Don, Good story on the dragster and your 3.55 gear ratio experience.I have a low gear set in my 340 Dart GT w/Torqueflite and 10" 3500 stall convertor and 3.91 gears.
I have tons or torque and throttle response everywhere; no need to downshift on the freeway at 60MPH, just nail the throttle and it is gone. But to zero in on the low gear set, yes it is great on the bottom end launch and the way it performs, I could definitely use a set of 3.55's and not miss any noticeable performance.
I turned 12.8 @ 106 thru the mufflers on my first trip to the track with my current package.
I installed a low gear set in my Poly Stroker car w/3800 stall 9.5" Dynamic Convertor but have not got it on the road yet.
Gary Pavlovich----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Dulmage" <big-d@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 2:29 PM Subject: Gears
I never thought I would be sayng this but i am.Last fall when I needed a set of 391s for my /6 dragster I stole the gears and Lim Slip out of my 63 MW car. They were an old set of truck geears and were a bit noisy anyway and despite my best efforts I could only make them quiter , never silent. In the rail it would not matter i thought. A friend had picked me up a set of 391s anyway at a flea marjket. Brand new almost so i was going to use them. When I went to install them they turned out to be 9 1/4 gears even though it said 8 3/4 89 case on the box they were sold in. I should have known as they were 390s and not 391s but I didnt really check them till i went to install them. I hunted around the garage and found a diff with a busted cone type carrier and a set of 355s. A friend had thrown them out and left them here. I kept the box for parts. All the bearings were gone as was the cone diff but after 3 weeks of diddling around I managed to repair all the damage with some creative machine work and a lot of luck. I put them in the 63. Right away my wife noticed the difference. The Max wedge can actually handle them too. It has lost a bit of omph on acceration but not that much but it is a pleasure to drive and totally silent. Mileage isnt bad either. After attending two car shows yesterday for Canada Day which involved a bit mre driving than normal i noticed the big wedge had only gobbled about 1/8th of a tank. I am very happy with this setup. I think should I have the trans out at any tme I might pop in a 276 low gear set . Then i think i would have the best of both worlds.Good launch and decent cruising rpms. Even as is it is nice to drive. So what about the old 391s??? Glad you asked. Today affter three years of puttering i took the /6 rail and the old gearset for a ride . I was driving back to the garage along the side of the road in front of my house when I had a senior dragster moment and forgot myself. My wife was taking photos and was surprised to see this old Far... rip smartly onto the pavement and open all 6 tillotsons carbs on the leaning tower of power and disappear in a snarl towards the neighbours house some 800 feet east. Of course I had to come back too and I took the oppourtunity to wring the little baby out. Sure was fun! I asked if she got any photos but she said the camera wouldnt click when I was driving on the road. She was sure twas a sign I shouldnt be doing that. MMMMMMMMMM????????Anyway two days of fun ,back to back cant be all bad. Anyone have a low ratio gearset in a street torqueflight? Don Author of Return to Deutschland (True Adventure) Old Reliable (Mopar) http://altonapublicschool.faithweb.com/ http://seniordragster.bravehost.com/index.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ----Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic. Thanks!'62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines: http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.
---- Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic. Thanks! '62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html.