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Old 12-25-2002, 02:05 PM
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dave571 dave571 is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2001
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wow Don't underestimate gears....

After breaking the spider gears in my 81/4, I swapped in my spare diff.(see thread "broken parts a plenty")

The diff I had in the van had 3.55:1 (or better) Even with the 29" tires it didn't like to cruise much faster than 65 mph(110km/h). The van had GREAT throttle reponse, and made me very proud of the modifications I had made to the 400, to give me about 80 more wheel horsepower, than the 360 made.

My spare diff is 2.7?:1. Great for the highway. It will do 140km/h in second gear. But it is a huge DOG out of the hole. If I had had this diff in the van, when I swapped in the Big block, I would have been sorely disapointed.

Gears...cheap and easy speed.

Just thought I share that with you guys. A gear change can give you drastic drivability changes. Don't go crazy on your motor, if you're running highway gears, or you'll chase your head up your a$$ trying to figure out why it's so slow.
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Old 12-25-2002, 11:53 PM
Tim_K Tim_K is offline
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Correct. My # match '79 Aspen R/T 360-4 runs 14.5's at 93 with a mild 360 build up and a 3.90 Sure Grip in the 8-1/4", and runs very well around town and for street racing.

But, those 3.90 gears are HORRIBLE on the highway, or anytime I want to go more than 65 mph for more than 15 seconds at a time.
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Old 12-26-2002, 12:25 AM
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kudah440 kudah440 is offline
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There is another side of the coin though....
years ago I tried that trick with a 318 4 bbl, I was running the 318, happy enough to get it down to 14.9 at the track with a 2.76 gear, a gear change sounded like a good idea...I swapped over to a 3.91...bad idea for me. The steeper gears were too much off the line and dropped my times back to the 15.5s. Getting traction out of the hole was bogging the sad little motor down too much.
not Saying you cant do great with a 3.91 geared 318, just saying the motor needs to have some torque before the gear change...
Just more food for though
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Old 12-26-2002, 08:45 AM
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sbuc72 sbuc72 is offline
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small gears require big horsepower to make them work right. (unless your building an econobox thats 0-60 time is over 20secs, but will idle at 60mph) heh.

.sbuc72
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