gear suggestions

[DrRansom442]

I have been pulling my hair out trying to find a decent 10 bolt with a posi for my 81. There is one locally, I've found ... it's an 8.5 but it has 4.11:1 gears and I was hoping for a bolt-in rear with a 3.42:1 or 3.73:1 ratio, but this price is cheap. How bad do you think it would suck for short commutes in a daily driver? .... probably no more than 20 highway miles a day (10 to work and 10 back and mostly in traffic). I am not THAT concerned about mileage, but if it means 8 mpg versuses 12 mpg ... that aint gonna fly. Car is the 81 in my siggy has a mild Olds 350 and a 200-4r ... I will be using a TCI lock-up kit. 235/70/14 tires a.k.a 25". I may get this rear anyways and have the gears swapped out ... IDK yet but it sure beats paying $700. - $900. for a GN or 442 rear.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Sounds like a deal to me. I always thought that 3.73's were the happy medium between daily and performance. Luckily you already have the 200-4r in your car so you should be alright. I would step down to a 3.73 gear in the future but for now the 4.11 should be fine with your OD transmission. If you were running a 3 speed trans I would say go with a 3.42. Whole reason I'm putting that 700r4 in my car so it runs much better with the 3.73's.

Don't get me started again on that GN/442 rear end cost crap :evil:

 

[DrRansom442]

anything has to beat the factory 2.29:1 7.5" with a peg leg.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

That's what I started with in my car. It was an excellent rear end in quality though. Held up to the 380hp/425lb. my new 350 was putting out and held up to me going in reverse than throwing into forward in order to do some kind of burnout lol

 

[FE3X CLONE]

I agree. I think you'll be fine, especially if the price is right. You can drive this way for a while and then always swap to the 3.73's later on.

 

[DrRansom442]

That's what I started with in my car. It was an excellent rear end in quality though. Held up to the 380hp/425lb. my new 350 was putting out and held up to me going in reverse than throwing into forward in order to do some kind of burnout lol

well, it's got over 200K on the clock and I am thinking with the 200-4r ... thinking I'd be revving the engine alot just to get off from a stop and with a brand new rebuild - it's not ideal.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

patmckinneyracing wrote:That's what I started with in my car. It was an excellent rear end in quality though. Held up to the 380hp/425lb. my new 350 was putting out and held up to me going in reverse than throwing into forward in order to do some kind of burnout lol



well, it's got over 200K on the clock and I am thinking with the 200-4r ... thinking I'd be revving the engine alot just to get off from a stop and with a brand new rebuild - it's not ideal.

What are you referring to? That it would not be ideal to put that high of a gear behind a 200k 2004r?

 

[DrRansom442]

no no the diff has over 200K on it, trans came from the 86 I scrapped .... it MAY have 20,000 miles behind a 307 since it was overhualed with a trans-go stage 2 and some other misc goodies, my transmission guy suggested.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Ah gotcha