im trying to buy a rearend its an 8.5 everything is redone all brand new
the guy selling states the housing came from a 68 camaro and its an 8.5 and i asked him does he know the difference from 8.2 and 8.5 he said by the bottom lip of the housing has the L shape on left and backwared L on right anyways my questions is did camaro make 8.5 rearends for 68 camaros he states that the rearend was a heavy duty one
thanks

Just because he pulled it from a Camaro doesn't mean it started life in a Camaro... Most likely it's from a Nova.

No first gen camaro came with the 8.5 rearend. As Dennis stated is probably from a Nova as some years are a bolt in for the first gens. One way to tell is the bottom housing has square dog ears sticking out unlike the 8.2 differential. The 8.5 stronger than 8.2 and slightly weaker than a 12 bolt.

the 8.2 has a raised edge on the cover top right hand side.about 12 o clock to 3 o clock on the cover.nova resourse.com has alot of good info on telling the difference from 7.5 to 8.5.im looking for one myselfe.went to swap meet this morning and came up with nothing.some 10 bolt trucks or 9 inch ford trucks.

I have an email address for a guy who has 2 of the 8.5 rear ends for sale. One with 3.42 gears and one with 4.56 gears. The 8.5 wasn't used in any Camaro until '71 and Nova in '72. They weren't even being made in '68.

I started a thread (since finished up) on this topic maybe a week ago. Check it out, has all the links and info others are pointing out. Also has some after market alternatives discussed.

Brian

This should help:

http://www.novaresource.org/axle.htm