Highway Compatibilty

Outside of overdrives and changing out the rear, any ideas on what can be done to make an oldie more highway friendly? I'm speaking in general terms, as I'm thinking of plunging into a pre- '54 for a driver, and as you well know, they're geared pretty high (4:11 or there about is usually the case) I remember my '48 Dodge seemed to start working pretty hard around 50 (maybe the Fluid Drive had something to do with it, slippage wise) I'm not looking to go blasting down the road at 90, just thinking in terms of quieting things down a bit. I know Patrick's makes a kit for Chevs to bring it down to 3:55, don't know if kits like that are available for Fords. What sort of speeds do you guys comfortably get out of your rides, provided you're still running fairly stock drivelines (that means no SBC w/ auto & IRS type setups)

 

Put the tallest tire on the rear that will fit.

Effectively changes your final drive ratio.

Easy to do.

 

When i had the stock driveline in my 53 chevy it seemed to fall in a grove around 55-60 at the most...for me that was about it comfort wise.
The inline, even though it is a 235, is still a babbit pounder being a 53 stick, and i know the red line isn't very high at all...
Much more than that and your foot was on the floor and you weren't really doing anything but beating the shit out of the motor. It just wouldn't do it.

A swap to the 3.55 rear and a nice tall tire makes a world of difference if you didn't want to swap out to an overdrive box and open diff..
I know of a few chevy's that ran stock drivelines, both glide car's with the 3.55's and they'd run all day long doing 65.

I finally went T5 with an open diff.........now, there's NO issue at all getting 70+ out of it with ease....unless you have to stop fast

 

You can use the 3:55's and that is a good all around gear . If you drop down to about 3:00 to 3:25 then she will cruise great on stock running gear ! That's my 2 cents worth .

 

they make a 3.55 kit for the closed driveline cars? hmm....does anyone have that link. my 216 falls in at about 65mph.....after that its just noise and not much more speed. still very comfortable at 65 but i wanna make this motor last till i can afford a swap.

 

Radial tires make a HUGE difference in highway cruise-ability. I've had both bias ply and radials on the exact same car, '47 Olds, and there is a world of difference between the two types.