Install Info: Strano Springs/Bilstein SLP Shocks and Rear End Upgrades.

[New2chevy]

Swapping new 10 bolt in with new Eaton Posi, 3.73's, and Strano springs with Bilstein SLP shocks, all the way around.

Here are some pics of my progress, so far:


Working on getting the old rear out. I disconnected all the brake lines and brackets, ABS harness, from the axle tubes, diff housing, etc. I hung the calipers with coat hangers to get them and the brake lines up and out of the way. I removed panhard rod and shock mount nuts and LCA's at the rear only. Last step, with rear supported by jacks and 2x4's, was removing U-joint straps at the pinion yolk and pulling the drive-shaft forward. I then slowly lowered the rear and pulled it using the jack handles.
rear1.jpg

Got it out and put new Bilstein shocks in (half way in)
rear2.jpg

Old 10-bolt on left and new strengthened 10-bolt on right. It has the TA Aluminum cover with stud girdle and ARP carrier bearing cap studs, new Eaton posi and 3.73 gears.
rear3.jpg

Bilstein shock vs. old DeCarbon shock. Quite a noticeable difference.
rear4.jpg

Rear Strano springs vs. stock springs. Align the tops of the springs with the indentations in the upper rubber isolators. My isolators stayed stuck up in the upper shock mount locations.
rear5.jpg

GRRRR. I need to swap axles and backing plates from old rear to new rear because the ABS reluctors are on the ends of the axles on current setup. New rear has the reluctor sensor on the diff. housing .
To pull the axles shown on bottom: undo bolts that hold sensor plugs onto the backing plates, smack the ends of the axles until the sensors are pushed into the backing plate, which allows axles to go in far enough to remove C-Clips. C-Clips will pull right out with a magnet, as long as the open end of the clips are facing DOWN. The C-Clips do not snap onto the axles. They are held in once the axles are pulled outward and the center pin is re-installed on the posi unit. Pulling the axles without the reluctors is easy...just push them in and pull out the C-Clips with a magnet.
rear6.jpg

[New2chevy]

Once I get the rear done, It's on to the FRONT of the car. I'll post pics and info here.

[SchaefZ28]

Looking good! It looks exactly like what I was doing this past fall.. Painted up 10 bolt, TA cover, stud kit, bilsteins.. The only difference being that my rear has 4.10 gears in it, and I reused my stock springs. I have been really thinking about getting a set of stranos though.... I'll have to follow this and see how you like 'em.

[New2chevy]

Looking good! It looks exactly like what I was doing this past fall.. Painted up 10 bolt, TA cover, stud kit, bilsteins.. The only difference being that my rear has 4.10 gears in it, and I reused my stock springs. I have been really thinking about getting a set of stranos though.... I'll have to follow this and see how you like 'em.

Cool. I'm sure I will love them. Everyone who has them loves them.

And I hear the 4L60e's really like 3.73's so I went with those.

The T-56 loves 4.10's from what I hear.

I'll keep this thread rolling.

[New2chevy]

Well guys I got the Founders LCA relocation brackets on and swapped in the ABS reluctor axles. The only problem I had with the Founders brackets was on the passenger side. The shock mount hole in the Founders bracket would not line up with the hole in the stock shock mount bracket. I'll show how I solved this problem, with pictures and explanation below. Also are a few pics of the brackets from different angles and a whole pic of the entire rear. It's ready to go in and run, but I need to put some good gear oil and friction modifier in the diff housing first. Eaton says, "Do not use synthetic oil for our posi. Down the road, this type of oil will cause chatter." I personally hate chatter back there in the diff housing, so I'm going with what Eaton says.

Here is the completed rear with ABS axles and Founders LCA brackets.

Whole REar.jpg

To push the axles in far enough to get the C-Clips out, I unbolted the sensor plug inside the backing plate and hit the axle end with a striking hammer to drive the sensor and axle inward, simultaneously (the reluctor wheel hits the outside of the sensor and drives it inward), then the axle went in far enough to pull the C-Clip right out with a magnet. Of course, I moved the pin inside the posi out of the way first.

ABS 3.jpg

Once the C-Clips are in, then jiggle the ABS sensor plug to push it back in and line up the bolt holes, and use a 10mm wrench to tighten the plug back down and push the sensor all the way back in--or out toward the reluctor wheel (as shown in pic above). I LOVE ratcheting wrenches!!

ABS Plug.jpg

Here is the driver's side Founders bracket installed.

Bracket 1.jpg

Here is the passenger's side Founders Bracket installed. It looks a bit tweaked, but I think it was the angle of my camera. We shall see how well my LCA bolts in there.

Bracket 2.jpg

Driver's side rear angle (if looking toward back of the car with rear end installed. Note the shiny spacer between the stock bracket sides.

