Author: charlesvolare

I’ve been doing a lot of work on my rearend. It’s an 8.25, and I recently broke the spiders and tore the carrier up. New carrier w/bearings and a lunchbox locker to replace the spiders. Took everything apart, pinion out, seals replaced and cleaned it the best I could. Used an entire case of brakeclean and clean enough to eat out of. Put in 75w-140 (I believe, it was the heavy duty/towing recommendation) which is thicker than what I was running before.

Reassembled and set back up properly…

Rearend noise

Has anyone put a roof rack on a 4-door sedan? Would one from a wagon fit or maybe something aftermarket?

Last week I installed a Spartan locker in my 8.25 (lunchbox locker). When I accelerate hard and with traction I get pretty violent wheel hop, it’s even happened in the rain. When I do a brake stand or purposely break the tires loose for a burnout and keep the tires spinning, no problems. No problems before, so I think it’s axle twist.

255/60r15 tires, 5 leaf spring packs, OLD old shocks (waiting to do shocks when I do the iso-delete), iso-clamp system still there. The springs are very…

Wheel hop

The spider gears in my 8.25 lost several teeth a few days ago. Upon disassembly, it looks like there was damage beforehand- the pin had some pretty extreme wear and the splined axle gears took some effort to pull out of the carrier. It took several hours of hammering to get the pin itself out.

I’m planning on replacing them with a lunchbox locker and was wondering how much the damaged carrier surfaces can affect the locker as far as wear and longevity? I know it isn’t going to be anywhere…

8.25 carrier wear

I have a small block that’s smoking at idle, but only after it’s warmed up. Nothing I can tell on initial startup or while driving around. It’s an la 360 with magnum heads, 10.8:1ish compression. Kb107 pistons, moly rings, fresh heads (new +.100″ valves, spring pockets cut, deck surface cut). Rebuilt it last December, fresh hone and top compression rings gapped to kb’s nitrous spec of .032″ (I rebuilt because a ring butted and popped a ringland off, wasn’t taking any chances). First start…

Burning oil

I have a fresh 360, 11:1 compression, mild roller cam, magnum heads. kb107’s with rings gapped to 0.032″. I have about 500 miles on it so far, but driving it every day.

I took it out last Saturday to an autocross event and ran a few laps. One of my buddies noticed it smoked a little at idle. The next day, Sunday, I pulled the plugs and ran a compression test. 190-195 on most cylinders, #5 was a little lower than the rest but not anything crazy enough for me to remember (I can go find where…

Oil smoke at idle

I have a 904 behind a 360. 600 rpm idle in gear that jumps to 1100-1200 in park or neutral. I got the transmission and converter together used, but pulled it apart to check it out before putting it in and it was a fresh build, very few miles if any. I …