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Which Rear to Use?

bobs66440

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Hey guys, I've been wanting to build a traditional T for a long time now, but I'm on a budget (who isn't...) It would be a no frills, no chrome type of build...chopped windshield, skinnies on steelies or chrome reverse, painted front axle, bare bones interior...

I would be building on an extreme budget. Fabbing/welding a lot of my own stuff, (but not the frame), scouring junk yards for parts, etc.

I'm now in the process of finding a donor car. So far I found a '98 Camaro (305), '78 Ford F-150 (302), '78 Olds Cutlass Supreme (305), and a '80 El Camino (350). All are running beaters for $1000 or less. Because of my budget, I would like to use the engine, trans, rear and hopefully the brakes/rotors. I've heard that the S-10 rears are really the best width though. This is going to be a traditional build with fairly narrow wheels, so I won't have a lot of wheel backspacing to work with. I don't want the wheels to be sticking out too far. What's the max width I can go with and still look right? Also, any other tips or things to watch out for?

Thanks! :)
 
The Cutlass and El Camino will share a lot of parts, I'd probably go for one of those two--this is GM's A/G body, and any parts will be easy to find. I seem to recall that they share a lot of front end parts with the early S-10 as well, but you probably won't use those in a T-bucket.

Not sure about the rear end width. A junkyard rear from an S-10 isn't big bucks though.
 
It can be done, however ya want to do it! 305 or 350, your choice....the S10 rears are good, just check it out good before you leave the salvage yard. Get one that rotates easily and smooth, pop off the drums if you got to. Just make sure it isn't out of a truck thats been hit on the side in the rear along the axles. Pop off the cover to make sure theres lubricant in there. While the cover is off, count the number of teeth in there so you'll know what ratio you gave.

Motor wise, You can run the 305 TPI unit, Painless makes a good harness for them. Just got thru building a roller 305 for a kid here in the shop thats on a budget....it dyno'ed out at 4o3 horses with a Victor Jr. intake and a Demon 650, Lunati cam, hei, and with KB Pistons with good 350 rods @ 6500 rpm. Its a small bore motor with a long stroke, jetting the darn thing about drove me up the wall!
With the 350, its easier to hit the high numbers, because theres 50 extra cubic inches. Also, theres alot more dressup stuff and cheap go-fast parts.
I come from the school that a 350 is really a 355 when you add everything together. Anyway....

The 305 you will be limited with intakes you can use, you can't run the big valve 350 heads without dropping noticing your cylinder bores.
Know all those 1.94 intake, straight plug heads for the 350's???? Pick up a set, and put then on the 305. That way you'll flow more air, port them a little. The DIY'er can convert the press ins to screw ins w/guideplates, Summit has the tapping fixture, and the stud boss cutter...all you need.

Bottom line, build it the way you want to, but don't compromise safety for looks, take your time. We have the best bunch of guys here that'll help you out with any problems you have. They'll be along shortly.
Not to mention all the great venders here that make and build stuff of the buckets, RPM and Spirit, just to mention 2.
 
Ford ranger rear works really well. The Explorer and Ranger share the same frame. Later Explorers came with disc brakes on the rear. Explorers came with v6 or v8 motors. Don,t know where you are located but there a ton of Rangers and Explorers in my area for dirt cheap. Most won't pass state inspection due to body rust. Worth looking into unless you are a died in the wool GM guy :(. Good luck with your build.
 
It can be done, however ya want to do it! 305 or 350, your choice....the S10 rears are good, just check it out good before you leave the salvage yard. Get one that rotates easily and smooth, pop off the drums if you got to. Just make sure it isn't out of a truck thats been hit on the side in the rear along the axles. Pop off the cover to make sure theres lubricant in there. While the cover is off, count the number of teeth in there so you'll know what ratio you gave.

Motor wise, You can run the 305 TPI unit, Painless makes a good harness for them. Just got thru building a roller 305 for a kid here in the shop thats on a budget....it dyno'ed out at 4o3 horses with a Victor Jr. intake and a Demon 650, Lunati cam, hei, and with KB Pistons with good 350 rods @ 6500 rpm. Its a small bore motor with a long stroke, jetting the darn thing about drove me up the wall!
With the 350, its easier to hit the high numbers, because theres 50 extra cubic inches. Also, theres alot more dressup stuff and cheap go-fast parts.
I come from the school that a 350 is really a 355 when you add everything together. Anyway....

The 305 you will be limited with intakes you can use, you can't run the big valve 350 heads without dropping noticing your cylinder bores.
Know all those 1.94 intake, straight plug heads for the 350's???? Pick up a set, and put then on the 305. That way you'll flow more air, port them a little. The DIY'er can convert the press ins to screw ins w/guideplates, Summit has the tapping fixture, and the stud boss cutter...all you need.

