Rear End Swap Pics?

[opelwasp]

Well the Opelwasp's rear end went out. I am exploring other options for a rear end. I'd like to have posi but have to keep it as low in cost as possible. Toyota and Chevy rears are cheap so I am looking in that direction.
What I could really use is some pictures of how some of you have swapped in other makes rears. Mounting points and any mods you had to make. I could stick to the Opel rear but I cant get any traction with the 2.4L, too much power. I end up sideways all the time when pulling out of parking lots. But it can be scary sometimes.

[baz]

Chris have a read of the
http://www.opelgt.com/forums/clutch-...rain-upgrades/
forum that is where most of the rear Axel swops have been discussed
and i have moved this to

[timemachine]

When I saw the title of this thread, "Rear End, Swap Pics?" I thought I had stumbled onto some adult swinger's playground.

[69whitegt]

[GTJIM]

The mind boggles thinking about what you would make of a "Front End Swap Pics" thread ...

Chris - the cheapest way out is to just scrounge up a supply of good used GT diffs and become proficient with 'rear-end swaps" as fitting ANY other type of diff will involve considerable expense and modification. The GT diffs (or even Kadett ones) usually go for $100 or so - fabricating the mountings to fit any other diff could cost 5 or 10 times that.
But NO LSD of course.

[bbaxter]

My wife is going to wonder what kind of chat room I'm getting into, with that title. I have only recently discovered opelgt.com, but my reading here shows that the Toyota pu rears come close to fitting Mantas, at 55" width. For the GT, the closest looks like an S-10 2wd Chev, 54" at the wheel mounts. s10 warehouse lists these from $175 plus shipping if you can live with one wheel drive. Common gear ratios are 3.08, 3.42, 3.73, and 4.10. He mentions posi units from $775. with drum brakes and $1400. for disc brakes, if he has them. Most have the 7.62 ring gear, with some rare 8.5" ring gears. The chev rears have 5 bolt chev lugs, some with bolt on yokes, and some with clamp type yokes, which look more normal to me. The 8.5 ring gears come from the 4.3 v-6, 2wd s-10s. I thought I could live with 54" wide, one more inch on each side, possibly allowing for wider tires. But then there is all that welding and modifying. You can also have custom rears built. The ones who advertise the most seem to be Currie, Moser, Strange, and Drive Train Specialties. Randy's Ring and Pinion ads for lots of parts, but
I don't know if he sells complete units. But you probably already know all this. I haven't started my swap yet.

[namba209]

Chris, Give Gil or Dennis a call at OGTS and see if Martin is still one of their contacts in the UK. He got me an NOS ZF posi for Willit? and sent it here for about $1200. The Pro-Gears folks here inSANe DIEGO did the swap of the pumpkin and rebuilt the whole assembly for another $325. Yeah, it was pricey, but figure what you'll spend for a swap and rebuild. Also, I keep hearing that Quaife is supposed to be building Opel posi rear-ends again but IDK. They have the main plant in the UK, Baz should be able to check that out and they have an outlet here somewhere in the States. You can find it by "googling" the name and give them a call via their 800 number. HTH.

[baz]

quaife did do a batch last year (i did some posts about it a search should find then) but the guy i talked to there said there was no interest from quaife USA so non would be sent there , he did say i could buy them and ship to the US but did not know if quaife USA would honour the warranty

[GTJIM]

The smaller S-10 10-bolt diff has a bigger crown wheel & pinion than the GT diff (GT is about 6.5" across the carrier bearings - which is where the 'size' is measured). An 8.5" 10-bolt is much bigger - read heavier - and that is the major problem ... too much more unsprung weight.

BTW: Late Camaros etc. have 7.625" 10-bolts with Torsen LSDs and disc brakes. The Torsen units are often available near new since the myth has been put about the Eaton LSDs are "better" .... so they get swapped out! I got a near new Torsen unit for $99 and they are of the same general type as the Quaffie that costs $1,200. Arguably the best LSD unit for street use.

Some 10-bolts also have 'torque arms' which run up beside the drive shaft and act very much like the Opel torque tube. With a bit of fabrication at the front end where the GT torque tube connects to the floor pan a 10-bolt disc brake with Torsen LSD swap would cost WAAAY less than a Quaffie unit ... and be stronger with a much wider range of gear ratios too,

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by namba209 Chris, Give Gil or Dennis a call at OGTS and see if Martin is still one of their contacts in the UK.

Ron, Martin got into a little trouble with the queen, and had to leave the country some time ago. So he's no longer a viable source for parts from the UK.

[namba209]

Originally Posted by RallyBob Ron, Martin got into a little trouble with the queen, and had to leave the country some time ago. So he's no longer a viable source for parts from the UK.

Darn, I didn't know that Bob. Thanx for the info. Now the problem will be to find what his source was in Germany for the parts. When I talked to him a few years ago, he still had access to 4-6 used ZF units and one other NOS.

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by namba209 Darn, I didn't know that Bob. Thanx for the info. Now the problem will be to find what his source was in Germany for the parts.

He's good friends with Gunther Irmscher's son. A few years ago he asked me if I was interested in buying 170 new distributors to fit an Irmscher i200, as Irmscher was clearing out old stock. Even though the price was a steal, I respectfully declined! Wouldn't work without the ECU anyway...

Bob

[namba209]

Not to hijack this thread, but that's two folks from the Opel community that have gotten into the bad graces of their respective countries. What a real shame and it impacts on the whole community.

[bbaxter]

Re: the 8.5" 10 bolt rears, what problems would I run in to with that heavy a rear unit? Also, Has anyone had any luck reinforcing the GT body, to stop cracking windshields, short of putting in a roll cage?

