Technical Early V8 gear ratios and highway manners

I have a 41 Lincoln zephyr trans and od in my AV8 coupe. 4.11s. I bought the trans when I lived in Abilene KS, delivered, for $500. Shortened the TT and wired and cabled it up. I had a 46 side shift ford before so I stayed with the column shift. I dont use the od out here in new hampshire, but the 4.11s and zephyr gears work great at the drag strip. 10 sec flat in the 1/8th mile.

 

Both my Falcon and my Model A have 6-speed transmissions, with two overdrive gears.

You can drive yesterday's car, but you are going to have to do it on today's roads, with today's traffic.

 

@gimpyshotrods what transmissions are you using in them if you don't mind my asking.

 

Hey, it can happen! Ask me how I know lol

I've got 3.54's with 7.00-16s on the rear - does pretty well in general, '42 239. Not gonna lie, it can get a little bogged down straight from a stop, and it's not winning any drag races, but it'll cruise at 70 all day and pretty much flies in high gear.

 

FWIW, when my 40 coupe had a stock flattie it would run 70 with its 3:00 Maverick rear.
Just don’t ask it to pull any hills, even small ones. On long grades it was downshift and wind it up at 45 just to get to the top.
So. it was trying to do something it wasn’t designed to do. A 3:25 would have been better, and a 3:54 even better, just not an interstate cruiser at 70.
A moot point now as the flattie overheated and let go pulling long hill. RIP.

 

Well said!

@theHIGHLANDER , think of it all in terms of "86%". This works as long as top gear is 1:1.
3.78 gears x 86% = 3.25 gears....
therefore 2993rpm at 70 x 86% = 2506 rpm at 70....
Now for the bad part.
Acceleration/hill climbing ability will be down to 86% of what you have now.
What can you live with? What can you live without?
An overdrive gear will get you the best of both worlds.

 

My Falcon has a T56.

The Model A has a 6L80E.

 

My current project in avatar came with a chev rear end,,,recently opened it up,,4:10 ratio so thats what im using, last project got 3:73 as thats what came with the donor vechicle.

 

”With a 4-barrel carb and a dual exhaust,
With 4.11 gears
you can really get lost.
It's got safety tubes, but I ain't scared.
The brakes are good, tires fair.”

 

....paging @TomT
He has lots of real road experience with a flatty and mine is all banger or I-6 nonsense

 

Just for the record I'm keenly aware of how the poker hand changes given certain cards. I've had so many different cars underfoot with all manner of drive systems. I'm getting closer and closer to the end with mine, and being a planner and thinker (the latter being "dangerous" at times) I thought about how easy it would be to access the rear axle while I have the back fenders off to give it new fender welt. And also my intangible goal of when it's done it's done with the exception of tuning and other "adjustments." Right now there's no gas tank, only 1 side of the exhaust (the tailpipe still loose) and I'm older with a ½ crippled spine. Easy is attractive to me. Save yourself from the "...it's a Ford..." "...they're easy..." "...no big deal..." advice. I'm working on a 34 Packard (go figure), a Speed33 street rod, next week a Coey Bear and a 31 Model A pickup, and in the coming weeks a 33 Packard, 53 Vette (another, again), potential return of some Auburns. Seems I might even be on my 3rd time around the block.

Having driven so many cars in my lifetime and yet only 1 Ford flathead V8 in a 34 3w, my endgame here was to seek the real/real. Some references seem to be past memories and we all know how much better or worse those are. But here in hallowed shop space of the HAMB there's actually current experiences to share. I've decided to round up what I can and see what kind of fruit the 2026 swap meet season bears by selling a buncha ****. If I can muster a bushel of said fruits the HAMB exploration will be in the tombs of the Columbia. I've already got a manifold n carbs, ignition is already in. I've even got an adapter, flywheel and front motor mount for a SBC conversion, including a good motor... something flys by and hits the wall behind . I dunno who threw that, I didn't say that was a sure thing, I want the flatty! And it does look fresh and new inside, confidence factor high. Anyways, just more of the raw thoughts that got us here, and I really dig the inputs and participation. Thanks to all of you hoodlums

 

One last thing, we have in the gang a 40 Zephyr sedan. Lovely car, drives beautifully, and before the week is out I need to see what ratio it has and measure the tire ht. It would LOVE a Columbia for extended highway duty based on the time I spent behind the wheel. Film @ 11:00, only on your HAMB Action News Network

 

A buddy of mine had a bone stock '39 conv with a Columbia. We did a longish road trip, it had good highway manners.... even on hills. Brakes at highway speed were kinda scary tho!

