Have a 73 rust free Apollo and have stuffed a buick 455 with AC and want to plant some good rubber. Many have told me not to use 7.5 rears or 10 bolt Novas, as I will chew them up, and cant afford a 12 bolt as they are all pretty much gone or high buck. Cost of ford 9? or plymouth 8.75 cut to fit cost?, and should I have the 350 rebuilt to run better 1st gears over 400's. I have bought engineered frame rails and will weld in before spring. Have a 3.5" driveshaft of an Electra cut to fit car. Once the rear and tranny help gets done I have a kenne belle 107 degree cam instead of the mild cam now. I am running 2.5" exhaust front to back and turbo muffs and 6" cans in the rear. Need tech advice on Xbody on rearends and for and tranny bests for..... please help and email me c_geske@earthlink.net thankyou craig bca 27925, Minneapolis :3gears:
Apollo Craig, I race a 76 Skylark which is a later generation of the Apollo X-body. My car runs mid 10's just for comparrison purposes. I broke my TH 350 at the end of last season and have installed a TH 400 for next year. If your 455 is really healthy (over 500 hp) go with a TH 400. I run a moser 12 bolt in my car. I doubt seriously if the 7.5 rear end would have any chance of holding up if you get good traction. The 10 bolt would be better but still not as good as a 12 bolt. You are right in that the 12 bolts are very expensive. You could probably build a 9 inch for a similar price as a built 12 bolt and be stronger yet. Some one out there is making 9 inch housings that fit our cars. Hope this helps!
The '73 Omega used an 8.5 c-clip axle X-body rear. The junk 7.5 rear was not used in the X-body chassis till '76 or '77 & even up into '79 some 8.5 X-body rears were used. The 8.5 X-body rears can be built up mighty stout, have done it time & time again. How about strong enough to run for a long time in the high 9 sec range with 33 spline spool, aftermarket axles & c-clip elims? With a 30 spline Eaton posi carrier & Moser axles well into the 10's. Running slicks & 60 footing well, need to take the hsg & have it put in a line-up bar & have the hsg welded to the axle tubes. Same thing would have to be done with 12 bolt hsg... it's just a shame though ,with resto value of the early Camaro 12 bolts... a virgin 12 bolt '68-69 Camaro multileaf hsg is about 6-8 times more expensive than a gutted 8.5 multileaf X body housing. A base 9" rear is not going to be much stronger. Add a nodular center section, spool, aftermarket axles, daytona pinion support, back brace etc, the 9" will be superior. On a budget, feel free & PM me. Have racks of 8.5's, 12 bolts, & narrow factory 9"s with factory nodular cases. Preparing to build two 8.5 A-bodys for MN & northern Iowa customers, & will be back in MN sometime in Feb. :3gears: Roger
