I have a 55 Ford with a Dana & not sure of the gears . I have an 66 Mustang 8" rear with 2.79 gears but will change them . I just wish I could find some better gear ratios for the Dana in my 55 Ford . Then I would keep the rear ! I am just wondering on how much the stock Dana rear will take with a 302 that has a bigger cam -using a Comp Thumper cam , very well reworked 289 heads with bigger valves , springs and roller rockers and a C4 trans . The biggest problem is the ****py highway gears in the Dana rear . Might be better to leave the rear in . Then that would be one less thing to have to change . With the Y block and FOM in it now , I could get the tires to spin if I was taking off and making a turn . Would lite the tires up pretty good too . Has decent pick up when in first gear and shift by hand the old way to get all 3 gears to work in a FOM ! I am putting in a bigger stall for the C4 . I am buying one from my friends 69 Mustang and has about 200 miles on it . It's a 2200 stall which would help my cam out some too . I really don't need all the tire spinning from a stop anyway . Let me know what you all think about leaving the Dana ! I can change and use the 8" but will still have to change the gears . If someone has better gears for an 8" Dana rear please let me know . The the 8" rear I will keep for my 50 Ford . Want to build a street g***er from my 50 Ford . I will be looking for an early Ford Ecoline van straight axel for that one . I was told that they are thick and heavy . Looking for a 8" 3rd member with better gears too . I have a 302 roller engine and have a F303 cam I just might use with that engine , better forged pitons and Edelbrock Torquer II intake for it . I might be hiding a 100 to 150 shot of nitrous for that engine as well ! Gotta have some fun , right ! I hoping to get a good deal on a 4 speed trans for the car too . If not I have another C4 to build and use if I really have to and have no other choices ! That project is for sometime this summer or next winter . Need to finish my 55 First ! I want to have some fun driving it this summer with my wife ! Jim
Actually, Jim, I think you might like the 2.79 gears in the 8-inch, especially with a C4. With normal-size tires it will accelerate acceptably well and will cruise comfortably and quietly. I think you'll hate the 2200-stall speed torque converter. Contrary to popular opinion, a high stall on a stock motor is a miserable combination unless you've got huge rear gears. The problem is that you'll get slippage at all normal cruising speeds, and big slippage at moderate speeds. This makes the car sluggish and unresponsive at all times other than WOT above 2200 rpm (or so - this is usually a pretty vague figure, having very little to do with the advertized rate). Been there, done that just recently with my Buick. I ended up with a stock-ish Chevy 350, Gearmasters Turbo 350 with shift kit, stock converter, 2.92 open rear gears and 29-inch tires on this car and it's darn close to perfect. All the hot roddy stuff talks good, but there are unintended consequences which often detract from the comfortable day-to-day practicality that I, for one, would just as soon avoid. The car is still very quick...but in a very adult way. Good luck with yours.
First as you can tell I was getting very sleepy by the time I did the post and I guess my finger was just hitting the 5 too many times ! Anyway , I am not going to be sticking that torque converter into a stock engine . The engine is far from stock by any means . I am using a 1985 flat tap block with stock pistons , but that's it . The heads are heavily modified with triple angle valve job , bigger valves , match ported , screw in studs and Crane roller rockers . I am using a Comp Thumper cam , new electronic distributor , a Edelbrock rpm intake , headers and a Holley 570 Street Avenger carb . The C4 was rebuilt about about 200 or so miles on it . So as you can see the engine isn't stock at all . I am just wondering if the stock Dana rear will be OK to use with the engine and if it will hold together or if I will just tear the rear up . It's a street car but I know I will stand on it now and then ! If things work out better I will try to get a better set of gear for the 8" rear , like a 3.55 or close to that . I really don't drive the highways that much but I am sure I will but most will be on roads around different towns where I live and some shows come around . With this being said I wanted the better torque converter for the trans and cam that I am using because most of my driving will be in town . Let me know what you would do if you were me ! Thanks, Jim
i have to agree with Eric, to much stall. the dana should be a 44 right? there pretty tough units. if you stick with the stall you will need some low gears to make it stay engaged at highway cruising speeds. thats where the problem comes in . not to mention how much gas youll have to give it to make it take off. ive been looking at the thumper cam myself . that or a lunati voodoo. they both sound killer.but ill be using a stock converter .a slight stall wouldnt be bad and might improve your at stop in gear pull but not 2200.