Bottom line, build it the way you want to, but don't compromise safety for looks, take your time. We have the best bunch of guys here that'll help you out with any problems you have. They'll be along shortly.
Not to mention all the great venders here that make and build stuff of the buckets, RPM and Spirit, just to mention 2.

I don't think a 400 hp 305 engine and Budget will go in the same sentence. LOL
Ford ranger rear works really well. The Explorer and Ranger share the same frame. Later Explorers came with disc brakes on the rear. Explorers came with v6 or v8 motors. Don,t know where you are located but there a ton of Rangers and Explorers in my area for dirt cheap. Most won't pass state inspection due to body rust. Worth looking into unless you are a died in the wool GM guy :(. Good luck with your build.

The problem with the Ford rear ends is that the pinion is offset 2" and in a short bucket, it makes for some really weird ujoint angles. We like the s-10 rears for short wheelbase cars, even long wheelbase cars, but will only use the Fords in longer cars.
 
I'm putting a" stock" 327 sbc in mine and with the narrower rears I'll still be able to light 'em up. Keep it cheap for now, upgrades later.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. Lots of good advice. I appreciate it. Thanks Ron for the heads up regarding the Ford rear...

A big driving factor to picking a single donor car is the registration process here in NY. The car has to go through a pretty strict inspection and they recommend having a solid paper trail for all the major components. An easy way to do that is to have the title in my name for the car these things came from. Preferably with numbers matching the VIN. This is where some of the confusion comes in. Chevy engines have a partial VIN stamped in the engine, but I'm not sure about the trans and rear. And as far as I know, Fords don't have numbers that match the VIN.

I'm going to look at the '78 Cutlass. I spoke to the owner and he said it only has 50,000 original miles and ran great when parked....7 years ago! Yikes! He only wants $500 for it, so if it runs, it will be an awesome deal! I'm going to bring a battery charger an some gas. Hopefully I can get it running.

The Camaro is around $1000, but it has a built 305 and 700R4 trans. Suposedly both are excellent, so I may be able to just install it and go, whereas the Cutlass 305 may need work and cash...
 
You can run some low rear end gears (4.11 or even 4.54) with that 700R4.
 
Ron from RPM suggested the Maverick rear, but those cars are as rare as hen's teeth now. I really like the clean look of the 9" or even the 8" though.
 
If looking for an s10 the later models with abs had disc rear and posi trak. Skinnies on a low hp v8 with even high gears are easy to burnout unintentionally with. Posi would help a bit to at least make forward progress while the tires are smoking. :)
I think s10 rears are 54" from mounting surface to mounting surface. The later models would also give you the 7.62 dimeter gear and stronger axles than the earlier ones.

With skinnies you shouldn't have any problem with an s10 rear. If you ever wanted to go to really wide tires then the s10 just wont hold up for long with much hp. V8 torque can kill these if you can get it to the ground. Since t-buckets are light it's hard to get traction anyhow though. I am running one with a 7.62 10 bolt with 12" drag radials and 375-400 hp and it has held up. It spins through 1st. As long as the torque is bled off a bit everything is alright. I imagine if it hooks up one time under wot that will be the end of it. I wouldn't put any money in an s10 rear though. Not worth putting a grand in it to strengthen it to a 12 bolt or 8.8, it would be cheaper to get a rearend narrowed in the long term. As said I romp on mine often and it holds up. I doubt it would on the dragstrip if it hooked up completely. If I were doing that I believe I would be hunting an early chevy 2/nova rear. Or get a 9" narrowed. The main thing when buying a rearend from the junkyard is to make sure it's not leaking anywhere. Also learn the codes so you are shopping for posi traction and the gear you want. That way you wont have to spend more later.
 
It can be damn near impossible to read codes on used or junk yard rear ends even if it's out of the vehicle. Also 1999 & newer S-10 rears have disk brakes. Don't over look the Z series S-10's rear ends. They are a little wider and came with a limited slip differential. Back spacing the wheels may be cheaper then shorting up an axle.
 
It can be damn near impossible to read codes on used or junk yard rear ends even if it's out of the vehicle. Also 1999 & newer S-10 rears have disk brakes. Don't over look the Z series S-10's rear ends. They are a little wider and came with a limited slip differential. Back spacing the wheels may be cheaper then shorting up an axle.
I like offsetting the wheelbearings toward the center of the wheel itself, especially running the Sportsman wides or the extra wide Hoosiers. Makes it alot easier on the bearings....
 
Is the S-10 pumpkin centered or offset? The 8" rear that I have is offset by at least an inch and I'm not sure how I'm going to approach the positioning of it.
 
Im using a 8.8 from an explorer that came with 3.73 gears,a locker and disk brakes.These rear ends can be had cheap, $130.00 salvage yard price.The pinion is offset by about 3 inches, but is a easy and cheap fix.Cut 3 inches out of the left side tube,weld it back up and get another right side axle and you end up with 56 inches wms to wms.

Bill
 

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