4th gen rear swap..in the driveway by myself :S
10-28-2016, 11:58 PM
#1
Supreme Member
Thread Starter
4th gen rear swap..in the driveway by myself :S
Funny story. So I reaked havoc on my 9 bolt rear for many yrs with good luck behind my ls swap and later my turbo setup. The rear started making some good howling on decel...grinding noise on accel 
So i hit the forums and found a local 4th gen lt1 rear in decent shape complete. I picked it up a week and a half ago and of course its rains most of the time.
Today called for clear sunny sky and mild temps. I had a quick side tune up job to do and then started to tackle my car after lunch. Now here lies my issues..i dont have secondary hands to get the rear end out of my truck or to remove the rear thats on the car. I got your standard tools and a small portal compressor for air tools. Im a slim guy at 6'2..i slid the rear just past the tailgate..bolted a rim on...slid it further down so it tilted off the gate and flat on the rim...stood ontop the gate and bolted up the other rim...then layed the whole thing down and proceeded to pull the rearend up the driveway.
Next...removal of the 9 bolt.And boy did every damn bolt want to hangon for life and either round itself or break the head off except the torque arm bolts and driveshaft since i recently did my clutch. by now Ive got 3hrs invested..i cant go backwards with the car on stands and the rear doing a balance act on the jack in my driveway and running out of daylight.So eventually a friend of mine comes over
BUT..he has thrown his back out
so i got very limited help..help none the less.
All said and done the 9 bolt gets freed from the car..many curse choice words..cut old brake lines etc later.Nearly dropped 1 side of it on my friends foot...fun times.So out comes a beer break! beer fixes everything right. Ok back to now what should be the easy part..install a new rear. So we roll the new rear to the car and bam.As high up as I had the car and the front end kissing mother earth...the tires i bolted up to the rear and hoped life would be easier doesnt clear the back end from a straight shot! Then comes the idea to mount the spare tire on one end..roll that side under the car...and pull the other side away from the body....then jack up the rear and shift it into place.FML..after that fiasco..I got the rear up..bolted in.Guess whats next..BEER time! So from here my back is on fire...my buddy and I are tired..we had some laughs along the way.Screw hooking up brake lines or cables..lets back her down the driveway and make sure the thing works.I set the car down..let it roll down...fired her up and spun up first.All is well.I called it a night for now..I can tidy up brake lines and some new fittings on sunday funday and see how much better the car likes 3.42 gears over the 3.27.
Is it normal for 4thgen rear to be slightly out further on the driverside? Seems about half inch but the wider stance in the back looks menacing.
So i hit the forums and found a local 4th gen lt1 rear in decent shape complete. I picked it up a week and a half ago and of course its rains most of the time.Today called for clear sunny sky and mild temps. I had a quick side tune up job to do and then started to tackle my car after lunch. Now here lies my issues..i dont have secondary hands to get the rear end out of my truck or to remove the rear thats on the car. I got your standard tools and a small portal compressor for air tools. Im a slim guy at 6'2..i slid the rear just past the tailgate..bolted a rim on...slid it further down so it tilted off the gate and flat on the rim...stood ontop the gate and bolted up the other rim...then layed the whole thing down and proceeded to pull the rearend up the driveway.
Next...removal of the 9 bolt.And boy did every damn bolt want to hangon for life and either round itself or break the head off except the torque arm bolts and driveshaft since i recently did my clutch. by now Ive got 3hrs invested..i cant go backwards with the car on stands and the rear doing a balance act on the jack in my driveway and running out of daylight.So eventually a friend of mine comes over
BUT..he has thrown his back out so i got very limited help..help none the less.All said and done the 9 bolt gets freed from the car..many curse choice words..cut old brake lines etc later.Nearly dropped 1 side of it on my friends foot...fun times.So out comes a beer break! beer fixes everything right. Ok back to now what should be the easy part..install a new rear. So we roll the new rear to the car and bam.As high up as I had the car and the front end kissing mother earth...the tires i bolted up to the rear and hoped life would be easier doesnt clear the back end from a straight shot! Then comes the idea to mount the spare tire on one end..roll that side under the car...and pull the other side away from the body....then jack up the rear and shift it into place.FML..after that fiasco..I got the rear up..bolted in.Guess whats next..BEER time! So from here my back is on fire...my buddy and I are tired..we had some laughs along the way.Screw hooking up brake lines or cables..lets back her down the driveway and make sure the thing works.I set the car down..let it roll down...fired her up and spun up first.All is well.I called it a night for now..I can tidy up brake lines and some new fittings on sunday funday and see how much better the car likes 3.42 gears over the 3.27.
