So, I just picked up a 350/th400 package from a buddy to put in my 62 Chevy II. Im planning on stroking it and building a 383c.i. with about 400hp. Im wondering a couple of things. I know that you can always build the crap out of anything and projects like this can snowball into tens of thousands of dollars. I plan on keeping this engine/tranny setup for a while. im wondering how much the stock 8.2" 10 bolt can handle with a spool? i dont want to have a drastic limitation just in the rear end. and also, do i need to convert to five lugs? can the stock brakes keep up at all? can i just stick some five lug axle shafts in the rear and change hubs up front. if someone can steer me in the right direction and maybe some links for the five lug conversion. Im just trying to figure out priorities and figure out what i will NEED to do for my car to handle 400 hp and what is just optional. thanks for any input. thanks!

there's brake, suspension and other conversion info posted at www.JollyRodder.com that might interest you... look on the right side lower portion under "Conversions & Upgrades"

converting the front hubs to 5 lugger is pretty straight forward, have it all re drilled ;) but the brakes are still under rated. if yer gonna GO, why not upgrade the WHOA part too and go with some discs ???

check Patman's & Bryan Fargo's (NOGO) links (amongst others) for brakes and suspension info... might be of interest ;)

I would recomend staying away from the spool if your gonna do any amount of street driving.

ok. thanks to both of you. so, do you think i should use a locker? i just thought that a spool would replace the weak carrier in the rear end and get me some cheap traction. any adverse reactions other than increased tire wear? im used to thinking from an off road point of view. im new to the street "scene". its going to be a weekend warrior for sure. just to cruise around a couple of times a month.

if you use a spool your tires will be chirping aroud every turn and it makes it harder to drive. i know they are cheaper then posi units but you will be sorry. look into an eaton posi unit. you also might want to consider a 8.5 inch 10 bolt, sometimes you can get them at a reasonable price.

It is the axels that are going to break first. That is why the NHRA mandates C-clip eliminators). You do not want a spool for the street. It is dangerous and expensive. If you use a Detroit locker I believe they make a gear drive 30 spline version that will allow you to use 12 bolt axels. The stock 10 bolt rear end can handle about 350 lbs-ft of torque (about the same as the TH350). That is the amount of power put out by a mild 350

Big Dave

After taking apart and looking at the stock rearend, i was afraid to put much more than a mild 350 in it. Also the later 5 lug setups, maybe 65 and up will work for the rears.. For the front i went with the Heidt front clip. It comes with 5 lug rotors. Hope this helps. Oh, also keep in mind a single rear leaf will struggle to put too much power to the ground.

So, i have been investigating the front and going to convert the front to discs and five lug. Im kind of scared to run the stock rear end but it will be the last thing that i change if and when i change it out. I have a little bit of off road experience and was planning on building a custom four link. I have some software that will help with the design. im thinking that I will axe the sweet mono leaf setup and run a shock next to a set of air bags in the back to mitigate the axle-wrap problem. I will be checking out the Heidt front clip. Thank you for the input. I saw an air bag kit on that jolly-rodder site. I got some good ideas from thier set up. I'll post up some pictures when i get a good setup going. I really appreciate the ideas and input from all of you guys.