Quick Drivetrain Upgrades

[Matt G]

What are some quick bolt on drivetrain upgrades...
I read about the aluminum driveshaft and was wondering if there are any more simple upgrades similar to this one

[shenanigans]

rear axle swap [img]smile.gif[/img]


-Jack car up, support frame of car with jackstands, support rear with jackstands.
-unbolt rear sway bar 13mm flat wrench and socket wrench for endlinks, half in deep socket for the bracket 2 bolts per bracket.
-unbolt bottom of shock mounts(2 bolts, 18mm?)
-lower rear slowly, rear springs will come out.
-undo rear panhard (1 bolt, 18mm?)
-unhook the brake lines at fitting on driver side, unhook the ABS sensor.
-unhook the driveshaft (4 bolts, 11mm?)
-unhook the torque arm(2 bolts 21mm?)
-unhook the LCAs (2 bolts 18mm?)
-reverse to reinstall... Bleed brakes and should be good to go.


depending what kind of rear and brake issues you have, or are getting depends on how hard that section will be. I had to pullt the axle shafts to swap my brakes over to the new rear. But if your rear comes with brakes, no need to.


Took me 30 seconds to type up that writeup...

[Matt G]

i have a 3.4x now, what 1/4 increase could I expect from a 3.73?(my goal is to break into 14s)

I will be swapping the aliminum driveshaft(.2)
so my 1/4 mile would be around 15.1

[shenanigans]

no clue... but I know its a decent gain fropm 3.23-3.42, not life altering but very worthwhile imo...


Doing gears isn't "easy" and can get pricey... but if you have 3.08s or 3.23s I think its worth the cost of a new rear for the swap.

[Matt G]

what kind of an axle should I look for

[Rowdy Burns]

an aluminum driveshaft won't get you 2 tenths at any stretch of the imagination. an aluminum DS and -2000 DA, yes, but not the driveshaft in identical conditions.

keep your rear tire pressure low, start out at 25 and lower as the night goes on until you find a good place to be... no lower than 18 psi.

remove your front swaybar. that will help free the front end to facilitate weight transfer and get your 60's down.

i see you already have a shifter, but you might also consider a poly tranny mount. that combined with the shifter will make your car feel entirely different... like a car with a decent shifter.

[FunkZ]

Matt, you should have 3.23's now. I also went from 3.23's to 3.42's and it's a nice pick-me-up, but if I was paying someone to install the gears I would have gone 3.73

All V8 6-speeds have 3.42's so look for a 98+ non-TCS V8 manual rear.

Most 93-97 V6 owners swap the entire rear because it's cheaper than upgrading gears, LSD and disk brakes, you do it all in one shot, plus if your stock rear has a lot of miles (like mine did) it's sort of a refresh on the rear as far as bearings and whatnot.

Since you've got a '98 you already have rear disk brakes, and a newer rear is going to cost more. In your situation it's more of a toss-up, I dunno... if you're serious about this and plan on having the car for awhile I think I would grab a take-off LSD on eBay ($150) a set of 3.73 or 4.10 depending on how much highway driving you do ($150) and then pay someone to install them (varies greatly, ?? prob. $200-$300)

By the time you found a newer 98+ rear for your car I bet you'd be shelling out at least $500 for it, so for around the same amount you can upgrade your rear and get the gears you want.

[Matt G]

97rs4life said when he replaced his driveshaft with an aluminum one he dropped .2 seconds off his quarter mile

http://www.camarov6.com/ubb/ultimate...3;t=004313;p=1

there are weather conditions and other things to factor in so that may have possibly been what dropped him .2

funkz, your right i have 3.23, just went out and check on my car, for some reason I thought my code was GU6 but it was a GU5.

I am not thinking about a swap yet, but if it is going to give me a substantial time increase I would look into it.

I drive a lot of highway miles so I am putting 3.73 gears in my car when I decide to swap them. My brother knows how to swap gears so my installation expense would be around $30 for dinner and beer

[FunkZ]

Well since you can get a gear install done so cheaply then I would definitely recommend just gears and LSD rather than an entire rear end swap.

[Matt G]

oh yea.. i ran my tires at 22 psi in the rear