What tire are you useing with 28inch tall tire 355 are good 302 dont build alot of torq at the bottom with any size cam my 2cent
I was going to go with a 4.10 3rd member I had but sold that , wasn't a posi anyway and got good money for it . I have heard the Thumper cams in cars and that ****py recording doesn't even come close to the sound it produces and has some good low end torque as well . I did install last spring a Voodoo cam for a guy in a Nova with a 345 . Is was a smooth idle but when it hit 2000 rpms that this took off like a scalded dog ! It would smoke the tires off that car and he had stock rear and auto trans . The Voodoo line has more torque and is a very strong pulling cam . The Thumper gives that meaner sound that most people want and is a strong puller too . If you want an engine that sounds meaner than the bite then that is the cam for you . It has strong pulling from about 2000 to 2500 rpms depending on which one you get . I got the smallest flat tap with a lift less than .499 so you don't have to have a ton of head work done . I was going to use a Comp 270 flat tap cam I have . not that is a mean *** cam ! Had a radical mean lope and is a very strong pulling cam . You need standard trans or a bigger torque converter and better rear end gears as well . It's a great hot street cam but is not hard to drive on the street like many cames . Very nice cam as well . Jim
Just stock tires with cross bar Lancer hub caps . Not building a mean street racing car , just a mean sounding strong running engine with good stop light fun ! Just a toy to cruise around in and toy with the Tuner Kids sometimes ! It's a hotrod , that's all ! Jim
I hate to throw cold water on your plans, Jim, but unless you put some serious tires and a posi under your car you'd best steer clear of anything other than a stockish tuner, regardless of the motor you put in it. My son's Cobalt SS Turbo is the quickest street-tired car I've ever driven and, other than a turbo "enhancement kit" from GM, it's stock. It will launch hard and pull like crazy in every gear. It's flat bad. Tires for it are $200 each and he's gone through a ton of 'em. So... Be a little selective at the stoplights unless you've got a lot of car. You'll get your lunch eaten by any decent tuner. Trust me on this.
Well Jim, I was putting the same rear (66 Must) in my wagon, when I realized that the original rear had more contact area on the brakes than the Mustang. That and the fact that the wagon has a 3:56 gear, I figured was about right for the AOD ******. As far as strength of the rear, it all depends on how hard you play with the skinny pedal. But you can't really put a big tire on the rear anyway, so I would stay with the original, and see what happens.
I am far from putting wide tires on the car . I am going to stick the biggest I can get under the rear but not very wide . I like the stock look myself with ww tires . If I had a 460 under the hood then that would be another story . I will keep the rear for now because the car will honestly be more of a cruiser and fun to stand on when rolling down the road . As for picking on tuners where I live , well I have one of them too BUT looks like a family wagon ! I have a 96 Subaru Outback Wagon and have put more tuners under the gun than you think . They all think that this wagon with this older guy and his wife aren't going to do a thing and they can p*** me with no problem . Well one night these kids with his Honda came up next to me and my wife one night and there was 2 guys and their girls with them . Well they kept reving up that POS exhaust box and really thought they were going to have some fun . Well we both left the light together and then they stood on the gas well then I did the same and blow there doors off ! They were at the next light and wouldn't look over at me and the wife . My wife was laughing her *** off at them and they looked so embarr***ed because here they are showing off for their girlfriends and just got blown away by some older guy & his wife in a Subaru wagon ! What they don't know is those wagons do pack a mean punch and are very fast for a stock engine . Now if you have a turbo or nitrous well I can't do a thing . But I am not out for that kind of dance . I am just going to have a nice sounding engine with a good get up and go car to enjoy . I could only beat them on top end anyway due to my 55 Ford weights about 1200 lbs more as well . Hotrods don't do the tuner **** . If I arm going to do that then I will bring out my old dirty Subaru Wagon ! I was hoping to find a better gear for my rear than the one I got . I think it's like a 3.00 or so . I will have to look up what they came with . My 8" is a 2.79 and I really wanted a 4.10 or 4.56 for the g***er . I use to drive a 4.10 and 4.56 back in the day all the time and didn't hurt any valve train or engine . But we never really went on long trips with it either . So if someone has a good 3rd member for that Dana rear with better gears , Please keep me in mind ! Jim
I have 2.79 gears in my sunliner and thinking about changing them to 3.00,I need to change the cam in the 351 first since it starts to come on at about 2500 RPMs and is way wrong for the gears. I told the builder I wanted a RV cam and this is what I got and the dana rear end you have is probably from a wagon and they did come with 3.54 gears but alot were steeper if the donor car had originally came with a 6 cylinder,thunderbirds also used the same rear end and might have better gears.
The Jalopy Journal
