OldCarBum

I'm still researching and collecting parts prior to beginning the body off resto/mod of my 73, big block coupe.
My question at this point is to you guys running big torque and HP motors.
What will I need to do to beef up the differential?
What torque will the stock half shafts and other drive train components take?
I won't be tracking the car, but will use it for street, highway, and twisting foothill and coastal roadways.
One of my mod's will be to bore and stroke the 454 to 496, up the compression to around 10.5 to 1, aluminum oval port heads, a good roller cam, new air gap or equivalent intake, headers, HEI, and either single carb or EFI, plus all those additional goodies.
I'm not a numbers guy and will probably never dyno the motor, but I've been told that I could expect an excess of 600 ft lbs torque and HP.
The automatic OD transmissions I'm looking at will be built to except the expected torque and HP rating of the motor plus some additional strength for added insurance.

Greg

Unless you're going with very high horsepower and launching on a hot pad at the drag strip with sticky slicks, most of what's there already should stand up well for the type of driving you're talking about. Use good/new u-joints on drive and axle shafts. GM built this stuff to handle big block horsepower. I had a 600+ HP big block that I ran hard on the street (without slicks) for quite a while, never broke a thing.