Thread: Gear setup

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Well right now I have a 350/350 setup with 4:56 gears and a spooled rearend.

Its great for track and short distance driving , but would like to make the car a little more streetable and be able to start taking my car on the highway and cruise with it, but still be able to punch it if I feel the need to.

I was thinking about going with either some 3:55's or 3:73's and was also wondering if I should maybe take the spool out also and put a limited slip or posi instead.

I am open to all opinions on what to do and what would be the choice of gears to go with

thanks

A spool is a nightmare on the street!!! I'd say a good posi unit would be essential.... be more accurate advising on gears if you had the tire diameter, makes a big difference in gear selection....

Right now its got P225/70r14 tires all the way around on it, though I'd like to get a little bigger and fatter tire in the rear(not sure what size yet though)

A set of mid 3's gears would be nice for street use....

Also does anyone know how I can find out what the rear end is out of, its a gm 10 bolt and the numbers I found on it are FB 6K-181

Also I heard that an S-10 rear would fit on my car (51 chevy deluxe). Can anybody here verify that, if thats so it might be cheaper just to get a rear end out of a yard with the gears I want and a posi and just bolt that up?

I think the rear gear ratio depends on the transmission type as well as driving habits. I ran 4.56 posi with a four speed on the street for years and loved it but it never saw a lot of sustained road speed miles so it was ok. I run 4.10's in the Willys with a 700r4 and the overdrive gives it good highway manners. I still want to try 4.56's with a 6 speed sometime before I die. I think with any kind of an overdrive you can have the fun of low gear ratio and still afford to take it cruising. It all depends on what you want out of your car.
John

Only thing is, it has a 3 speed auto in it right now so no overdrive

Still depends on how your are going to use the car. Three speed auto -4speed stick- both 1.1 in high gear. Like I say, I loved the 4.56 in the mustang, nothing beats the acceleration feeling you get with those gears. But if you put on a lot of town miles or even a few highway miles,then they are a no-no for you. I am one of those types that like to make 1/4 mile passes one stop light at a time and then put it away to bleed off the adrenaline rush. I am, of course, in no way encouraging nor condoning that type of driving in any way, as it is inherently foolish and dangerous.
John

Well it might end becoming a possible daily driver and I'd have to go on the highway to get certain places and would also like to cruise with it sometimes

It doesn't matter how you do the gears, you will always be able to punch it!

low gears have their advantages, but so do high gears.

I'm not so worried about coming off the line.. I like to keep the end destination in mind. Right now my 78 bird has 2.41 ( open ) rear which I recently dropped in to replace the 2.56 ( clutch-type limited slip ) rear. I am much happier with the open rear end as the car is a daily driver, and the limited slip was wearing out the rear tires unevenly ( cone-ing them to the inside ). With gear ratio like that is is a hoot to drop it back into first at 40-55 MPH and jump a car length on the punk rice driver before he realizes what has happened ! I'll leave it in first till 60-70 and by the time I'm ready to shift into third it's a felony offense!