Help Your Rear Survive
Here's a couple of tips you can use to ensure your newly built rearend has a long and happy life.
- Save the original pinion shim and use it as a baseline when checking pinion depth for the new pinion gear. More than 99-percent of the time, it will set the new pinion at the proper depth.
- Use Loctite sparingly.
- Mark the differential bearing-caps and return them to their original locations.
- Once a new rearend is installed, never roll the car-even one foot-without rearend lube.
- If equipped with a Sure Grip, always used the proper additive.
- If possible with a new differential, run the car with the rear wheels off the ground prior to driving for 5-10 minutes with no load.
- When first driving with a new rearend, take it easy for the first 200 miles. No hole shots!
Wanting to make sure the finished...
Wanting to make sure the finished rear would stay together, Goldberg decided that a stock axle may not survive his expected type of driving. For that reason, he slides in the Strange 30-spline SS rear axles to finish the installation. Strange offers either 5/8- or 1/2-inch wheel studs for their axles. Since this is a street car, 1/2-inch studs were used.
There's nothing high-tech...
There's nothing high-tech here. All that's slowing the rear wheels is a complete set of new rear brakes and hardware. In 1965, the wheel studs on the left side of the car were left-hand thread. The new studs will have righthand threads.
Goldberg leans into a breaker...
Goldberg leans into a breaker bar to tighten the U-bolts that attach the rear axle to the springs. The rear springs are Super Stock style, which includes the extra leaf on the righthand spring.
Heavy-duty shocks complement...
Heavy-duty shocks complement the rest of the rearend components. It doesn't matter how good the car's rear is. If you can't plant the tires, it's useless. Although a fully adjustable gas shock can out perform a non-adjustable unit, it's the simplicity of getting in and not having to worry about that which makes the choice easy for a street car.
Adding the adjustable pinion...
Adding the adjustable pinion snubber is all that's left. From this angle, the subframe connectors are clearly visible. The floorpans and rockers are original.
Finishing up the rear is the...
Finishing up the rear is the original brake drums, which have only been blasted and painted. Because of the car's low mileage, the rear drums were in great shape.