Could anyone tell me the measurements of the rear end flange to flange on a 1967 El Camino. Any help would be appreciated. It had a 10 bolt rear end in it but got decimated. Am going to change it to a 12 bolt. Car has a 454 with 4 speed Muncie and is very quick but rear end just could not handle it.

Thanks,

Rob

Sorry to hear that your 10 bolt went south on you. If I was running a standard in any Elky but especially behind a Standard Transmission, I would be running a GM 12, even behind a 350. The problem is that the 10 bolt is good enough to handle most any small block, well, the corporate version 10 bolt, behind an Automatic transmission but the fact that a standard will allow you to dump the clutch applying all the Torque to the rear differential all at once then the smaller diffs will give up.

Behind a Big Block I would only run a GM 12 or if its powerful enough then I would consider the GM 14 bolt. As far as stout the 14 bolt will deal with anything you could possibly throw at it even with a standard. I don't care for the Ford 9" although they are good stout rear ends I have two problems with them.
1.) They are not GM.
2.) they are bigger and heavier than the GM 12, soak up more power to make them turn than the 12 bolt and they are FORD parts. I just don't do FORD stuff.

True with a BBC the difference in weight is not real significant and the power loss through the rear end is going to be negligible, possibly. But power loss is power lost. As much as 10ths of a second and possibly more in the 1/8th or the 1/4. I think the 1/8th would suffer the most. That can mean the difference between good time slips and fantastic time slips.

This is just my opinion though. Like I said I don't do Ford stuff, not in a GM. I give credit to Ford for the 9" or FAB 9 rear end its a mighty good rear end. It is pretty easy to swap gear ratios especially of you have an extra chunk lying around. But for me GM makes enough of a variety that you can get what you need to stand up to the torque you are hitting it with staying with the GM line. I would guarantee that if you had a BBC producing 1000 HP and over 1000 lb/ft. of torque in front of say a T65 (Viper version) and you dropped the clutch at 3000 RPM or 4000 RPM off the line in a heavy vehicle even at 5 grand that with the 14 bolt GM Differential its going to take it over and over and over etc.... A Ford 9 will eventually give up that battle. You'd twist the axels in two or destroy the drive shaft before your going to hurt that GM 14. 12" Ring Gear! Lots of surface area. The 12 bolt and the 14 bolts are truck rear ends and GM wasn't concerned about the power loss across the gears when they developed these just pulling power.

Anyway, Hope that you find a good replacement at a decent price. Good Luck