Junior Stock question

[joe cool]

I have a 57 chevy and am building it like a junior stock car would have been in the 60's. I am not trying to make it competitive nor be an exact replica just remembering the old days . Now ,I know the tri five rear ends were not all that tough and I don't want a 9 inch Ford in it . What were the tricks or modifications to get these to last ? Was anyone using the pontiac /olds rear ends then? Thanks for the help fellas.

[Ed Wright]

Joe, I had straps I made, 1/4" X 2" steel strap heated & shaped to fit the top of the left bearing cap. I drilled mine for long 1/2" bolts for the caps after breaking the beating boss off once. I used long 1/2" Allen bolts, drilled all the way out the front of the case. I had to use the soft Zoom gear sets to keep pinions alive. Wish I could remember what ratio I ran. Henry's Axels & spools.

When they did away with Stock, and moved us to Super Stock, lower gears, bigger tires, more power, that would not live. After NHRA did that to us, I said "Screw them!" and put a '57 Pontiac rear end under it. Bolted right in. No faster, just didn't break. I put Chevy ends on the housing so I could still use my Henry's axles, Chevy brakes, etc. Henry's made me a Pontiac spool that used my axles. Had to have a new end put on my driveshaft for the Pontiac U-joint. You really had to know what you were looking at to see the difference. I did get some comments about it staying together. Nobody seemed to notice. Felt guilty, but knew it was not making me any faster.

[Bruce Fulper]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Joe, I had straps I made, 1/4" X 2" steel strap heated & shaped to fit the top of the left bearing cap. I drilled mine for long 1/2" bolts for the caps after breaking the beating boss off once. I used long 1/2" Allen bolts, drilled all the way out the front of the case. I had to use the soft Zoom gear sets to keep pinions alive. Wish I could remember what ratio I ran. Henry's Axels & spools.

When they did away with Stock, and moved us to Super Stock, lower gears, bigger tires, more power, that would not live. After NHRA did that to us, I said "Screw them!" and put a '57 Pontia rear end under it. Bolted right in. No faster, just didn't break. I put Chevy ends on the housing so I could still use my Henry's axles, Chevy brakes, etc. Henry's made me a Pontiac spool that used my axles. Had to have a new end put on my driveshaft for the Pontiac U-joint. You really had to know what you were looking at to see the difference. I did get some comments about it staying together. Nobody seemed to notice. Felt guilty, but knew it was not making me any faster.

Henry's = All ten spline right? I have some of those pieces I'll sell cheap. Pontiac spool. Short axles for a rail. PM me if you're interested.

[MAURICE BLENDHEIM]

Mr. Cool… It would be interesting to know how many Chevrolet Jr. Stock guys would have installed a 9" Ford from a 1957 Ford back in the day. The swap back in the 60's would have eliminated a lot of unnecessary breakage. This single modification alone may have changed the outcome of the class for many, with the 9" reliability. I have a 1956 BelAir 2dr Sedan, that is built 60's style with a 9". I am amazed how many people ask me if it's still the Original rear end? Would you consider a 8" Ford, your sleep won't be effected. I'm a DieHard Chevrolet Guy, but some things aren't worth doing. Remember you said your "not trying to make it competitive nor be an exact replica". Just attempting some sensible persuasion…Maurice.

[joe cool]

The 9 inch Ford would be the logical replacement .I will not be putting a lot of power thru this thing , thought if I could come up with something that would live I would try to keep it correct . Thanks for the help.
I do have a 8.8 from an Exploder, that is an alternate choice.

[Jeff Kempton]

Joe, Aubrey Bruneau runs a '62 409 car in Stock Eliminator and is reachable through this site. He has accumulated a lot of knowledge on how to improve the life of those rears.

[Lew Silverman]

Joe,


Here's a company I found that specializes in the 57-64 Olds and Pontiac rear ends. Maybe it would be worth a call to see what options they have available. IIRC, the Olds axle was the one everyone finally went to after they destroyed the stock unit, but I'll have to dig-out my old NHRA rule book to see if there was a "corporate-only" swap rule in effect back then. I suppose the Ford axles would would work "cosmetically" but for real "style points" an Olds with a big "Question Mark" painted on the back would be hard to beat!



Good Luck with your project. It sounds like FUN!!


https://fabcraftmetalworks.com/

[Rich Biebel]

Automatics did not break rears much....

Stick shifts did.
Axles and everything else in a Chevy rear broke with a manual trans.

We flat towed without tow hubs and broke a rear in our sedan delivery with a hydro and a 283/220 engine..... but only once.

Our higher HP stick shift friends broke a lot more often.....

My friends running Modified classed cars in " Street eliminator" as it was called back then ran Olds/Pontiac rears...

[Ed Wright]

Rich, most I knew used the '57 Pontiac housing in the '55/'57 Chevy Street Eliminator cars. Spring perches fell right in place on the Chevy springs. Bolted right in.

To cut down on breakage, I had friends of mine that had a brake & clutch rebuilding shop build soft pressure plates for me. Helped hooking on slick tracks, and 3 speed trans life too. Remember the no "track prep" days? :-) Had to get them to rivet new fiber disks on the clutch disks every other race. Started slipping on the 2-3 shifts if run too long.

[Rich Biebel]

No prep is a good name for the old days Ed. Asphalt, no traction compound of any kind. The only thing ever used was rosin during match races or maybe something poured down during a burnout by hi powered cars. Only track I know of that was concrete was Suffolk Virginia. Asphalt was fine in cooler temps but not good when it got hot. Anyone can look at pictures from the old days and see cars spin enough that smoke trailed the slicks on any stick car with even moderate hp.