[baz]

seam weld the body around the doors ,floor and gearbox tunnel and add box sections inside the rocker sections
not too much weight and a whole lot better to drive as it does not flex like an eel

[jeff denton]

Take a quick look at the later Camaros with the torque arm, I did a few years ago when Jim first recommended this swap. It should be really simple. Picturing it from memory, I see five steps: Have the rear narrowed to spec.
Cut the spring buckets and panhard bracket off the GT axle and weld them to the Camaro axle tube. Lengthen the driveshaft. Fabricate a torque arm. Hook up the brakes.
I forget the original reason you want a swap, it was to handle the power of a bigger engine, right? If yes, you need some body/frame stiffening all right. "Short of a roll cage?" Nothing compares to a rollcage for this, unless someone wants to argue that, too.
Did you look at all the Rollcage posts? You'll see what you need there.
There's a racing team near you, in Pablo or Ronan, that could do all this in their shop very easily and I'm sure the price would be decent. They build nice cars, and quite a few of them.

[GTJIM]

Originally Posted by bbaxter Re: the 8.5" 10 bolt rears, what problems would I run in to with that heavy a rear unit? Also, Has anyone had any luck reinforcing the GT body, to stop cracking windshields, short of putting in a roll cage?

The heavier the diff & wheels are the greater the effect going over bumps has on the handling and braking of the car. Something that people completely forget about when using big wheels and wide tyres or bolting in 'stronger' (read - heavier) diffs or brake discs.

Have a look here: Unsprung weight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

... and for plenty more info search for "Suspension - unsprung weight" on the world wide web. See how many Tuners strive to reduce unsprung weight to improve both handling and braking ....

[bbaxter]

I think this thread started off being WASP asking for photos of how to change a rear end. I too would like to see photos of this Camaro torq arm, or ladder bars or 4 link, installed in a GT. I had ladder bars in my 66 Nova but they drive my nuts on the street. They made the rear end bolt solidly to the floor, so rattled constantly. I took them out and went back to slapper bars. To answer those who responded: OGTS advertised a frame reinforcement kit, to strengthen the GT when made into a convertible, Basket handle, targa, or t-top. Dan Gamez sold me the kit and I was impressed with it. Light weight, 12 pieces of mostly 1x1 light weight box tubing, which all fit under the carpet, or under the car. It was advertised as being stronger than a stock coupe body, even in a convertible. I didnt get it all installed yet. And I was still skeptical if it would stop windshield breakage. I just ran across an old thread that said a 70's Jeep V-8 Dana 44 rear end, post office vehicle, would fit the GT, as well as the s-10 units. So, Wasp, I hope someone has photos.

[opelnut10]

I had a MOPAR 8 3/4 rear narrowed up in the GT Drag Car. I used the torque arm setup simular to the Camero except it was made like 1/2 of a four link with a adjustable link at the front and on the bottom of the rear end bracket. I ran a 1 3/4" .080 tube across the floor just in front of where the floor shelf is located to attach the front of the torque arm to in combination with coilover shocks, it worked very well for going in a straight line, of course the car also had a 8 point cage to tie it togather.

[baz]

Originally Posted by bbaxter I think this thread started off being WASP asking for photos of how to change a rear end. I too would like to see photos of this Camaro torq arm, or ladder bars or 4 link, installed in a GT. I had ladder bars in my 66 Nova but they drive my nuts on the street. They made the rear end bolt solidly to the floor, so rattled constantly. I took them out and went back to slapper bars. To answer those who responded: OGTS advertised a frame reinforcement kit, to strengthen the GT when made into a convertible, Basket handle, targa, or t-top. Dan Gamez sold me the kit and I was impressed with it. Light weight, 12 pieces of mostly 1x1 light weight box tubing, which all fit under the carpet, or under the car. It was advertised as being stronger than a stock coupe body, even in a convertible. I didnt get it all installed yet. And I was still skeptical if it would stop windshield breakage. I just ran across an old thread that said a 70's Jeep V-8 Dana 44 rear end, post office vehicle, would fit the GT, as well as the s-10 units. So, Wasp, I hope someone has photos.

if the ogts kit is the lenk one have a read of what malcolm yaxley (yxy) had to do to his after lenk fitted it , its a very interesting read

[opelwasp]

Ok it looks like I need a new driver side wheel bearing and not rear end.
Unfortunatly I have the early rear end. I may have a solution though. I found Toyota whele bearings with the dimentions of 72mm OD, 35mm ID, and 17mm Width. They also come with lock rings to prevent them from walking. So what do the experts out there think? Could I just slip these on instead and solve my bearing problem?

BTW they only cost $27.50

[ungermm]

Chris, I don't know if the toyota bearings will fit, but, front bearings can be had at OGTS, RockAuto.com, and even Kragen Auto for a lot less.

[opelwasp]

This is for the unavailable rear bearings for my early rear end.

[tomking]

there is what appears to be an early bearing on ebay right now. It says for 71, but it is early rear from the picture.

[GTJIM]

Originally Posted by opelwasp Ok it looks like I need a new driver side wheel bearing and not rear end. Unfortunatly I have the early rear end. I may have a solution though. I found Toyota whele bearings with the dimentions of 72mm OD, 35mm ID, and 17mm Width. They also come with lock rings to prevent them from walking. So what do the experts out there think? Could I just slip these on instead and solve my bearing problem? BTW they only cost $27.50

As long as the outside and inside diameters are correct and you shim the endplay out of the assembly I am sure it will be OK - it would also fix the worn axle problem neatly. You could have the worn area turned/ground down to a suitble size if necessary ... just have to be sure the shrink on ring does fit correctly. Though, I supose you could keep relying on the "C" clip to hold the axle in.