89fbrestor

well i finally got my car all tuned in and took it out on the road last night. got on it in front of my house and it left a 138ft(we measured lol) burn out on the pavement with out brake torquing. the car is way faster then i thought it was going to be and that was with out the nitrous being used as well. so my question is which gear set should i go with? i'm using a built 700r4 transmission with 3:08 gears right now and 138 ft seemed pretty monstrous to me but i also have a 3:42 gear set i was thinking about putting in. next weekend i'm doing some rear end work and while i was in there i thought id swap in the 3:42 but after last night ....... i dont know. any input would be cool thanks guys

brian

camaronewbie

3.42 would launch you a tad quicker off the line than a 3.08. But given the stripes in the road, you need to get that power to the pavement (no one wins races leaving streaks in the road).

But if "stripes" is your cup of tea .... the 3.08 will leave longer stripes in the road as the 3.42 will spin the wheels faster, and thus you'll run out of rpms quicker.

89fbrestor

thanks for the tip i thought just the opposite would happen but it makes sense. burning out is always fun but quicker off the line is nice to.

Guest

Choosing gears should be about what you need. Do you do lots of cruising the interstate? Or mostly just stoplight to stoplight? When cruising the interstate, does it surge?
If you spend 70% of the time running 70 MPH, then you should gear for that. If it's more like 20%, then whatever.
If it currently seems to have issues with cruising in OD, and nothing else seems to cure it, then you may well need the 3.42:1 gears.

89fbrestor

so which one would get down the 1/4 mile faster?

ninetyone

iTrader: (2)

mine surges on the highway, what does that mean? i have 273's and a 350 tpi.

Guest

3.42:1
But are those 2 tenths worth losing 2 mpg on the highway? Maybe for you, not for me.

Guest

Did you change the cam? If it's the original stock cam, then it must be a tuning problem. If it has a wild cam, then you may need more gear.

89fbrestor

mpg isn't much of a factor as i rarely drive this car but like mentioned i'm just looking for some good opinions so i can make a wise choice. thanks ron jon for the input, very helpful.

Guest

If I was 10 years younger, I'd go 3.42:1 just because I feel they're more fun. If I was 20 years younger, I'd keep the 3.08:1 gears just for the longer burnouts.

89fbrestor

lololol ron i'm somewhere in the middle of that lolol i'm 34 so i still like to rip it up sometimes but also like to be able to go a longer cruse and not regret it when i get back home

Guest

Yeah, 20 years ago, the girls at school might have been impressed with burnouts, the other guys sure would have been. And I had no idea back then about my then-future meetings with blue-light-specials in my mirrors.

89fbrestor

lol ya my days of the flashing light or hopefully over. now i just enjoy knowing i can go that fast .... if i want to lolol

Guest

3.42s really aren't bad on the interstate, and I think that's what you'll end up using.