I am rebuilding a 55 chevy and need to rebuild the rearend, what will work?

Question

I 'm not sure if any 3:55 ratio will work or If i need a year specific set up.

Answer 1

Christiano has it right. If your intent is to keep the car original you must buy a gear set for your Make/model /year. Your rear-end type was used for several years. For longevity, ease of maintenance, parts availability, etc. many other rear ends can be adapted in assuming originality is not your priority. the Ford nine inch is popular. Given the weight of a 55 Chevy I'd stay away from a 10 bolt GM unit, a 12 bolt is more appropriate. The Chrysler 8 & 3/4 is also a good unit. If you've got 500 + horsepower the GM rears (in un-modified condition) won't hold up for very long under enthusiastic acceleration trials. No offense to GM lovers, its just the facts. More horsepower, try a Dana 60 series.

Answer 2

Toss the heads in the trash and get a set of vortecs or aluminum heads. you will get better combustion performance out of them. Set the motor up with a stable quench and additionally you may run greater compression with much less detonation. maximum chevys I even have considered have stable rods, yet a solid rank, so an entire rotating assy is a stable decision most of the time. Run a three.seventy 5 inch stroke and get greater out of the money you're spending already. If saving money and doing a cheapy rebuild with basically pistons, get some stable ones run them with a stable quench to maximise combustion performance, and verify they are the a million/sixteen-a million/sixteen-3/sixteen form, reducing friction on the cylinder partitions. those jewelry was once considered racing jewelry, yet oems have switched to them because of the fact they have shown to final as long because of the fact the old thicker form.

Answer 3

Yah know, if you go to a Ford dealership, they will probably have a good 3.73 laying around. There's been a rash of them that have been growling. I think it's because of the alloys. Dad thinks they aren't getting the pinion angle right. Could be a number of things. But it isn't really critical. They are still fine. Dad has been taking them apart and resetting the tolerances and it's been working out fine. It's a floater, you can use half shafts. Excellent setup. Just shop around and get a whole rear end. They are everywhere in all types. I just really like the 3.73.

Answer 4

Naw it's not year specific. I have a rear end from a 70's chevy truck in my 55 Olds.

Answer 5

you will need a gear set for that rear end. smartest thing to do is go to a newer rear end and save some money unless you want to keep it year specific

Answer 6

i agree with cris and tep, and tep is right if your not looking to keep it too original ford 9 inch all the way and thats coming from a chevy guy