What G-Body had 8.5 rear-end?

[Turbo Envy]

My understanding is that all turbo Buicks had the 8.5 as well as the 442's of that generation.I know Monte Carlo's did not have them.Did the Hurst/Olds have the 8.5?One other thing, a friend of mine swears that some Olds Cutlass with a sport package was optioned for the 8.5, but can not yet get any verification.I know someone who had the 8.5 under a regular Cutlass, but someone else could have put it in, although the car was stock and not modded in any way(smog pump, cat, and a zillion hoses and vac lines all hooked up).Does anyone know what year, make, and models (G-body only) numbers?Thanks in advance.

 

[83 Malibu 3.8]

Availability...

The availability of the rear end in question is as follows:

1984-1987 Buick Turbo Regal/Grand National
1984-1987 Oldsmobile 442
1984 Hurst/Olds

Hope this helps.

 

[Turbo Envy]

Thanks for the info 83 Malibu.More or less, I have very limited options.

 

[all4gss]

8.5 rearend

You wont find an '84 Cutlass 442. Also, be aware that from the info i've found on the web the 1984 Hurst/Olds and 1985-1987 442 featured GM's 8.5" axle, as well as the TR and GNs. However there is an '83 Hurst/Olds. Which according to this info did not have the 8.5" Doubt you'd find an 83 Hurst/Olds in a yard, as they only made 3000 of them... but you can tell the difference by the "vertically halved" tail light.

happy hunting

Keith

 

[channer]

What did the Monte Carlo SS come with??

 

[all4gss]

monte ss

the monte's came with a 7.625 or some weird number like that... dunno why but i've heard they were weak... not sure if they meant weaker than a 7.5 (doesnt make intuitive sense) obviously they'd be weaker than the 8.5... HTH

Keith

 

[flynbrian]

Check G-Body Wagons!

I recently was Pumping Gas into my Truck, and a Elderly man pulled in to get gas, and I noticed the Car was about 84 or 84 Cutlass Station Wagon, I could see the Car, from behind, where I was standing and noticed it has a Round Rearend cover, I mean perfectly round, which a 7.5 rear isn't, this got my Interest up and I walked over and looked underneath the car, and it was a 8.5 rear, don't know if it was a Posi, the Elderly man didn't know, he said he bought it new, and it was just transportation, I don't imagine he had ever even got on the car, to know if it was a Posi.
I know if it is like other GM station wagons alot of them are Posi, so I know I will be checking all the wagons out next time I'm at the U-Pull-It yard!!!
Good Luck!
Brian...

 

[GNVAIR]

I have heard of that on the Oldsmobile Cutlass wagons, but never saw one personally. I would be curious to see the RPO sticker from one.

 

[Death to Rice]

A good friend of mine has an 83 Hurst Olds. They do indeed have 8.5 rears.

 

[GNVAIR]

The one 2 83' models I looked at were both legit 1 owner cars and neither of them had the 8.5.
Maybe only some of them got it. I dunno. So the 83' Hurst is definitely an iffy possibility.

 

[buickron]

83 Hurst Olds came with 7.5s The 8.5 came in the 84. If an 83 has an 8.5, someone changed it, or its really an 84

 

[Death to Rice]

Hmmmmmmmmm, I'll have to mention this to my Olds buddy. You have to wonder about those Oldsmobile people anyway...... But while we're on topic, I know where there is an 82 GN sitting. What rear should it have?

 

[GNVAIR]

82 GN should have a 7.5. Gear ratio is dependent on whether it has the turbocharged engine.

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

gee you guys are still debating it..

84 is first year of 8.5 in g-body's they are only in 84 up turbo motored regals and 84-87 olds 442 and some 84 hurst olds but not all of them early 84's were left over 83's

87 regal t's with the v8 had 7.5 rears.


another fact 7.5 and 7.6 rears are the same they just made the teeth wider on the ring gear which gave it a bigger diameter...all the 7.5 and 7.6 gears will interchange


i can not verify this in every case but it seems to be that non posi rears had alum. brake drums and posi rears had steel ....why who knows but it seems to be that way??

 

[Justa6]

Cutlass Wagon....

Okay, if someone can give me stand-out features between the 8.5 and 7.5 rear I can figure out if the rear I got out of a Olds Wagon is a true 8.5. Features like the number of teeth on the ring gear, #'s on the ring gear, part #'s on the rear housing, stuff like that. Good pictures would help. Tried gnttype.org and they are pretty vague on the differences. One thing I did read is that the rear cover has a raised horizontal bump to clear the ring gear. This true?? Thanks for the help.!

 

[GNVAIR]

Here ya go! This shows it perfectly! http://malibunorth.freeservers.com/RearID.html
Just make sure the rear came out of a 78-87 G body and not a B body or other because you wont get in bolted in.

 

[buickron]

A big GM wagon definetly came with an 8.5 rear end, but the housing doesn't fit a regal. Lots of big wagons also had posi, & the posi carrier will fit the Gbody housing, but a wagon housing is way too wide, has the wrong bolt pattern on the axles, & the mounting brackets won't match up to a regal. Ron Cavanagh, buickron@aolcom

 

[BuickV6]

Hmmmm

In 88 Olds made something I believe it was called a GT. My understanding is that they made something just shy of 500 of these. What I was told some time ago was that since Olds did not originally intend on making an 88 modle year they did not contract with Hurst to make more 442s. The GTs got many of the left over 442 parts they did not get the 15x7 wheels but it did get the vin 9 (HO) motor and possibly the better 2004r trans and the 8.5 rear as well. It also got the buckets console ralley guage pak and at least some came with the rear wing and hood buldge. Anybody know more about this?

 

[GNVAIR]

There kinda was a Hurst Olds in 1988. But I think you are confused about the difference between the 83-84 Hurst Olds and the 85-87 442's.
The 83-84 Hurst Olds was a joint effort between Hurst and Oldsmobile. The 85-87 442's were built entirely by Oldsmobile with no assistance from Hurst, but they did retain the mechanical performance pieces that the 83-84 Hurst Olds models did.
The 88's were basically "kits" with ground effects and no performance mods. I cant guarantee, but would surmise that the 88's would not have the 8.5 rear since the 88's were not built with the performance pieces of the 83-87 cars.
For info check here http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/ofhos.htm
OR
http://www.oldsclub.org/OCA_Nats2000/PhotoRecap/Page3/1988HOAero.jpg

 

[FlyinGN]

83-84 Monte SS's (with NON od trans/3.42 gears) came with a 7.5" rear and 85-88 SS's (with od trans/3.73 gear) came with 7.625" rears.

Originally posted by channer
What did the Monte Carlo SS come with??