Alright, I have p***ed another milestone in the "get a drive train for that car" project. I am putting a Chevy 292 l6 into my 51 Chevy Styleline. I just bought a TH 350 ****** for cheap and now I am shopping for a rear end. I was thinking that I wanted to put a Posi Track S-10 Rear end under it, but this ol' kat I know semi well busted my balls about that. He said that a posi would just eat up all my HP and that with an engine as small as a 292 i wouldnt get much out of it. So Fellas, what do you think? Standard or Posi rear end?
a posi won't "eat up all your horsepower". It would be a tossup for me...probably go non posi unless I found a deal on a good posi rear.
I'd say 99% of the time an open rear is just fine. As stated, its a toss up unless you feel better saying ya have a posi.
In my ch***is business I probably sell one out of eight ch***is with a posi or trac loc. If I ask why, they say because?
If you ever drive your car in anything but totally dry conditions I'd say go for the posi. I'm very fond of getting my power to the ground, so everything I own has some kind of traction control.
AFAIK...the only available "Posi" in an S10 is the Gov-Lock. It's meant as a setup for low traction in normal situations and locks IF the L & R axles speeds differ by several hundred RPM. That means it can come on with a BANG and that bang has been known to ****ter parts. I'd go with an open unless your using it for winter driving or some other situation where this type posi can help get you out of trouble. Otherwise it just might get you IN trouble!
In your case, I can't see any real reason to have one, plus, an open one should be cheaper, and you can really impress the crowd on the right side of the road by doing smokey burn outs, plus, with proper tire rotation, you can do twice as many.
If you put a posi in it, I don't think it'll eat up power unless you've got unequal tires on the back. Check em with a tape around the cir***ference while inflated to intended pressure for driving. Sometimes you can "stretch" a bias ply by over inflating and leaving it off the ground for a time. Best to make whoever sells you tires understand you gotta have a matched pair before you buy to avoid misunderstandings and consequent problems. Once you're driving it for the first time with a posi, get accustomed to it first (if you've never drive a posi equipped hot rod) before you start horsing around in it. My first posi was in a '53 Stude coupe with 327 sbc many years ago. Took it out for a test drive after installation and in less than 10 miles of driving I managed to lose it and do a 180* spin on a 2 lane street by "goosing it" off a 90* corner on a residential street! No harm done, but it is easy to let one get away from you if both rear tires are spinning. Dave
what springs are you going to use? I had stock ones for a time and wheel hop was terrible. Posies springs helped some, but I am still going to run traction bars. At the 2009 hamb drags i broke the locating pin off an aluminum lowering block (cheapie) and I just have to figure it was all the wheel hopping it did off the line.
I like to do things once if possible...If you think there's even a chance that you'll ever step up to something hotter under the hood, I'd go with a posi. If not, an open with treat you just fine... Lockers are annoying, and a little voilent for my taste. As others have said, I think that's what you'll have with the S-10 set-up..
like posted before.. if ya plan on road racing it do it. if its just a cruiser then don't it will have some parasitic loss of power but not much. If ya plan on putting a bigger motor in it in the near future then do it. that 6 shouldn't need a limited slip unless your going to build it to the moon.
It just goes to show that old age and wisdom are not synonymous,,,lol. Maybe the old guy means that when the posi finds out that there isn't a V8 up there it'll eat up the lowly 6 out of anger.
The only power difference is in a turn with a "tight" posi such as an aftermarket one and that is minimal. I read a report in one of the rags about parasitic horse power loss and they claimed the 7.5/7.625 S-10 rears were only eating 15-18 HP and the 8.5 GM were like 18-20 HP but the Ford 9" due to it's pinnion engagement was consuming 23-28 HP depending on the final drive ratio!
Now Im secong guessing myself since my 289/302 isn't much more cubes than your 292.My setup is basically stock although I haven't rulled out a slightly larger than stock cam.My reasoning for the posi was if I were to increase my hp.Or eventually go the 351w route I would have the rear end for it hmmmm....?
I've got a torquey 350 in front of a non world cl*** T5. Skinny tires and an open diff keep the load down and keep the ****** whole.
Yeah...I don't have one in the Scandalero...BUT, niether do I do burnouts with it. It's not a race car.
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