hello to all , nice board here.. though i dont have a skylark i'm still a proud buick man.. a little while ago i helped a kid at work put some gears in his truck, it got me to thinking about changing my 3.08 to 3.42 , i dont really do any highway, and i have a little rpm to spare i figure ... anyway without going on for too long , i have found alot of trouble finding any gears for this thing i guess there is no aftermarket gears made. does anyone know what kind of cars i might look for in the scrap yards to search... i'd hate to be on my back all day taking apart 10 cars to come up empty... vehicle, 73 lesabre 10 bolt cover 12 bolt ring gear pinion diameter seems very large 1.8" still 30 spline with c clip axle edit, something worth mentioning i'm in canada , car was built in kc for canada any help appreciated..
The rear in question is known as the 8.875" MP series rear. The '71-76 version is a descendent of the '65-70 8.875 P series (big Pontiac) r/e. There is also a '77-85 version. From disassembling each version, ring & pinions will not interchange between the 3 different versions, & there are no aftermarket gears that will fit. Set on running the 31 spline '71-76 MP series rear, & desiring lower ratio gears, watch the old yards for '71-74 Pontiac B series wagons, Bonnevilles, & Grandvilles with mountain performance or factory towing pkg. Also, all GM '73-76 A-body wagons used the '71-76 MP series r/e. '73 & '74 versions with a factory towing pkg is your best bet. Btw, don't pass up a set of nice 3.23's, as 3.42's are even harder to find. Good luck, being up north, if you can find the partscars, you should have better luck than those of us in the south. Nearly every '71-76 B series one finds in these parts has factory A/C & usually between 2.56 & 2.93 gearing. :3gears: Roger
If you want to spend the money on new stuff Try Randys Ring and Pinion They seem to have just about everything. Best prices too.
cool , thank you very much roger, now i have a name to put to it, i was starting to feel a little frustrated with all the negative responses i seemed to be getting from my local gear shops, and then they say i have a 8.2 bop , that i'm measuring wrong, lol.. i kept saying it looks like a p axle, a p type has the converging ribs on the case, thank you as well for the list of cars to hunt for, i'm sure i will have success and thanks to your list i will save a lot of time searching.. p.s to dave , i will check out randy's as well.. jd
thanks for the tip jim, yes he sure does . his post is making me wonder, if maybe i would rather go 3.23 .. because my initial reasoning wasnt performance as much as a bigger lever so to speak, and i do only have a 3 speed which is in 3rd by about 30 mph. 12 years as a mechanic and i've never gotten a chance to feel the difference a gear change makes, so i guess my next question is will the 3.08 to 3.23 be of any real difference, might i regret it in 3 months.
