8.5 rearend support

Has anyone on here used the 8.5 rearend support from:

GM/CHEVY 10 BOLT REAR END 8.2 & 8.5 DIFF GIRDLE LPW ULTIMATE SUPPORT COVER

It has additional bolt holes on the outside for a bracket to strap to the tubes for support.

It takes away the possibility of bend tubes or pulled.

I watched a video once and a Caprice was running at the track with this support.

Do you have a link? I've not heard of this, and I'm kind of curious what it is.

I found that Jeg"s sells them.  Just not in stock until June sometime.

https://www.jegs.com/i/LPW/619/341-A/10002/-1

This is the company site link

https://www.lpwracing.com/

Hi, and yes I have used one on my street/strip '79 wagon. I believe the biggest advantage to using one of these is the jack screws that go through the cover to add support to the rears gear carrier bearing caps. I never used to rear external support bars myself as I thought they were a bit of over kill for my application. I'm sure they would be helpful if you're making enough HP to need them though. I was making @500 HP with 4:10 gears and never had any rear failures in the 10 years or so that I raced my car. Just my 2 cents.

Nice looking wagon.  12.97 et is amazing for a lead sled.

What transmission are you running to that 500 hp.? Is it 3 speed auto or 4?

Is it SBC? I'm running a 383 w/700R4 and 3.73 gears.

I always like to know the particulars on our B-Body drag cars.

I'm in the mode of changing over my 2 dr. Caprice.

Nice going.  Thanks for the cover information.

I'm running a 388 Stroker into a highly modified 700R4 w/ 3200 RPM stall converter. Good luck with your project!

I too have a stroker 383 w/700R4. The torque convertor is one for the 4.3 V6. I always am told not to race all the way through into 4th. full throttle.

Do you just go through the first three gears only? I would like to know before I go to the track.

Some suggestions were to ONLY run a turbo 350 for drag. Kind of defeating the overdrive idea.

Thanks

Yes, that's also what I usually did. I would go through the lights in 3rd and then only go to 4th once I lifted off the pedal. I had a custom made lockup converter with anti balloon plates so I could use the lockup option on the street for better gas mileage. I had a switch mounted on the shifter next to the line lock so I could toggle the lockup on and off at will. The trans lockup solenoids were wired so that it could only lock up in 3rd and 4th. That system worked very well until one day I forgot to unlock at the track prior to a run and when I banged 3rd and it locked up at the top end which I'm pretty sure smoked the lockup clutch in the converter as it never work after that ;-(  In hind sight I should have wired it so it would only lockup in 4th gear. If I were to to do it al over I'm pretty sure I would use a 4L60E instead of the 700R4 as I'm told it's a much better starting point for a high performance overdrive trans. The 700R4 requires tons of tweaks and trick parts to work reliably on the track. I've also been told that a Turbo 350 with a gear vendors overdrive unit on the back end is a very strong combination but the gear vendors OD units are a bit pricey. Hope this helps! Bill.

Great write up sir. I am running a sbc 440c.i. thru a th 400 trans with 8.5 rear with 3.42 gears. Suppose to go race next month hoping for 12s at the strip. My friend recently started working at trans shop so I had him do the swap from a th350 that wouldn't hold 3rd gear once warm to a th400. As of recently he has been giving me shit saying u should of swapped a 4l80e etc but for me my mission has been reliability so I have one plan the th400 and soon to come is the gear vendor. I think the only trans I would consider otherwise would be the 6l80e which is a six speed trans. But to swap a 4l80 seems as much or more than a gear vendor. Yes the gear vendor itself is over 2400 but a 4l80 all built for racing with good parts runs upwards of 4k plus another 1500 ish for the lockup convertor. Currently I'm in a bit over 2k for the th400 swap parts and labor. Now the shop has said the gear vendor wont last forever and will require rebuilds etc but from all the research I have found online about the gear vendor I have not seen them needed rebuilt regularly or anything like that. Maybe I'm wrong and they are right but next year I will finally have the gear vendor. As far as I know I will only have one major problem and that is my final drive ratio in rear axle 3.42 might not be steep enough to use the overdrive so I might end up going 3.73 or 4.10 but other than that my plan is coming together. Car does 0-60 in 4 sec or less I run a expensive 3k stall convertor from west coast converters. By the way your wagon is rad I love the ss badge in the grill

What type of aftermarket block are you using to get the 440 C.I. from a SB Chevy? I assume it's a stroker. Did it require much special machining? I want to build a new bigger C.I. SB Chevy in the future so any thoughts or advice would be appreciated ;-)

Ok well I started with dart shp 427 bottom end. But to get big cube and longevity I should have gone with dart little m with raised deck.. I have hurt motor multiple times due to my own stupidity. It's more a race motor but I daily drive it as sleeper. Yes it is stroked 4 in stroke with 6 inch rods rods are compstar h beam type pistons are D.s.s. their gsx groove there is x cut into skirt to aid lubing and cleaning cylinder walls. I have been told that with my 4 inch stroke in standard deck block adds sideload and increase angularity and decrease longevity.
Pistons are 650 to 700 each. I also had to have custom small base circle cam made by comp chose lt style for roller cam provisions. Should of gone with 4-7swap but water under bridge now. Had afr 195 23degree race port heads 76cc chambers upgraded or downgraded depends who u ask but currently running brodix dragon slayer 225 runner head. 68cc chamber so bumped head gasket to .062 as well to reduce compression only can get 91 around here. Currently using johnson limited travel lifter hydraulic rollers but hold rpm like solid motor have revved to 6500 more than a few times and I'm sure it will hold 7k. For longevity I would stay around a 408 maybe 410 c.i. with standard deck it makes things easier no small base circle cam needed no super small piston ring packs etc. Currently running gapless 2nd ring to prevent blow by. Even with drag race moroso pan and windage tray side kickout I have trouble keeping oil out of pcv. Could be cheap baffles in comp cams valve cover. I would not recommend comp cam parts mine are terribly loud appearently due to grind specs of my cam. I have tried 2 cams 2 brands of lifters and my hydraulic almost sounds like a solid with hood open. I have heard good stuff about Howard cams and morel lifters. If noise isn't a issue comp can get job done. I went to johnson lifters because they are OEM on zl1 Camaro and live long happy lives and I had a pin start backing out on a comp lifter so couldn't risk that happening and not catching it.

But the dart shp 427 short block you see on summit was my starting block. Clearencing everything was done and assembled but be careful on the timing that seems to be the killer. I have since been thru motor 4 times on 3years steep learning curve. I have videos on youtube. Search cfmechanic. Using sniper efi on Motown single plane. I have seen as high as 380hp to tire 400tq but dyno shop lifted at 5200 curve was still climbing. From all my research I am loosing about 200hp thru drivetrain most will say no way but hear me out. I found a guy similar motor similar drive line th350 loose 3k convertor 3.42 rear gears. His motor on dyno was 550hp580tq in car he made 350hp380tq to the wheels. His test was in Australia I am un california but my first dyno run with afr heads and street dominator dual plane were I identical I have videos to prove this. With brodix heads and motown single plane I picked up a but on top end.

terry cronk wrote:I found that Jeg"s sells them.  Just not in stock until June sometime.

https://www.jegs.com/i/LPW/619/341-A/10002/-1

This is the company site link

https://www.lpwracing.com/

That wagon is BAD A#S!!!