I have an olds [b o p] 8.2 rear with 4.11 gears and a ring gear spacer. How reliable will this be in a 2900# street car with 400h.p. 7" chaeter slicks and a stick shift? It will be street driven with an occasional trip to the strip. The spacer scares me. thanks Bob
In most cases, the ring gear spacer is not a problem. We have used this device to change from one ring gear to another in many housings and have not had any problems. This is not saying that the B.O.P. rearend will hold up, but it most likely will with only 400 hp and the 7 inch slicks...We have used these rearends with over 500 hp with no problems and up to 12 inch slicks. Good luck Mark
Thanks Mark I'll give it a try. Back in the 60'sI sheared the bolts off the ring gear of my big block chevelle which had a spacer. It is possible that they loosened up as I never checked them and it ran along time. It was a 4.56 12 bolt. Thanks for the info Bob
yeah, me too. 66 chevelle 300 with a bbc/4speed/4.56 gears. i didn't know you were supposed to go in and tighten the ring gear bolts now and then.....
I have seen this happen several times, but it is because incorrect bolts were used without the correct shoulder to properly locate everything together. With the correct bolts, it shouldn't be a problem.
The bolts with the Mr. Gasket kit have no shoulders which I thought was very odd. I even concidered drilling the housing, spacer and ring gear and installing dowel pins but the ring gear is too hard to drill with any drill bits I can find.
I have no experience with this....have heard enough bad stories over the years to want no part of it. I'd tend to think it would have been cheaper for the factory to use spacers and THEY didn't. No really high HP application would likely even consider it - which suggests to me that those who have gotten away with it were either lucky or closer to disaster than they'd like to admit.
No expert opinion here, just another bad experience. '67 GTO with an automatic, but it sheared the bolts off on the highway. I won't use a spacer again. Eric
My rear end guy, who also is my automatic transmission guy, will not build a rear end with a spacer, he just won't do it no mater what. The last rear end I had him build was for my '54 chevy pick up, it's a GM corporate 10 bolt, we switched from a 2.40 something to a 3.08:1 gear and it could have been done with a spacer, but he insisted on a new (used) carrier. The engine is a 306hp SBC with a TH350 and I'm running biasply's. This guy is a third generation transmission and rearend man, so there is some experience involved.
I have a spacer in my 57 Pontiac w/ 4.88 and a 10'' slick w/ an auto and have had no problems...But I only weigh 2,640 lbs w/ me in it w/ a 327 Chevy, and trust me I have beat on this thing at the track very hard........If you are drag racing....anything.....Its always the weakest link that will get you, and if your draging with a stick such as you suggested, I would be willing to bet that your pinion support will blow out long before you have to worry about a steel spacer as long as its properly installed.........Littleman
I have rethought this ...I am not familiar with the 8.2 olds.....what year is this from..........this does not have a center section like a Ford 9'' or older Olds Pontiac, but like the GM's 10 and 12 bolts?.....if its like the Chevys I would put a better suited heavier duty rearend to do the Drag/Street duties that you are looking for..........My old Pontiac is big and does the job, Littleman
The 8.2 bop rear is similar to the ten bolt chevy but utilizes bolt in axles in lieu of C clips. Not nearly as beafy as your old olds. Mine is a 1964 unit. Bob
Thats what I was thinking you may have, similiar to the 10 bolt........I would run it for now and keep your eyes and ears peeled for an upgrade if you even think of spankin the car......It will be time and money well spent, Have fun, Littleman
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