New to this forum have some questions

[guessohw]

I am prepairing for another deployment overseas and while I am gone I am wanting to peice together powerful DD. I am very familiar with trucks, imports and engines in general but want to transition over to a camaro or trans am. My first question is what are some common swaps as far as the LS engine goes? Meaning different heads on different blocks for different power combinations. Next what are the power ratings that stock rods and pistons can handle? I know different models may be different. If there is a site that explains any or all of this please post link. Also are most of the rear ends the same or do they all have different gear ratios? Also what type of power can each rear end handle? Thanks in advance and I do know to study which I am and will continue to do.

[pajeff02]

Here's a great thread one of our member's posted on things to look for when buying an F-body: http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118628

I will say that the weak link in our cars is the rear. It does come in different ratios depending upon what model and transmission you get.

[Cutlass]

All the F-body rearends are the weak GM 7.5" 10 bolt. As far as what power levels these rearends can handle, it varies. Some break under stock power levels and some don't break until 400ish horsepower. Lots of hard abuse or running slicks at the track shorten the rearends life alot. Manual transmissions are harder on the rears then autos.
'98 model years came with an Auburn Posi and most '99-2002 model years came with Zexel Thorsen posi
Rear end gear ratio RPO codes
2.73's (GU2) for autos
3.23's (GU5) for autos
3.42's (GU6) for manuals