Hey, Seems hard to find but I think the easiest way is to buy some new rear end gears for my 68 Riviera to get some more power. But I only find someone from TA is there any other seller out there? Do I need the installation kit? When I search for Buick 8.2 on ebay it says it's not for full size cars.
Your car uses an orphan Buick 1967-1970 9 3/8" rear gearset. You will need to find some NOS or used parts. There are no reproduction gears made for your car.
That's bad news. So I can only search for Riviera GS parts thats the only model where it has other gears? Is there an "easy" option to change the whole rear axle?
Changing out the entire rear is about your only option other than finding used or new old stock and no its not easy. You will need to cut off all mounting points from the factory axle and weld them onto the replacement such as a Ford 9". the drive shaft will have to be modified as well. Then theres the brakes that will have to be worked on. The rear wheels will have different bolt pattern. Its a big can of worms. You'll spend as much or more than doing a engine upgrade.
No these rear gear sets were sold for 67- 70 Electra’s, Wildcats, 70 LeSabre 455s, 70 Estate Wagons and over the counter. What great ratio are you looking?
The P/O of my 69Riv swapped out the 3.07 and put in a 3.08 posi, what car would that of came from?? Not to hijack just curious if someone would know?
It probably already had the 3.08 in it, just changed it from an open to a posi by changing out the carrier. Just my thought. The 3.08 did come in some Rivieras as posi or open. My '70 came with a 2.78 open, I changed it to a 3.08 with junkyard gears from an open rear and a posi carrier from another rear end. What a massive improvement!
3.42s w/ posi are the sweet spot for these cars imho. There is a reason GM uses this ratio in so many cars over the years to include my GN and my Tahoe. For these classic torque monsters there is nothing like the "pull" as the car comes alive placing the engine in the sweet rpm range to launch and run away from the guy in the next lane. You don't give up too much on the high end either. 3.07/3.08 are OK, and will gain you some decent acceleration at highway speeds. I got lucky and found a complete setup off a '68 Riv GS but I believe other big cars out there had posi's and some 3.42s. Be very patient if you are looking. If you are that passionate about the car you may need to start doing some deep research on ways to get a better gear package and retain the 5" on 5 bolt pattern.
Tada! You better grab this up if you are serious. http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/1966-1967-riviera-posi-limited-slip.329431/#post-2907090
