2014 Caprice Rear End Swap

[aidenk13]

I swapped the rear end out of my 2014 6.0 PPV for a 2011 Camaro SS rear end. Went from a 2.92 to a 3.27 gear ratio.

This is how I did it. Not saying this is the correct way since there’s different ways to do lots of things. I found this to be the easiest way for me.

To start, I prepped the Camaro rear end by using a wire wheel to get the rust off of the studs and hubs. Not much prep was needed here.

Removed rear tires and disconnected brake lines going to the rear calipers.

Got the caprice on a lift and started removing exhaust and drivetrain components. removed exhaust from the cat back.

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Removed driveshaft and the shield above it that covered parking brake cables.


Disconnected parking brake cables and a 4 pin plug just forward of the passenger rear tire. It was located next to the fuel tank.

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The way the wires are connected in this picture are incorrect. The correct connections are listed below.

After all cables, hoses, and wires have been disconnected, you can unbolt rear end from vehicle. I started with the struts first. 4 bolts per strut.

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I used a transmission jack to support the whole rear end assembly when loosening bolts. After struts, I unbolted the 4 main bolts holding it onto the vehicle. With the rear end unbolted, I slowly lowered the jack making sure that the struts did not catch on anything on the way down.


Some minor changes were needed before putting the camaro ss end in. The 4 pin plug from the camaro end did not match what was on the caprice body harness. I cut the caprice rear end plug off and spliced that onto the ss rear end harness. THE WIRING MUST BE CONNECTED IN A SPECIFIC WAY.

Drivers Side Wheel Speed Sensor
White/Black caprice wire spliced into Tan Camaro wire
Blue caprice wire spliced into Orange Camaro wire

Passenger Side Wheel Speed Sensor
Purple Caprice wire spliced to White Camaro wire
Grey/Yellow Caprice wire spliced to Grey Camaro wire

I did not keep the camaro ss rear end struts in. I put the old caprice struts on the camaro rear end. You can do either one. That is a matter of opinion.

Now is the time to do all the removal steps, but in reverse.

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Slowly lifted the jack until the struts were in their cutout spots. Loosely installed those 4 bolts to keep the rear end from shifting too far. I installed the rear most of the four bolts first and then did the front bolts.

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Once the rear end was in, then I tightened the struts and the 4 main bolts. From here now it is all reverse of the removal process. I did replace the camaro parking brake cables with my caprice cables since the way they attach above the driveshaft is different. The camaro cables are all one assembly and the caprice cables are not.

Sheild protecting park brake cables, then drive shaft. There's a heat shield that goes over the driveshaft and then the exhaust can go back on. While installing the pieces I was making sure bolts were tight and I wasn't forgetting something later on. Chech and recheck.

With the exhaust installed, I then went to the brakes. Reconnected the lines and had a friend help me bleed them. The camaro ss ends have Brembo calipers, so make sure to start bleeding with the inner caliper bleeder screw. With everything installed and the tires on, I started the car and scanned for codes. I did get an abs and stabilitrak code since I sliced the wrong wires together the first time. Next the car needs an alignment for good measure and then a tune for the TCM. Some searching on the internet says that the speedometer is about 10% off the correct speed. 10% fast or slow, I don't know. Thats what gps speed on my phone is for in the mean time.

Again, this is just how I did it. There may be steps I've forgotten to mention or questions left unanswered. Please feel free to chime in with things I've missed or suggestions to make the process easier. Thanks!

[CrashTestDummy]

Nice work! Thanks for the writeup. I'm guessing you swapped cradle for cradle since you wanted both the brakes and diff? I'd have probably unbolted the rear shocks from the lower control arm before dropping it, but the reverse action may have taken a helper to guide them back into place while the cradle went back up.

[aidenk13]

Nice work! Thanks for the writeup. I'm guessing you swapped cradle for cradle since you wanted both the brakes and diff? I'd have probably unbolted the rear shocks from the lower control arm before dropping it, but the reverse action may have taken a helper to guide them back into place while the cradle went back up.

I hadn’t thought of unbolting from the control arm honestly. I moved slow and took my time and it seemed to have worked out quite well.

Honestly don’t have a good answer as to why I swapped the whole cradle. Got the Camaro rear end for a steal and had a 3 day weekend to do nothing so just figured I might as well do it for the experience.