Regear that old Vette
 

You should regear. Get that 496 into the 7-800hp territory and install some 3.55s or 3.23s. 4.11s are too much without wrinkle wall slicks.

500hp is not enough.

Unfortunately (who thought that term would ever be used with power), getting into the 600 hp range with the 496 puts it in the 600 and over ftlbs of torque. Way too much for a C3 diff.:censored::nutkick:

I am getting ready to set the 3.08 rear I have into Red. No problem with the 4.11's, I just want to play on the other end of the speedo for a while. If I had 2.73's I'd put them in.

I've seen well over 125 with the 4:11's and it gets there really quick. Just want to see how the 3.08 does. If I get really bored, I've got a 3 speed OD from a 68 Chevy truck that's a bolt in thing to.

What 4 speed do you have? Close or wide? 308s with a close ratio trans is VERY hard on a clutch.

2.20 low close ratio- and it's not real easy on the clutch anyway with that 12lb flywheel. Other than the hassle of 973 bolts around that Lakewood scattershield the clutch is really pretty easy. Crossmember has been modded too BTW. 4 bolts and it's out.

3.08s is not going to work well with the Close Ratio. You are going to fry a clutch disk pretty fast. I've seen this and it's not pretty. 3.36 ( actually 3.55 is lowest I would use in the real world) is the lowest that I would even think of using with a 2.20 first gear.

But that's me.:D

You might want to think WIDE Ratio (2.52) on this. Trust me.;)

:cheese:

Only if the tires get sticky and it hooks up. It's when stuff stops spinning I get nervous- especially if it stops suddenly.

"Whine and clunk" is what you will end up with,:p

Those built 12 bolts have got to be good for quite a bit. :huh:

Yea, they are well into the thousands. :(

Well, that's more than 600 so there is a solution. :)

There are solutions for just about everything. There's a thread on another Vette Forum somewhere about a guy that's engineered a Strange rear end to fit and still keep the IRS. 4" axles, rear looks a little bigger than a 9" Ford and some really beautiful craftsmanship. He stated he guessed around 10k in JUST the rear end center section.

It's all about balance. To be honest, many people told me I'd shatter my aluminum Dana 44 with the 390whp I got on DRs. Well, I got dozens and dozens of launches and it seems fine . . .

so far. :smack:

Someday, I'll get into this stupid range of power and I'll have to figure out what I want to do.

I think you really meant to say " Someday, I'll get into this stupid range of MONEY and I'll have to figure out what I want to do"

At least that's MY problem.

I meant "DOLLARS".



HP rating is up to around 700---depending on application.:surrender:

Anyone ever swapped a IRS Ford 8.8 into a C3/C4?

That would be a C2 and C3.
We have talked about it at great length. If I had a "complete" machine shop I'd give it a shot. I did some measuring on a 96 T-bird IRS and am 70% sure it could be done.


If it's cost effective--that's another story.

If you have any interest contact Samburg rod and custom in the bay area. He's currently the guy making 8.8 cradles for RX-7's and does good work.

FWIW he developed the FD cradle for $1200 and now he sells it for $~650.

$650 might as well be $650,000 to me. :(

Yea, figure at least $1200 for development for a corvette 8.8 cradle. Then around $900 for a full 03/04 cobra subframe drop out if you want the beefy 31 spline axles. Then add another $600+$300 or so for The Driveshaft Shop to build you a custom length driveshaft and custom axles to mate the corvette hubs to the Ford pumpkin. It adds up quick. Cheapest I've seen with an already developed cradle and 03/04 cobra diff is around $2000. Highest is near $7000.

You can no doubt get a 28 spline T-bird rear end for a song.

Yep, T-bird diffs are cheap. Maybe (in the future) I'll look deeper into it.:drink:

If you want too much power and too much traction, just unbolt your diff and send it to Gary on VM along with too much money. :judge: I think he does the 12 bolt conversions for like 3500 out the door.

Or you can do them yourself. Just takes some grinding and some machine work, and a lot of patience. Which I'm sure is something I'll be doing in the next few years.

But with Gary, you only have to change the diff ONCE.:bigthumbsup:

They put 12 bolt internals in a dana 44 housing?:wtf:

No--they put them in the Eaton 65 thru 79.:)