My son (16 next month) has just bought his first car. An '86 Camaro. We will be picking it up this weekend. I will be asking him to sign up for this forum, because he will have many questions that I cannot answer. I am a mechanical engineer, but am in no way a mechanic. We will be able to figure most things out, but I know there will be areas where people w/ fisrt hand experience we come in handy.
The car has a 5.0 w/ a 700r4 (we are told- it does shift hard)and a 4:11 rear end. First off, what is the difference from a 700r and a 700r4, if there is one.
Second, he wants better gas mileage (unusual for a 15 year old to be worried about), so we where thinking of a different rear end. Maybe in the area of 3.50 w/ disk brakes (currently have drums). What would be our best options. rebuild this rear end or find a rear end from another year (if that is possible).
I am currently building a '34 Ford. So we do have some tools. We do not have a welder or cutting torch.
Thank you in advance.
Karl

 

700R4 is the automatic transmission for the camaro and firebird. changing the rear end would be a good choice, but keep in mind you would have to change the master cylinder to have rear disks as well. the best rear would probably be a fourth gen v6 rear. camaros are fairly easy to work on, and usually easy to diagnose, there are alot of people here that have tons of third gen experience. i myself have owned 6 third gens and 1 fourth gen, so feel free to fire those questions at us

 

Allright, I will open myself up to critizism. What ia 3rd and 4th gerenation?
Karl

 

3rd gen is 1982-1992
4th gen is 1993-2002