by spencerforhire » Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:52 am
You could beef up the 7.5" with aftermarket axles and an Auburn carrier to make it survive 500HP, but that's far from cheap; the sensible solution is a bigger rear end. If you own a welder and have even modest fabrication skills, adapting a 9" Ford(or the previously mentioned 8.8") or an 8.5" out of a Blazer(if you can find one!) is possible on the cheap. Making a bracket to adapt the torque arm is easiest on the 9" Ford because it can be bolted on with the pumpkin and pinion support bolts. The 8.8" and 8.5" are a pretty easy swap into an early Vega with it's 4-link , but are a challenge to make work on a later car like your Starfire with it's torque arm. If you're talking "drag race use only", a set of ladder bars will let you lose the torque arm(and the lower control arms as well).
At the 500HP level, I'd recommend aftermarket axles anyway no matter what you choose for a rear end, so I think a "cheap" rear might not really be a permanent solution.
The "fleet"-
72 Vega HB Drag Car -383/'Glide/9"(9.35@146.19)(5.94@117.28 1/8th)
77 Vega Estate wagon- project(someday)will have TPI305/T-5, S-10 spindles/axles
76 Vega GT- 400/4spd/9" retired from active duty(rusty)
06 Silverado 2WD ex.cab daily
03 Silverado 2WD ex.cab (retired)
06 Haulin' 20ft enclosed car transporter
06 GMC Canyon Shop truck
07 Colorado project( 5.3 4L60e swap)
99 Saturn SL1- wife's car
01 Saturn SC2- son's project
07 Saturn Ion Redline project
and 4 more Saturn "parts cars"
Note- the very act of listing all of these has made me realize I have some kind of problem.....
Visit http://www.spencerforhire.ca