12 bolts?
 

Okay, so I had a friend come into work today who owns a '98 SS SLP Camaro. He was bringing back a pinion bearing that was the wrong one that he bought yesterday. I asked him jokingly what he broke, and he replied he was changing the ring and pinion in his car. Any ways, after a few minutes we got into it about the rear ends in the Camaros.

He's saying that SLP put "Moser 12 bolt rears" in the SLP cars and I said they all had 10 bolts last time I checked. Now I know SLP did the lid, cat back, suspension, and spoiler changes....but the only thing I ever knew that they did for the rears was put in the Auburn Posi units. I've looked around, but couldn't find any answers for it, but after thinking about it, the SLP cars did make some pretty good power so it I didn't feel it was stretch they put a 12 bolt in it. I also (hopefully jokingly) have a $100 on this. Haha

So did SLP change the rears? Or is what I know still accurate. It might seem silly, but I like to know as much as I can about the kind of car I drive.

I have never heard anything about a 12 bolt being part of any SS package. BUT SLP was a speed shop so may have been installed by SLP but not part of the package but as a one off like any speed shop would do.

If you google you can not find a refference to SLP SS Moser other then people who added it. Seem like Texas speed has done a few of them also.

That would make sense. I guess it's not something they really advertise a lot. I've looked on SLPs website for it and they have nothing listed. I've looked at SS's on Ebay and all the one's that had it listed said it had a Moser 12 bolt, so I'm guessing that's how they came. Would have been nice if GM would have just put 12 bolts in all the V8 cars..

I little research: Did the SS package come with the Moser rear? NO. Base SS was the WU8. Not even the SS LE1 (racing package) came with the moser by default.
If it was installed by SLP it will be listed on the extra lable as stated above. The rears are very rare. Remember the car was under warranty so a 100K warranty was a lot cheaper then a stronger rear. The reason so many SS you see have Moser/Eaton rears in them is because the factory rear could not handle the 330+ HP for very long. Most guys swapped the rear out as soon as they had a problem out of warranty.

Think about it. If you where buying a brand new SS today would rather pay $1500 for a stronger rear or $1500 to extend the warranty 10 years-100,000 Miles on the entire car and make the rear GM's problem?

Edit:I know I am spending way too much time on this. It looks like SLP offered a rear upgrade But it was the "Auburn high torque gold with aluminum cooling cover." It is rare.

Thank you much Gorn for the little extra insight on this. I knew they did the Auburn posi swap in the higher end packages for the SS. So the 12 bolts coming stock is super rare? Or who ever was the original owner did the swap right away? I'll have to look at his car when summer comes around since he doesn't drive it in the winter and see what the SLP tag says.

This whole deal has been bugging me for a while because I searched high and low on Google and Bing as well as SLPs website but couldn't find anything that showed hard evidence some SS's got the 12 bolt.

But the 1st gen SS automatically got a 12 bolt, yeah baby! ;)
Since Moser makes a bolt-in 12 bolt rear for 4th gens, could be there are more SS models with one than without now, to make it appear as though it was an option.

1st gen SS = A completely upgraded driveline and a couple of badges.

4th gen SS= Pretty stuff

In my opinion the 4th Gen SS should have been called something else. It was more of a RS package by other generation standards. Now if they would have put a LT4 in the SS and stronger T56 and rear, that would have been a SS :)

C'mon Gorn, don't be too hard on the 4th gen. The SS had 315 h.p. over the standard Z having 305.
That whopping jump of 10 hp alone has gotta be enough to warrant the need for a 12 bolt! lol