Maybe Ken needs an extra housing?

Andrew

 

My bad, I meant the car.

 

Put it away for the winter. You don't want to make a rash decision. I think about selling the GTO all the time, then I drive it and remember what a cool car it is. Save money over winter and put a bullet proof rear end in it next spring.

Andrew

 

Thanks for talking me off the ledge. I know I would regret selling but this car is financially straining the household. My wife has supported all of my gearhead endeavors wholeheartedly but she's right by saying the breakage has made it not fun. I think that chasing numbers at the drag strip just isn't the right thing to do with this car right now anyway. It ran 134 MPH this last trip and I know that's just pushing my luck.

 

I need to get the car from being down so I went with what I thought was the least expensive option while still being able to use the car. I don't plan on any more drag strip visits on sticky tires until I upgrade the entire rear axle.

I picked up a another US Gear 3.31, Eaton Detroit Truetrac, and a Strange solid bearing spacer. I needed a few tools first though.

Ebay dial torque wrench.


Home made spreader.


Carrier



Solid Spacer



First gear pattern. I am adding .006 of pinion shim and see how it looks.

 

I went in for 2 more rounds of increasing pinion shim and ended up with the pattern below with a .035 shim. It probably needs a touch more but isn't too far off from the original setup. I also wanted to note how easy setting up the solid pinion spacer from Strange was. I have no idea why anyone would use a crush sleeve when you can buy this for $30.00. It took about 15 minutes to find the right shim. One you do that you just hammer the nut on with an impact and your pinion preload is perfect every time. The Strange design also captures the shims to prevent misalignment while putting the pinon in.

Good news is the car is back on the road and the gear set is quiet! I feel like I'm driving a Cadillac and didn't realize just how loud the last set got. I hope I can keep this off the drag strip so I don't ruin it again because that's not what I built the car for. Now I can enjoy the cool fall weather.

 

I love your thread and always follow along. You have some very innovative solutions that help me all the time.

I have a buddy who is in a similar situation, making about 880 at the wheels and breaking stuff. You have to live with the limit of your weakest component. And broken stuff sucks.

The upside of this car is that you can turn down the turbo to something safe, and still have a car that's quicker and faster than 95% of cars out there. This thing is capable of amazing power.

Great work!

 

Thanks man! I can't take credit for most of the ideas, I just see them on the net or in other build threads but modify them for my own taste, application, and sometimes even improvement. That's why the internet is great for this kind of stuff. It's also great for diving off the deep end. If Youtube didn't exist I may not attempt to do some of this stuff like the rearend. But there is so much info you can get comfortable with a task before you even try it and when you do, the chance for success goes up. I know I can service every part on this car except the power steering box and the tune and that's more satisfying than just buying a new Corvette or Camaro (even though I love them also).

 

Where did you learn how to setup r&p?

 

I don't know about ALOCKER, but I learned on youtube. I did a Truetrac in my Durango a few years ago.

 

Good idea. I alway forget about how useful YouTube is

 

YouTube is where I learned, LOL, seriously.

It's like a lot of stuff, if you don't cut corners and take your time it's not horrible. It helps that my local trans guy helps me with stuff like pressing bearings and driving bushings. He always laughs at me while attempting this stuff. There is also a cool guy on Chevelle.com that is fast to help analyze tooth pattern. I just like knowing that if it breaks or doesn't work right it's my fault. Nothing worse than paying for a job and finding out corners were cut.

 

I imagine that the TrueTrack is super smooth and quiet on the street?

Andrew

 

There is a ton of negative and positive stuff about the Truetrac online and I was a bit worried how it would perform. If you jack up the rear and turn the wheels it feels just like an open. It's for sure spinning both wheels but I didn't want to beat on the new gear too much. No noise or clunking like alot of the complains so I'm happy so far.

 

I am really hating the Detroit Locker in my Cougar...Maybe just a old school clutch type Eaton is what I need? Thoughts?

Andrew

 

100% Eaton in anything less then 500 rwhp. I could have rebuilt mine again but the parts almost added up to a new carrier. I just wanted to try something different too. One advantage the Truetrac has in this application is the absence of a cross shaft to retain the axles. We all know they can be a giant PIA from time to time and the aTruetrack cylinder and c-clip is a nice feature. I noticed less in and out axle play too which could benefit a fixed rear disk brake setup.

 

So what did you have before the Truetrack?

Andrew

 

Eaton Posi.

 

To me the whole point of an LS swap is drivability and ease of use. Here is my wife messing around in a 900 horsepower street car. This is the first time I have seen it driving. That BOV is LOUD!

 

Cant believe I just rear all this, lol-love the car, always been a fan of big cars
I had a 67 impala years ago, it was weird, had a factory 4 sp, 327/275, no PS or PB-had to have been ordered that way.
Great numbers out of your engine, boost is fun, lol