Hi,
I have a friend that is the owner of a 1974 Nova with what I believe is a 12 Bolt from a Second generation Camaro. The problem is that the rear is not centered in the car. The passenger side tire hits the inside of the wheel well, while the driver's side has plenty of clearance. I told him to sell the rear that he has and get a 67-69 Camaro rear or a 68-74 Nova rear. Either would be proper for the car. I know this sounds strange, but is it possible that the mounting brackets for the fronts of the springs are from a Second Generation F Body? The brackets are triangular and held in by 3 Bolts. Are they the same or different than the ones in a 68-74 Nova? Could this be the problem of why the rear is not centered? The car "Xs" out and has never been hit. The car is square and the Spring Perches on the rear are equidistant from the Backing Plates. He is very determined to use this rear because of the cost of purchasing the right rear. I told him that the rear in his car is worth good money and he should sell it and get the proper rear for the car. Or is it the mounting points of the springs in the front? I am wondering if the mounting brackets with 3 Bolt Holes are from the car that the rear came out of. I am baffled and would appreciate your thoughts and comments.
Thank You Very Much,
Tory

The springs are probably in a bind and may be shifting the rear end over to one side. The spring perches are about 3 inches too far apart on a 2nd gen Camaro rear end.

68 - 79 Nova rear ends will all be a bolt in, just do not waste your time on the weaker 7.5" used on the some of the 76 - 79 models.
What state are you in?

Hi,
I am in Long Island, New York. I am trying to talk my friend into a new 12 Bolt Posi by Moser.
Thank You for the info.
Tory

If you were 3000 miles closer I could have made you a smokin deal on an 8.5". :)

Im interested in the 12 bolt for my camaro

Philip,
I'm a lot closer... in Colorado and need a good 8.5" rear for my 71, you deliver??!! ;)

Bill C.

Philip,
I'm a lot closer... in Colorado and need a good 8.5" rear for my 71, you deliver??!! ;)

Bill C.

Sure but the delivery charge would be astronomical :D

The sping perch measurement on the 2 gen camaro rear is 45 3/8 while the nova is 42 7/16" Now I have heard people making them fit as is.... Hard to believe by just pulling them apart and it works fine. To me it sounds like you have one siide in first then the other side shifted the whole rear over when trying to put it in the mounting area. The shakle maybe weaker on a side to side loda(which there should not even be to begin with) Here is what you can do to make it right.


If you are mechanically inclinde and can cut the perches off clean enough...pretty tough if your not good with torches and or plasma cutter.

1> scribe a line on the tube on to the spring persh bracket so you can line it back up again. (make certain you have it far enough down the tube and up on the perch so in all the work area you can still find it after cutting torching grinding etc. Now clean them up removing all burrs etc and hope you have enough material to reweld. If not by new ones from summit moser etc for about 60 dollars. Move the perches inboard about 1.5 " ...SEEMS SUCH A SMALL AMONUT BUT THIS IS THE DIIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DEMO DERBY CAR AND A GOOD NON BINDING TIRE SMOKING STREET CAR. LOL.

If you have a protracter to double check the pinion angle compared to the perch angle USE IT. Good luck this is just a very light description on what is done if you need more complete info please ask before tackling this project. Jim

I have the same problem with my 74 Nova also.The passenger side tire will rub a little bit on the quarter panel lip and the drivers side has about 1 1/2 inches clearance.The difference between the car with the Camaro diff and my car is that the rear end in my 74 is out of a 1970 Nova.I am even using the 1970 mono leaf spring.New quarter panels and outer wheel tubs were installed not once,but twice because of this problem.I am running 15x7 Weld Draglites with 4 1/2 back spacing with a 245x60-15 tires and the passenger tire rubs unless I pump the air shocks up a bit.
Could it be a possibilty that the springs need to be re-arched?All the measurements are dead on X ways,front to back,side to side etc.
Any input to this problem would be greatly appreciated.

To get that 12 bolt housing to work properly he is going to need to change to the proper spring mounts and get the proper spring/shock plates to use with it. It would also be a good thing to get the rear cut to the correct dimensions and get the proper size axles in it. Don't get me wrong you can use the second gen Camaro rear without cutting it down, but you have to go with more back spacing!

I've got two origional 8.5" ten bolts out of 74 Nova's. These 72-79 8.5" ten bolt housings are good housings to use and a lot of 1st gen Camaro owners have started to use these rear ends as a less costly alternative to an origional 12 bolt. Long Island is a little bit to far of a drive for me or I would say we could work something out.

I would consider this an excellent opportunity to cut down (narrow) the rear end to the proper or desired dimensions (while you are hacking it shorter you can stop any where you want for wheel clearance or back spacing issues). Since you have to cut off the ends of the axle tubes to shorten it, now is the opportunity to weld back on a C-clip elimination Ford Torino (large) axle bearing kit. That means it is also going to need new axles so get them bigger and stronger. Now since your bigger and stronger axles no longer will slide inside your old differential because the spline count is now higher and the diameter is now larger; it is a great time to upgrade to a posi (Eaton makes a nice one or you can go all gear drive with a Tru-Trac) that will accept the new axles. If you retain the old gear, you will still have to reinstall it all over again (you can not use the old shim pack settings with the new carrier, because odds are, the dimensions will be off somewhere due to normal manufacturing tolerances). If you ever wanted a different gear ratio now is the time to upgrade.

There are some vendors who sell backing plates drilled for Ford large bearings that will allow you to mount the stock Chevy drum brakes back on. They cost a lot and are hard to find but I have seen them advertising their products over the years. Another alternative is to get a set of rear disk brakes off of an Explorer out of the junk yard and refurbish them. Unless your new axles are drilled for a Chevy bolt pattern (5 on 4-3/4") they should work with the Ford Explorer 5 on 4-1/2" bolt pattern which means you now need new rear wheels.

Have I convinced him to by the Moser 12 bolt yet, I can ramble on if need be?

Big Dave

I suggest that you keep measuring things until you find the problem. Something is not right and you need to know what it is. Is it possible that the wheels are not a matching set? I know of one guy who had a set of wheels that had different offsets. I know of another who had a set of tires that didn't match. They were both marked the same, but one was wider than the other. Set the car on a set of stands and get it level end to end and side to side. Get the tires off of it so you can get to everything. Use a plumb bob and lay it out on the floor. Make all of your measurements and find out what is off.