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quick help with gearing please.

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Old Nov 28, 2012 | 02:18 AM
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quick help with gearing please.

i took a ride in my buddy's bull nose 351w yesterday, after he put a street fighter c6 trans in it. and the difference from being a standard then going to a built automatic was quite impressive. so now while my motor is is pieces i'm thinking about replacing my old 4 speed with an automatic. i was thinking something along the lines of a super street fighter c6. what i was wondering is what rear end gears do i need to be able to do smokey burnouts and still hit 100 mph pretty quick. my 4 speed will burn em off in every gear and wrap the speedo extremely quick and ask for another gear. its registered for 100 and i can bring it up to about twenty before i get back out of it due to it screaming at me. i have a 74 highboy 428 fe (mildly built) with 4.10 rear end gears, 33 inch tires. so what do you guys think would be a good gear choice? i don't care about gas mileage what so ever. it runs on 116 race gas. the truck is just to remind my friends that there's no replacement for displacement, and to have a good time in.

oops almost forgot i will not run my motor past 5500rpms. my dad and brother do it, and say its okay. but its not theres to fix when it decides to come apart.
 
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Old Nov 28, 2012 | 07:17 AM
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Depends on what you want? my all time best was 11.747 @ like 119 MPH in the quarter with the 428 in a '64 SB F100 with a 1/1 final, on 31/13/15 slicks @5500 RPM. All real steel 4,040# with me & the fuel cell. that was a ONE PASS run with a stern "DO NOT do that again, or you WILL NOT be allowed back!" Apparently you need to have things like NOMEX, and cages, and fuel shut-offs, and, and, and...... oh well 12's were fun too! Luckily they let me stay & play, although the Safety's got a lot more thorough!!!" title="Evil Grin" class="inlineimg" border="0">

Yours will weigh more, have more drag, but you should be able to smoke tires from 3.50's to 4.56s. things like tire width will change more than a slight change in gears, up or down. I'd stay with the 4.11's. with 33's or even 35's I think they give the best of both worlds and get you into the 120 MPH range by your 5500 rpm (friction & drag depending)

How fast you get there is a whole 'nother Animal! Torque torque torque!
 
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Old Nov 28, 2012 | 09:23 AM
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what diameter and type of tire are you running? 4.10's are short if youre anything close to stock size and wanting to run over 100 mph.
 
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Old Nov 28, 2012 | 04:17 PM
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33 all terrains
 
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Old Nov 28, 2012 | 04:52 PM
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it sounds like you should probably consider running something a lot more traction oriented.
 
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Old Nov 28, 2012 | 04:59 PM
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ive tried four diff sets of tires so far the best are some m/t drag tires my buddy let me try. but i cant run those, it is illegal.
 
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Old Nov 28, 2012 | 07:02 PM
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these babies are dot approved, though wouldn't be good on a daily...
M&H Racemaster Cheater Drag Race Slicks MHD11 - SummitRacing.com

if you drive on the street too, the ET radials or something similar would be a better option.
or radial t/a's or even sportsman s/r's... depending on balance of street vs track.

anyway for gears it sounds like you are pretty close to what you want to be at, right? switch to a taller gear and its going to hurt acceleration...but give more speed on the top end.
 
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Old Nov 28, 2012 | 08:32 PM
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I wouldn't think much lower than 4.10s that you already have would be in order. Mine is on 35s and has 4.10s and It runs I think about 2300+ at 60 mph, so that should put you at at around 4000+ at 100 mph, with 35s and a C6 but you have 33s so you would spin faster, but go to like a 4.56 gear and gain 10% so roughly 4500 rpm at 100 mph, maybe more with smaller tires.

Now go to 4.88s and gain 20% so you are 5000 rpm at 100, Roughly. That might be your answer, and with 4.88s you will be the tire salesman's best friend.
 
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Old Nov 29, 2012 | 02:33 PM
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with the torque curve of a big block, though, and a manual transmission, shorter gears aren't necessarily gonna make the truck faster. They will definitely make you shift more, though. And every shift makes you slower.
 
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