10-Bolt power?

Hey everybody,

Now that the weather is getting warmer around here I am getting the urge to start in on my project car I bought over the winter.

It is a 68 camaro. Non SS, non RS, just a basic car.

My question is that I am starting from back to front with the driveline, and am wondering just how much power I can put through a corporate 10-bolt rear end.

The car supposedly has posi, but I haven't been able to drive it, and it is sitting in the barn and haven't had a chance to actually check.

At the moment it has a 350 with edelbrock heads, comp cams 292 cam, and an edelbrock 700. Power goes through a 2-speed powerglide that somebody dropped in along the way, which I may yank as I work my way forward.

But my real question is, can the 10-bolt handle 400 hp? Should I look for a 12-bolt, or even go to a fab-9 rear end.

Cost isn't completely an issue, as it will get done eventually, but if it would work for now, I can put my money into something else. Like a 5-speed.

Any suggestions?
Any help?

thanks,

im not totaly sure how much power the stock 10 bolts can handle. but my chevelle has a 10 bolt in it with right around 400hp. so as far as being able to handle that much power it will, for a time. it also depends on how you use it. if you plan to make lots of runs down a strip, especialy with stickey tires, then it probably wont last long at all. i havnt had the chance to do anything back there with my rearend or anything except put in new springs, but i will be replacing my 10 bolt with atleast a newer 10 bolt with an 8.5 ring gear. that is another option for you that would be cheaper than going with a 12 bolt and is just about as strong as a 12. the stock 10 bolt you have, unless it has been replaced, should be a 8.2 ring, the 8.5's are sagnifacatly stronger. they are only slightly smaller with the 12 bolt having a 8.875 ring gear. if i had the money i would personaly probably go with the fab-9 housing. then you can go to coil-overs if you wanted and you would also have the basis for alot more options as far as traction control devices and being able to change the gears alot easier.
now unless the powerglide has had work done to it you should probably be more worried with that than the rearend if you plan on still using the car the way it is now. hope this helps some.

Thanks for the advice.

The plan is mainly a strong driver. Not really planning any 1/4 mile trips, but stop light to stop light on occasion is always likely.

More planning on a driver that handles and corners better than stock.
Maybe even more of a "pro-touring" approach, so the coil-overs is a definite possibilty, but probably not a 4-link and air bags.

I have no idea what shape the trans is in. It was there when I bought the car. And it works is all I know because I backed it into the barn.

Too bad the 4-speed isn't there, have the clutch pedal, but no stick shift.

Again, thanks for the advice and help...

the 10 bolt when proporly set up, and staged before hammering it will take 450hp for a time, and 400 hp for a long time. ive seen 10 bolt rears run 9 seconds in the quarter before. but you have to set em up right. get a solid (as in strong and reputable) carrier, aftermarket gears, set everything up right, use a rear diff girdle for added support, and at the track, put it in gear, and let the gears come together, so that when you hammer it, the gears dont slap together in the rear, they would already be together and would just push on each other. the damage to the rears come from being loose, and then hammered.

Question IROC, aren't the gears in the rear always together, or not? Under what circumstances do they come lose so to speak?

well the two are not perfectly meshed, there is a measure of clearance, noted as backlash, the ammount of play between the ring gear and pinion gear. when staging sometimes people take it out of gear and then get on the brakes, this allows the two gears to loose tention, when ya stop it, the pinion gear starts rotating a fraction of a second before the ring gear, making them slam together, granted its only a few thousands of an inch, but it does cause premature wear when runnin the strip.

No, what you said makes perfect sense, I just needed the text-book explaination

There are 3 10 bolt rearends... the 7.5, the 8.25 and the 8.5. whick one are you talking about

Assuming that it is original...
Again, I can't say for sure because I haven't checked any numbers yet, but I believe that it would be the 8-1/4".

good call hypsi, i assumed he was talking about the 7.5in, (oh and you forgot one, the BW rear which was 7.75in, which is in my IROC :) )

I wish I had an Iroc. Those things are great.

MY dad has a 89' RS, that we put an 86 TPI 350 out of an Iroc into.
I recently painted it for him, so it is the only one around here that looks like it.
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As long as we are talking about rear ends, and I am starting to think that I might swap it out for a unit I wouldn't even have to worry about, does anybody know how hard this is.

I know a lot of the Fab-9 units are direct bolt in and some are not.
Anybody here have any exprience with this?

If you ever want to change rearends, i recommend 3.73 posi. Get limited slip and MAKE SURE YOU DONT GET THE LOCK RIGHT POSITIVE LOCK SYSTEMS BY RICHMOND. Those things are false advertising and are too good to be true. You have to trust me on this.

yeah i love that IROC, cant wait till shes my daily driver :) still a ways to go yet :(

What do u guys think of the powertrax