Chaotic, what are you going to do with the new rearend to protect it from your monster engine?
Are you in the habit of dumping the clutch? A semi-steady diet of that kind of driving can spell disaster no matter what engine you have. I'd say that gash in the cover is a result of the rearend telling you "enough already, I'm outta here".

 

I did that once to a 12bolt rear end with a 250 inline 6 and a granny 4sp. My diff split the center pin and that took out the cover and once it was able to break free of the carrier it and the spider gears decided to take a ride between the ring and pinion. Yea it was nasty! Too bad it happened before digital cameras.

Massey

 

Pics as promised. Out with the old!!!







In with the new.



Still not sure what gear ratio I have now. I'm assuming they're 2.73's though because my car is super sluggish now compared to before. I used to be able to chirp 3rd gear pretty good and now I can't even scratch 2nd

 

Broke the same pin I did!! Looks almost like my diff did, except I had the gears destroy my ring and pinion. The diff you lost does not look like a Z28 diff as all z28s came with limited slip and I dont see any debris from the clutch assembly.

Massey

 

Hey, you can't knock the 2.73s! I still got 'em and they are very nice for fuel mileage...and still enough to spin tires going 30 mph.

 

You could have counted the teeth on each gear and divided. Or looked at the end of the ring gear for the stamped numbers (## : ##) which shows the ring and pinion tooth count.
But your spin test works.

 

Clutch springs fell out of the diff when I opened it up. It was a limited slip

 

Here's the last video of the 3.42's doing their thing. I'm gonna miss em. 2.73's blow...

 

2.73s sip... 4.10s suck... and 3.43s suck at the same time... (gas of course)

im looking at 3.73s and 4.10s now... im not sure where im going... probably 3.73s...

but if i drove a lot (i do but im not on as tight of a budget) id be looking for 2.73s

 

Im pretty happy with my 3.23s. I get decent power off the line and can still pull 22+mpg. Not too mention having great top end. If I were to change them id probably go the 3.73 route just to get a little more get up and go. Based off of your videos and the way it sounds like you drive, i cant imagine 2.73s being any fun for you at all. Of course all of these statements are based on my car actually moving again