Bracket 3.jpeg

Now for my problem....The passenger's side Founders bracket's shock mount hole wouldn't line up. First I filed some of the metal away from the outside of the shock mount, so the shock mount part of the Founders bracket wouldn't hit/rub against the metal and would hopefully line up the hole better.

Shock Mount 1.jpg

This is where the Founders bracket was rubbing/hitting the stock shock mount on the outside where I filed (as in above pic).

Shock Mount 2.jpg

The shock mounting bolt is almost exactly the same diameter as the mounting holes, and this little bit of the Founders bracket was showing through the stock mounting hole, so I needed to fix this. I massaged the bracket around and hit it with a 2 X 4 a number of times, and I gained a little more clearance, but I just couldn't get it to totally line up, and I tried a bunch of stuff to make the holes line up, then I finally figured out how to fix this.

Shock Mount 3.jpg

Voila! I finally got the holes to line up (see below for how I did it).

Shock Mount 4.jpg

I used my jack handle and a socket extension bar and put the narrow (square) end of the socket extension down into the shock mounting hole, with the founders bracket bolted tightly on, and I then put the jack handle over the socket extension and pulled so as to move/slightly bend the Founders bracket until the holes lined up. Presto!!

Cheater Bar.jpg

I'm going to reinstall the rear end and then break the new posi in with some 80W90 oil and friction modifier (100 miles or so), then I'll change out the oil again.

I also have my WS6 aluminum driveshaft ready to install. This may help a little bit but who knows. At least, it's lighter.

[SchaefZ28]

Can't see the pictures

[New2chevy]

Can't see the pictures

OK I went through and re-added my pics. It seems to have worked, for now.

Other threads I have seen claim that the brake line brackets need to be cut, when installing the Founders LCA brackets. I don't understand this because my brake line brackets aren't interfering with the Founders brackets at all.

Weird.

[SchaefZ28]

Fixed!

[New2chevy]

I made some more progress with the rear end swap today. Took 40 minutes, which is all the time I had. I still have to tighten the shock nuts and LCA bolts, but I got the U-Joint tightened on the pinion yolk, at least. I just have to put the panhard bar in and fasten the brake lines and ABS harness onto the axle tubes then put the calipers and sway bar back on. Oh, and I have to fasten the torque arm to the diff housing and fasten the e-brake brackets back onto the two TA cover bolts, just like on the stock cover.

I was kinda bummed because one of the u-joint bolts threaded in fine by hand, at first, then it was frickin' HARD ratcheting in there, but I got it in tight (VERY TIGHT). Now I have an LS1 driveshaft, which I hear is a pretty worthwhile mod.

I am going to center the rear using my adjustable Founders panhard bar. I'll hang a bob from a string at the fenderwells and measure the distance of each tire from each fenderwell using a ruler, to center the rear.

There she is...home where she belongs. A helpful tip for the torque arm is to use some rope (left side of picture) to tie it off to the side, rather than undoing the whole thing from the transmission too, then it will be out of the way when removing and re-installing the rear.

Rear7.jpg

Driver's side shock. LCA connected to Founders relocation bracket. The Founders LCA ends fit perfectly into the new relocation brackets. Hooray!! Those darn bump stops were $100.00 for a pair (original GM bump stops). I saw them cheaper somewhere, recently, but I can't remember where.

Rear8.jpg

Passenger's side. I'm going to weld the top parts of the Founders brackets to the stock LCA mounts, on each side, just for added peace of mind.

Rear9.jpg

It was fun balancing the rear on it's center and rolling it in from the side, through all the brake lines and e-brake lines and stuff--car wasn't high enough for it to clear the exhaust piping in the back.

Rear10.jpg

Shot from the driver's side. Once the shock mounting bolts are in the lower brackets and the nuts are on them, and the u-joint is connected to the pinion yolk, the rear is in there pretty good, and the jack only does a little work. I still have to stick the springs up in there, which won't be hard, once I let the jack down a few inches. It's tough for me to put the springs in there at the same time as putting the rear in.

Rear11.jpg

I'll keep updating on my progress guys! Can't wait to see how the new shocks and springs feel, as well as the 3.73's!!

[New2chevy]

I almost have the rear end all buttoned up. Just have to tighten all the bolts to specs and tighten the stud girdles on the TA cover properly and bolt up the E-brake brackets. Then I have to put some oil in the diff housing. I am thinking about taking my rotors to the bead blaster at work, just so they look nice. Here are some more pics of my progress:

Rear12.jpg


Rear13.jpg


Rear14.jpg


Rear15.jpg


Rear16.jpg


Rear17.jpg


REar18.jpg

I'll post pics and stuff of the front end work here, as well.

Also coming soon is a TA rear hatch painted to match my factory color, with the spoiler painted black. I just scored some TA side skirts from Hawks on Ebay, and I'll get the bumpers soon. I want my Bird to look like a frickin' Trans Am.