3.55 or 3.80 gears

I will have my maverick ready pretty soon. I would like to get a better set or gears and a powertrax. My engine is an 86 roller stock cam with e6 heads, headers, performer rpm intake, 600 holley and 1.7 crane roller rockers. This will be a street car with some track time

 

Man I have the same doubt but I'm leaning more to 3.55

 

I'm thinking 3.55 too. I figure they should make a big difference over 2.79 and still be streetable

 

i had pretty much the same setup w/AOD...3:55...

 

I got 3.00 and I think It's too high. I think 3.55 will give it a good start and still be nice at highway speeds

 

If its going to be mostly a street car Id vote 3.55 any day over the 3.80s.

I ran a 3.70 in a 390 F-100 and it was a bit to low for extended highway time (but I did it) and the interstate was definately out of the question

 

if ur running a c4 or 4sp, go 3.55

for aod's and 5sp's, id go 3.80

 

Ditto, except for using 3.80's with a manual trans mission 5sp. With 3.80's first gear will be completely unusable for anything but trailer towing. With the AOD, it won't be a problem.

 

With a stock roller cam, I would think a 3.55 would be the way to go.
HOWEVER, with the relatively high first gear of the c4, rear tire size could make the difference between which will work better for YOUR combo.

Any tire with a rated diameter larger than 26" on your combo could use 3.80s without issues.

 

I have 225/70/14 tires on my car. I'm not sure how tall they are

 

Those are going to be 26" or less. Go with the 3.55s.

 

Multiply 225 X .70 then multiply again by 2, then divide by 25.4. Add that to the rim diameter to get the tire diameter. If you want to know the rpms at 60 mph, take the tire diameter, multiply by Pi (3.1416) divide that into 63,360 (inches per mile) multiply the answer times the gear ratio to get rpms @60mph

 

depends on what tranny and tire size your running. if you dont have a overdrive trans. then 3.55s may be to much gear. whats your intended use for the car?

 

c4 tranny 26 inch tires, it will be a street car with some track time

 

with 3.55s youll be doing at least 2900 rpm at 65. if you conveter is still sliping at that speed then your rpms will be higher. with the 3.80s you will be doing about 3200 rpm at 65. so that should give you an idea of what to expect for those gear ratios.