Bolt in rear for 79 DeVille - most likely 77 & 78 also

[MTS Marty AKA Nashillac]

Not sure if this has been noted before but the rear from a 73 to 77 Elcamino is a direct bolt in for the 79 Deville. Axles are a direct swap for proper bolt pattern. Cadillac brake backing plates bolt on for the larger brakes and the pinion yoke can be swapped so the Cad driveshaft can be used.
Would imagine the Malibu would be the same. Guess the 77 and 78 Devills are the same. Not sure about the later cars
Info came from a customer that builds a lot of rods

 

[SRD]

Not for sure, but when we were doing a rearend in an eariler year Elco maybe a '72, we found out the hard way that rearend in that Elco was wider than a Malibu rearend, iirc (it's been a long time) the elco was based on the Malibu wagon and the rearend was wider and so were the 4 link mounting locations... might be a good to measure first, sure wish we had...
SRD

 

[dave brode]

Hmm. I thought that all 73-77 GM midsize car rears, incl wagon and elky bolted in the exact same?

Dave

 

[Chris S]

When I read "Malibu" I think of the '78 & up G-body cars, and they are slightly different in the mounting points than the '73-'77 models, although they can be coaxed in with some finesse and work OK.  The earlier models are somewhat wider, although only by a couple inches total, nothing that can't be fixed with wheel offset.

I wonder if that is the issue we are running into with this thread?