWHP when you can buy a different performance rear that'll hold at least 600 RWHP brand new for $2200

 

guess i didnt word things very well in the first post. my bad

im getting the whole complete rearend for 900 what he payed for it. hes put almost the same amount into the unit so 1800 invested in it and giving it to me for 900. so the question im asking would a stall and installation be close to the 900 and which would i get the most performance out of in the end.

 

i have 273s now so that means i have a 2 series carrier... i found a set of gears and a matching posi unit. is there anything i should look out for or ask about on the gears? also what do i need besides the gears for an installation?

 

Where a-boot's () do you live??

I know that typically a new set of gears is around the ~$300 - 350 mark (CDN$) and I know that a shop near me charged something like ~$400 for a re & re. So you can safely bank on quite a few bucks to buy gears and have them installed.

What's your buddy done to the diff he's got to make it so "good"?? I mean, if he's put aftermarket axles, C-clip eliminators, TA girdle cover, stuff like that, then maybe it's worth it? But ~$900 seems a little steep, IMO .

I've priced converters, and I think they're around the ~$600 - 800 range (again, CDN$) depending on brand, etc. Also, shop around a little bit (although I know there aren't many places north of the border who deal in speed parts ). Then it's another few bucks for the cooler. I don't know if that's something you could install yourself or not? But if you need the converter installed, I'd bank on probably ~$300 - 400 for that job as well? (just guess-timating, and in comparison to what it takes to do gears).

At the end of the day I'd expect to pay a little more to do a converter, but the gains are higher. Especially if you're doing a cam swap.

For further advice/confusion , I had 4.10's with my A4 for ~2 years, and I loved them. You can see my times in my sig. BUT, what I realized at the track, when I had tires that hooked, is that even with the low 4.10's, the car would still bog off the line! I needed a stall! Now since I smoked both the 4.10 gears and the transmission (road racing @ Mosport) I never got to try a stall converter, but I think that was going to be my next step (still with the 4.10's, if I had them). But I've seen guys that run a stall w/2.73's and say it works great, because the stall compensates for the high ratio, yet you still maintain all the highway mileage and "cruise-ability" .

Just more food for thought!

 

your from oshawa??? what are the freaking chances of this lol?

im also located in oshawa too and ive heard of a place here that does good work but the guy i was talking to has since moved and have no way of contacting him for this place.

as far as the rearend is concerned i know its out of an 97/98 ss camaro he bought for 900 and then put the same into with perf goodies. since i dont really know too much about them i couldnt tell but i know it has 373 gears in it. since my car has 273s it just seems like its holding back of what it has potential for and i know thats why you have an m6 to take full advantage of but gears look like my first step and should wake up my car a lot down low rather then say on the highway. a stall seems like a really big step and moreless out of my pocket so i think i should wait till my tranny goes on the frits and get it rebuilt with a shift kit and that **** so it then can handle a lot more power that i throw at it in the future.

im very suprised i havent seen your car around? guessing thats your car in ur avatar and havent seen one with your stripes or graphics. are you apart of lsall.com and go to the ajax meets? i havent been out to them yet but plan to next year because we need a eastend club rather then commuting to the t.o for everything these days.

shoot me your email and maybe we can meet up next spring man

 

edit:

 

No 10 bolt rear is worth 900 $. It can beupgraded with stronger axles and **** but the weak link is the ring and pinion and theres no changing that. Just get a junk yard rear for 1/3 of the price.

 

For a car optimized for the street, the gears are a better choice.

Rich

 

if your posi is good in your rearendjust buy a set of gears for a 2 series carrier and a complete install kit. recommend 3.42 to 3.73 for mostly street driving and 4.10s for the track. even though they are quite fun on the street. gas mileage will suffer dramatically with 4.10s. as for the converter, once you have the gears that is the next best upgrade. not many other mods will drop off at least a full second like gears and converter