68 Firebird (Project: Firechicken)

[99 blue bird]

Ok cool. Thanks for the insight. Gives me something to look into with my firebird. I'm probably gonna go with a 4 link in the rear so that can be fabricated to work with the 8.8 I'm sure. Cool to know there is other budget minded options out there.

its a cost effective thing. i got an 8.8 for $134 bucks one time with 373 gears, limited slip and disc brakes. Also they are 31 spline axles and super beefy.

i modded the leaf perches to match the 68 mustang i put it in and bought a 1310 u joint thing for the yoke for $35 bucks... so under $200 and it was under my car with all of the above said goodness. they are 60" wide and fit mustangs and gm F body cars with no changes to wheel offset or anything else. you'll need to drill the axles for 5x4.75 for a gm application so lets say that costs you $100 with new studs... so $300 bucks and its under your camaro or firebird with a stout gear ratio and limited slip. AND they are unbreakable... or for $200 you throw it under and just use ford wheels...

now lets say you take a stock 8.2 ten bolt with 2.80 gears and add up basic math.

gears and posi will set you back $550, i just looked on ebay at a no name complete kit with 3.73 gears.

then you need to spend $250 on an ls1 brake setup for the rear plus $35 for the bracket spacer thing from BRP hotrods or whatever...

$550+$285

thats $835 for 373 gears, a no name posi unit and decent disc brakes (not even fancy mind you) and all that with crap 28 spline axles and a pretty weak ring gear that'll only hold stock power levels....

or save $500 and throw all the power you want at the 8.8 (NOT the mustang one, those are 28 spline) and never worry about breaking the 31 spline axles that were meant for truck abuse...

i went gm for my firebird and used a $400 chevelle 12 bolt housing with $235 moser axles and a $350 camaro ss posi unit and $125 1350 yoke and $350 for LS brakes with drilled rotors and $35 spring perches i had to weld on myself and a $150 rear bearing support girdle cover...

i'm in it WELL over 1k and i built it myself and did my own welding and reused the 331 gears... same setup is upwards of $2500 or more...

i dunno man, $300 and using your gm wheels or $200 and using ford wheels sounds REALLY good after that...

[lucky13firebird]

Well, you gotta keep in mind Buick Olds pontiac 8.2 rears are a lot stronger than the Chevy ones and also have bolt in axles. C clip eliminators are a joke when trying to corner hard on 275 mm or bigger tires, they're for straight line drags.... so for a light firebird with an ls swap (less torque but more hp than a pontiac buildup) a bop rear with a $500 posi unit and and upgraded axles would cost $750 or so BUT you're making that back with the time=money thing... The rear is already under the car and a lot of pontiac came with 355 gears in even the straight six birds... it's six of one and half dozen of the other sometimes ;-)