1965 wildcat rear end?

[xokia]

I have a friend that has a 65 wildcat and the rear end is toast. I have no idea where to find gears for replacement. I have set up a few rear ends before but have not worked on this specific version before. Is there any good documentation out there for rebuild the rear diff?

Lastly is it possible just to swap an standard corporate GM 10 bolt under there? What would be required if possible?

Thanks in advance.

[Warden]

Hollander shows that it's 65 Electra and Wildcat. You may find other GM axles that work with minor mods like drive shaft and plus minus on over all width. Wheel bolt pattern may be an issue as well. Good luck in the hunt.

[bob k. mando]

the Wildcat was a B-body.

i'd be surprised if you couldn't grab an axle housing out from underneath pretty much any other GM B-, C- or E- body cars from 1965-70.

an axle from a full size station wagon would fit but would be set up for leaf springs. possible source for internal parts, especially the limited slip diff and drag racing ratios.


most of the full size cars ( in 67 specifically, but 65 and 71 were the major restyles in question ) came with a 9 3/8" ring gear rear end which WAS MADE BY OLDSMOBILE. this is across all car lines.

the 9 3/8" ( and the 73 and newer 8 7/8" Pontiac rear ) has almost no new parts availability beyond bearings.

however, B-body cars with SMALL BLOCK engines could be had with an 8 1/2" ring gear rear end. this shares ring and pinion sets with the ubiquitous Chevy 8.5".

keep in mind that the following is for 1967 cars, i'm assuming the coding carries over for other years:
for the 8 1/2, you're looking for three letter rear end housings of the form "Nxy", where the 'x' codes the ring/pinion ratio and the 'y' codes the plant of manufacture. the 'y' for all 9 3/8" will be 'O'. the 8.5 was made by all divisions so you can find any factory code on one of them.

available ratios were 2.78 ( L ), 2.93 ( J ) and 3.36 ( G ) with an open axle and 2.78 ( Y ), 2.93 ( Z ), 3.36 ( U ) and 3.90 ( X ).


if you want a 9 3/8", those were available between 2.56 and 3.91. the numerically higher ratios are probably only found in station wagons.

[raycow]

Does your rear end have a drop-out center section? If yes, earlier center sections back to about 1961 can be made to work with some modification. 63-64 will be friendlier than 61-62.

If you have the integral type rear, or if your housing is bad, later complete rears will swap up to about 1970. Again, modification may be required. I would expect rears from makes other than Buick to need more work because of rear suspension differences. GM didn't begin "harmonizing" their B-body rear suspensions until 71.

Ray

[xokia]

[xokia]