 

You make a very good point. At the end of it all the car is 1939 tech. Even though moderate enhancements have been made its still vintage Ford axles, brakes geometry, etc. Highway gymnastics are not strong suits.

 

After much s****ing, research, HAMB input, the Zephyr I mentioned is a 4.44. It too has 7.00 Firestones. After all this I'm going to set aside the rear axle pondering. Still gonna dump some of the herd and try to **** a Columbia, but changing the 3.78s rt now isn't happening. That Zephyr does ok for such a big car. It's tolerable at 55-60 and 6 or 700lbs heavier if not more. I ha e enough left to do anyways but this might be helpful in searches.

 

The Columbia sounds like a great choice, it’s out there waiting for you

 

Hello,

My first purchase was a nice looking 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery. I had seen it roll up into the local teenage drive-in restaurant parking lot rumbling like it was the starting line at Lion’s Dragstrip. Everyone was impressed, as I was. The look, with black wheels and an unusual red/orange paint was perfect for a teenage hot rod/drag racer. I instantly liked it.

But, as the v8 sedan delivery came to a nice parking spot, everyone saw it was a 348 motor under the open hood. impressive was the build. Bucket seats in black, the interior sprayed black added to the all black wheels for an intimidating look… and for me, the sound of the 348 Chevy motor. The odd thing was, as nice as the hot rod build was, no one seemed to like it to the point of ownership and daily cruising.

One, the sedan delivery was not your normal hot rod build. Two, for most, only the tv repair guy or the local plumber drove one around the neighborhood. Certainly, not teenagers (2) out for a cruise. So, the talk started spreading about the odd ball hot rod and lack of teenage friends in the back seat… what back seat?

By the time I got over to the cool hot rod build, rumors about the color, lack of teenage seating space, and not being a plumber’s daily driver was floating around fast. Now, the rumors of a different color of the freshly painted sedan delivery was spreading around… salmon pink and not racer orange. It was freshly painted the last night and the color did not look like racer orange under the parking lot lights. The owner did not like the talk spreading about the color.

Jnaki

Within a couple of weeks, I agreed to buy the sedan delivery as it was a perfect surf travel vehicle for a teenager. Lots of room in the back for camping, surfboards and other necessities. The aspect of a plumber driving a similar vehicle did not phase me a bit. It was now a flathead powered sedan delivery with a whopping 80 horsepower.

The “local” San Onofre beach location was one of those 50 mile one way surf trips that happened during our surfing days as teenagers. The red arrow is the sedan delivery with me taking a nap in the back cave. The blue arrow looks like my brother in his Everlast Boxing Trunks as his surf shorts outfit. Surf all day, walk up the beach to the Camp Pendleton surf spot at Trestles when it was safe and we did not want to drive into the location. We would think nothing of the distance from our Westside of Long Beach home or back 50 miles, at the end of the day.

Note:

As far as any car rear axle set up is concerned, the gear ratios of 3.08 or up to 3.55 are usually noted as highway gears. Giving your motor some power and fine cruising on the open highway. The gear ratios of 3.78 up to 4:56 are usually high performance gears. The 4:56 gears and up are a little too tight for most motors to use daily.

Although one year, we went to the local drags with our 4:56 Positraction gears and won. Then we went to a drag race in Pomona, about a couple of hours away. The whole time was not in the fast lane of the freeway. We had to drive in the slow lane due to the engine winding so high due to the race bred 4:56 Positraction rear end. It was a better and more comfortable drive on the surface streets to get back to Long Beach.

But, as one teenager who did not want to change the complete 4:56 Positraction gears in a rear end for a 3:78 highway usage was the option of driving the Impala to school and to the evening cruise and race nights. But, if the long range road trips to Laguna Beach, Carlsbad, and San Diego were on the tour, the 3:78 or possible the 3:55 was definitely the replacement gear ratio. YRMV

Note 2:
Before I bought my own flathead 40 Ford Sedan Delivery for our surf trips, we used my brother’s 280 hp 58 Impala. That was the only way we could get to the beach. It had 4:11 gears and the motor was set up to race at Lion’s Dragstrip on Saturdays. But, the drive to the local Seal Beach River Jetty and Huntington Beach Pier locations were 10 and 17 miles, so the drive was not bad. If we were to go farther south, the 3:55 gears would have been put in the rear 3rd member for a better drive.