I picked up a 10-bolt rear from a gentleman today that pulled it from a 67 Malibu he's redoing. A basic 283/PG w/AC that needed a lot of work and we both assume the rear end was original to the car. On closer inspection the casting date is J38 (Sept. 3, 1968 ?) but has a 67 casting number of 3894938N on the passenger side web and GM 9 on the driver's side. It measures 59.875" from wheell-mounting surface to wheel-mounting surface (outside drum-to-outside drum) so it appears to be the narrow rear. It's the casting date that has me wondering. The axle code is CB 1012 W for a 3.36 but CB was used from 65 to 69 so that's no clue.

Ideas :confused:


http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/396guy/j38.jpg

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/396guy/3894398n.jpg

Edit: I compared measurements of the 'new' rear end to the existing rear in my 67 El Camino and they are within 1/16-inch so it has to be an early rear end. Just the casting date that's confusing. :confused:

After looking at your picture of the date casting, I wonder if that 8 is not a 6. Maybe the numbers in the casting were not perfectly formed and some metal bled out to make a 6 look like an 8.

If you have pictures available of other date castings from those years, you could compare your "8" to other 6s and 8s. Does the lower half of your eight resemble that on a 6 or 8?

(Or maybe a hung over or stoned worker could not remember what year it was.)

David

Don't have another example of one with a 6 or an 8. The 8 just looks too pronounced with the upper loop. Would anyone know what the GM 9 means? Would that be for a 1969 model year?