help me pick my gears

delete

 

Just my opinion but the 4 speed is cool and the 350 slush doesn't do anything for the final gear ratio, the 4 speed and the 350 both have 1:1 final drive ratio's the 2.73 should be good cruising at 80, but will take a little longer to get it to 80.

Real hot rods have three pedals

 

The 2.73 will give you 2530 RPM at 80 with a 29" tire. But it will probably be a dog off the line.

 

i like the 4 speed but the truck is gonna be for my chick and she wants a auto


i was also looking at 308 but not much difference in rpm s

Ive been using the gear ratio calculator all day running different size gears . i just wanna get some other opinions from people running different combos

 

Here is a calculator program:
http://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/potential_speed_calculator.html

 

I just changed the gears in my car from a 3.50 to 3.00 for the same reason you talk about. But i have a big block chevy, turbo 350 and the tires are also 29". It sure is less stressful diving at highway speeds with the 3.00 gears but I kind of miss the quickness. Overall the 3.00 gears are much better, just have to get used to it.

 

You might want to find an OD auto with a low 1st gear to get your car moving. Or a manual with a granny gear. You will need one or the other if you want quick starts with that high gear.

I have a 3.5 rear axle and 1:1 final drive. I'm turning 3000 around 70 mph. Not to bad, but I might go with OD in the future.

 

An auto trans can pull a taller gear since it has slippage with the converter, hard to run a 273 rear with a manual. If the truck is light the taller rear wont be any problem with the auto.

 

I run a 2.93 with 29" tires and it is a little low. 3.25 is probably perfect

 

is stop light to stop light terrible? would u go any higher or are you pretty happy over all. i just don't wanna do the swap the have to swap back it has 3.73s right now

 

trucks 5500 lbs

 

My cutlass (i know) has a 383 stroker with a turbo 350 and 2000 stall convertor. Im running a 12 bolt with 3.73 gears. I dont like them. Im at 3000rpms at 55mph. The car uses almost half a tank to get to work. I want to switch to 3.08's eventually or go with an over drive.

 

Sounds like you got some weight... But the good side is the 383 should have a gob of torque. I am running 2.94 to 1 with a 26 inch tire (7.50x14) in my 60 starliner with a 429... I am thinking about going to 2.75:1 (4000 lbs). I would imagine that anything in the 3.0 to 3.25 would do fairly well with your torque! The turbo 350 has a pretty low first gear as well.

Good luck!

 

3.08 or 3.42 are probably the best choices. If you tow a trailer, 3.42.

 

With the big block it has plenty of torque so light to light is fine, kind of like driving a modern daily driver, but if you want to terrorize the neighborhood with burnouts and donuts it's a little too high of a gear. Not that I did any of that stuff.

 

I had a "disco era" Z28. It had a turbo 350 and 3.42 gears. With standard tires it was pretty zippy for a smogger but it did sing a tad at 70. I upped the rear tire to something around 28" (long ago...) and it was way better. You'll do better in the MPG dept with 3.23 or even 3.31 gearing and still tow OK if you don't lean on it too hard, more a trans issue than motor. 3.31 and OD would be a win/win due to the steep 1st gear in the trans giving you the launch you want.

 

Dump the t350 and go 700r4 etc. and leave the rear alone. I run 3,000 at 60 with t5 and 4.57 gear with 29" tire it ran around 2700 at 70 with 4.11 gear.