Is it normal for 4thgen rear to be slightly out further on the driverside? Seems about half inch but the wider stance in the back looks menacing.
10-29-2016, 08:19 AM
#2
10-29-2016, 04:18 PM
#3
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Thread Starter
Re: 4th gen rear swap..in the driveway by myself :S
Turbo lq4 and cam
10-29-2016, 11:03 PM
#4
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Car: 1989 GTA
Engine: LS coming soon
Transmission: 80E coming soon
Axle/Gears: S60/35 Spline/S-Trac/3.73
Re: 4th gen rear swap..in the driveway by myself :S
Please tell me you had more than just a bottle jack?
I installed my D60 by myself. Friend brought it over as I had it shipped to his work as he had a freight ramp(cheaper) but being it was crated in slid it down on one end and walked the other end down. Then used my floor jack under the pumpkin to lift it then carefully balanced it while dragging it into place. Once under the car, jacked it up, added wheels than started bolting lca's, phb, etc. Took less than an hour.
Sounded like you had one helluva experience! Are you going to rebuild your 9bolt for when the 10 explodes??
I installed my D60 by myself. Friend brought it over as I had it shipped to his work as he had a freight ramp(cheaper) but being it was crated in slid it down on one end and walked the other end down. Then used my floor jack under the pumpkin to lift it then carefully balanced it while dragging it into place. Once under the car, jacked it up, added wheels than started bolting lca's, phb, etc. Took less than an hour.
Sounded like you had one helluva experience! Are you going to rebuild your 9bolt for when the 10 explodes??
10-30-2016, 04:25 AM
#5
Supreme Member
Thread Starter
Re: 4th gen rear swap..in the driveway by myself :S
Lol I used the original spare tire jack since it got such a nice low profile..my car is lowered 2 inches.then used my floor jack to do the rest.
It was a hell of a time no doubt and I know how simplistic this job should be.And i also knew how my luck with what should be simple jobs turn into full day day events.I did a head swap earlier this year in my driveway in the same amount of time it took for this :P
I dont plan on putting money into the 9 bolt due to part availability/costs.I know they tend to be slightly stronger than a 10 bolt in stock form and i have certainly played it safe with not launching the car hard from a dig with my slicks. I like the bigger brakes of the 10 bolt rear and parts are cheap and easy to find and beef up a tad.
The car seems much happier now as I think the 9 bolt was robbing power being messed up.I think the driveline noise was also creating my knock sensors to trip out as that engine has stopped coming on and I can hold boost in the upper rpm.
Heres some clips.The car drew some attention on the first lil roll out a bunch of import guys were yelling to check the car out:
It was a hell of a time no doubt and I know how simplistic this job should be.And i also knew how my luck with what should be simple jobs turn into full day day events.I did a head swap earlier this year in my driveway in the same amount of time it took for this :P
I dont plan on putting money into the 9 bolt due to part availability/costs.I know they tend to be slightly stronger than a 10 bolt in stock form and i have certainly played it safe with not launching the car hard from a dig with my slicks. I like the bigger brakes of the 10 bolt rear and parts are cheap and easy to find and beef up a tad.
The car seems much happier now as I think the 9 bolt was robbing power being messed up.I think the driveline noise was also creating my knock sensors to trip out as that engine has stopped coming on and I can hold boost in the upper rpm.
Heres some clips.The car drew some attention on the first lil roll out a bunch of import guys were yelling to check the car out: