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This is a known “good” differential because I personally drove it the 100 or so feet from the street into the garage where we removed it about 40 years ago back in the 1990s. It was in a 1969 Chevelle SS396 car with a bench seat and a 4 speed. Convertible, too, no less.
Some well-meaning gear head spray painted it silver and installed polyurethane bushings in it, so it might have been removed from the car to achieve that. That being said, it might be from a different car, but probably not.
It will technically “fit” all the 1964 to 1972 GM “A” body cars like Malibu, LeMans, GTO, Tempest, Cutlass, 442, Special, Skylark and Gran Sport, and, of course the 1969 to 1972 GM “G” body cars which were the Grand Prix and the Monte Carlo. I’m not exactly stupid when it comes to these cars.
All the LeMans, Cutlass and Skylark cars came with the Pontiac-built 10-bolt 8.2 inch rear starting in 1964. Buick’s responsibility for the “A” car program was the automatic trans. Pontiac was assigned the differential responsibility. The thoughts of drag slicks and 400 horsepower engines and 4 speed transmissions and hard core drag racing was not even considered when designing that “little” differential back around 1962 or so.
It’s shortcomings in hard service soon became evident. Olds responded first with their stronger “12 bolt cover, 10 bolt ring gear” rear in 1967 for use in the Cutlass and 442 cars. Buick followed suit in 1968 with their version of the Buick 8.2 rear which was measurably better in many ways. Even Pontiac realized the inherent weakness of the design (Again, only in hard core drag racing use) and began installing this differential, the Chevy 12 bolt starting in 1970 on many of the GTO type cars.
Chevy invented this particular rear, I think, for the first Z-16 SS396 of 1965. It did, however, have 11-inch Impala drum brakes, and oddly, NO POSI-TRACTION. It did use the Olds 7/8-inch diameter rear sway bar. I believe the ratio then was 3.31:1. Anyhooooo, enough history lesson.
This is CLEARLY not the 1964 Pontiac design. It is clearly not the ’67 Olds design, and the stout ’68 Buick 8.2 looks just like the Pontiac design but with Ford 9-inch strength internals. Side bar….. The Buick 8.2 was intended to go in the GS400 cars and the 1 year only 1970 Buick big car 455 station wagon, so it had to be a real bast of a differential. Since this differential is a 4-link design, it clearly is the Chevy “A” body design with the squiggly curve on the inspection cover to redirect the oil the right way.
The donor car was a base 325 horsepower car, so we all assumed it was a 3.55:1 ratio. When we removed it somebody had written “3.55:1” on it with that paint pen marker stuff. Feel free to swing on by and spin and twirl and wrestle and count ‘til your heart’s desire. Just don’t disassemble it on my garage floor.
You can wire brush all you want in search or your elusive “code” letters and dates. I will NOT bend down and search for the stupid crusty stamped in letters. You can do it. Yecch! I’m too old for that letter code crap. Rally wheels valve stems, transmission plates, stamped in letters. Jeez, I just have these old cars to cruise around in. Who gives a crap if the intake was cast in the third week of March 1967?
You must pick it up here in suburban Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley here in Canoga Park. It weighs about 200 pounds and I am way too old to mess with it. It is in the front of my garage and a non-running car is scheduled to arrive in a few days this weekend. After that it will be “stuck” in place for who knows how long. Maybe years. I’m not going to push it outside in the weather. Please come get it ASAP!
Today is Tuesday, June 18th, and the non-running “push car” is going to be here in about 4 or 5 days. If I do not sell it this week it is going in my ‘69 Olds 442 or ’69 Skylark. Both are convertibles.
Will somebody please seize this opportunity and rescue this thing. If I die next week, it will just be thrown away. Nobody wants that. Please come get it. Thanks a bunch. Love, Marty. Oh, yeah, it does have both axles and backing plates, but no brake drums. Just reuse whatever you already have. Amen, the end, cha cha cha.
Please NOTE This Phone is a Landline and only has VM - It Does NOT Take Texts or have caller ID. It is NOT a cell phone. show contact info MARTY
LEAVE YOUR NUMBER SLOWLY.
If You Call from a Cell Phone Please Call From a Quiet Environment. Thanks So Much for Understanding
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