well gary wanted some info on my swap so here it is.

i bought an 8,5" 10 bolt from someone near chicago that he had in his 3rd gen. unfortunately i didn't know much about rears at the time but now i know a whole lot more....

someone had welded two blocks onto the fron for torque arm mounts. unfortunately for me they put the holes directly in line so i had to do some work on the torque arm to make it fit. i plan on making a completely new torque arm up for it soon when i can afford to.

he said it had strange axles, 4:10 gears and it was posi.
reality was...limited slip, richmand 4:10's and stock style bolt in axles.

the guy at DTS said the axles looked like they may have been out of a early 80's full size GM car such as a caprice, impala or something along that line.

so the axles had the wrong bolt pattern. i decided to buy a set of moser axles instead of new rims.

well, then i found out the rear was 3" too narrow! of course that turned out perfect for a 3rd gen.

so i bought a set of american racing polished aluminum baja rims with 0 backspacing.

i need a set of adjustable control arms since the rear is sitting about 1 inch farther back than it should. also a panhard rod is in order as well.

i also ended up fabing a set of caliper brackets to hold in the axle as well as mount the calipers. no problem, since i'm a machinist by trade.

so my cost are like this
8.5" 10 bolt with 4:10's $400
costom moser axles $400
new rims $250

i'm not sure if you can get away just ordering 1.5" longer axles or not, it puts the wheel farther away from the bearing. you would have to redesign the caliper brackets if you did this but then you could run normal tires.

if you have acess to an 8.5 10 bolt with some good gears it may be a cheaper alternative than a 12 bolt but otherwise i think your better off looking for a used 12bolt. i've seen them sold for less money than i've dumped in mine.

but it's mine, it's unique, what can i say.....as for the 4:10's in my M6

 

thanks for posting this

I've been thinking about trying to get a Buick GN (corporate 10 bolt 8.5) rear and see if it can be modified to fit under our cars...I think it would be cheaper than a 12 bolt or 9", and the GN guys are putting LOTS of torque through these with no problems.

 

i'll try to get some pics this weekend if the weather is decent...

one other thing.
i did the ABS delete
if you want to retain ABS in a 93-95 you need a 96 and later ABS unit with harness. 93-95 used one sensor on the pumpkin whereas DTS informed me 96 and later uses a 4 wheel system.

when you get your new axles just buy a set of ABS gears and have them pressed on the new axles, and of course you'll have to put the sensors in the new caliper brackets.

 

you guys know some s10s have 8.5" rear ends.

<---- i do!!

so that is another spot or car to check, but like i said some s10s have them not all some are 8.5 and others are 7 5/8's