Thanks all, I have a mechanic friend who said we can do it without dropping the rear end out, I will check these links out. Iam thinking either 3 55s or 3 73s what do think.
you can not get 373 for an 8.2 bop diff. is it the original pontiac diff. Thats what i was told by many gear companys thats why i went 355 witch is a good gear. You do not have to drop the diff to make these changes. Good luck
Raz, how fast do you want your fuel gage to point to empty. Rear ratio depends on a lot of variables. What is the rest of your drive train? Manual and auto trans do better with certain ratios. Gas mileage is one thing to consider as well as how quick and how fast ya want to go.
As an example my convertible is a 400 w/ M20 4spd and 3.23 diff. I don’t want to go any higher in rear ratio with this ‘bird. It’s quick and fast enough, and if I stay out of the secondaries I get good gas mileage.
My OHCammer is a 250 1bbl w/ Saganaw 3spd and 3.55 diff. This is a fair set up due to a low powered motor and higher diff ratio. Gas mileage doesn’t seem to suffer. But I imagine it would if powered by a V8.
IMO any higher than 3.55 figure on spending some of your time fueling up unless you have a 4 spd auto trans, 5 or 6 spd box or an overdrive unit.
I am not to concerned about mileage as it is a fair weather driver, I am planning on taking it up to bandimere raceway this summer and I want it to run a little better than now. Remember I am over a mile high here, but I think 3.55s sound about right! Thanks to all who responded.
I get good gas mileage.
