changed rearend in my monte...wow
 

ok I FINALLY got some time to swap the rear in my monte, well 90% of the swap is complete, i still need new shocks, brakes and fill the diff. Anyways ever since i got the car running and on the road, the car has been a dog off the line and i could run 2nd easily to cruise at 50mph, the sluggishness I chalked it up to the dual 3" exhaust flowing too much. But then i remembered that the current rear had junkyard writing on it saying "86 regal". I then thought maybe it has 2:73 gears and with the larger diameter tires and the T5 tranny, maybe thats causing it partly too. The T5 came from an 88 iroc with a 3.45 rear, so the 2:73 would be an issue, anways i pulled the 3.73 posi rear from my 88 monte ss. before i pulled the current rear i opened it up to confirm the gear size...well...with 41 ring teeth and 17 pinion teeth i found out it has 2.41 gears. wow, im suprised it ran like it did and not worse. Once i get to drive it with the 3.73 rear i think i'll be very happy and maybe i wont have to swap the long tube headers for the edelbrock shorties i have.

sounds good, nice finding out that what is being swapped in is even more better than what you thought was there lol

~Ted

my last two cars my gtp & 98 Z both trap in 2nd gear in the 1/4 so i konw the feeling lol

Heh....damn those 2.41s. My brother's '79 Malibu has those gears, and he's also planning a 3.73 upgrade.

- Justin

i drove the car tonight, wow, HUGE difference, before with the t5 it would almost stall the car when starting off now i can spin the tires at will. The car is so much easier to drive now and you can feel the power the engine is making. A rebuilt 350TPI motor, T5, and a 3:73 rear makes for a fun car, now i hope my GF will like it, haha. Tomorrow i think i may change the headers still though, im just not happy with the sound of the exhaust, too loud for my girls daily driver.

I've had several old Camaros(67-69) that came with the Powerglide 2 speed automatic and 2.73 gears! You could take those cars out to 70 mph in 1st gear but they were complete dogs off the line. Switch to a TH350 3 speed automatic and 3.55 gears and they came to life without killing the highway cruise speed. 3.73's and a 5 speed should be a pretty cool combination.

Yep, about 2100 at 70 mph. Very livable, and not bad on gas!

my brothers cutlass had 2.41's...well...probably a couple times in retrospect lol:)