To re-gear or not to re-gear that is my question?

itmdave

itmdave

Forum Member
Help! I am geting confused on wich gear to use. I just woke my BIRD OF PREY up from a 9 year hibernation and decided to tone it down a bit. Off the bottle it is 500+ horse, 3200 stall, the wrong tires for traction and the worst hunger for petro that gives me gas pains on the freeways. It has the original 8.5” 10 bolt with a 4.10 Auburn posi. I have been told that the 3.42 would be good on the freeway but sluggish off the line say red light to red light . The 3.73 will do good off the line but how abought long trips on the freeway. Any suggestions? Thanks
 

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With 500 HP how sluggish is any gear going to make it off the line, really? You could put some ridiculous late 70's low low 2.xx gears in there and still spin the tires, especially the tires pictured. If you're looking for a gear for just some short freeway jaunts around here I'm sure the 3.42 will work fine. If you're looking to road trip the thing without overdrive, I'd pick a higher gear than that yet, I don't know the increments for a 10 bolt but something like a 3.08 would still be fine. It doesn't look like your tire is that tall either, which is the other factor here.

My dad has a 440 Charger, he's running 295/50/15's on the back with a 2.79 rear because all it ever sees are long highway trips. It's a manual car which makes it kind of hard to get moving. With your automatic and stall you won't have any problems like that, plus it looks ike you ahve a shorter tire than that too, although without knowing what size it is it is hard to judge that.
 
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Ask Frank Ricard. He Took the restrictor plate off to give the Red Dragon a little more juice. But it's not exactly street legal, so keep it on the down low.
 
I'd go for even a 3.08 if you are truely trying to tone it down. I had stock 3.42's in my Camaro that was pushing 480hp and it still had plenty of get up and go.

YLWFVR said:
Ask Frank Ricard. He Took the restrictor plate off to give the Red Dragon a little more juice. But it's not exactly street legal, so keep it on the down low.
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BEST MOVIE EVER!!!
 
The tires are P275 60 R15's I can't go any larger wheel well isuses not sure how long I'll keep these on maybe somthing a little stickier with these tires it just sits and spins. The ring and pinion shop in pontiac recomended 3.73 and said the 3.42 may be slugish. maybe he was thinking for the strip. It has a turbo 400 trans and yep it has an out of the box from GM LS6 (good eye moneypit) with a 48 IDA Weber intake. I have already droped the jetting in the Webers. I'm taking the 200 HP NOS off also. Maybe traction bars? Thanks for your comments everybody
 
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I'd do a 3.42 and switch to a built overdrive trans that has a low first gear. You'll get the best of both worlds. Off the line acceleration and overdrive.

Bad ass car BTW! :thumbsup:
 
3.42 w/ a six speed on my vette is nice on the highway. I cruse 75 at around 1900 rpm :)

Realistically I think the 3.42 or so would make the car more enjoyable since you can drive it more places.
 
Man up and keep the 4.10. I'd put an O.D. trans in it. I'm jealous of GM guys because of the ease of swapping in an O.D. trans. Just enjoy it until winter and do it then.
 
looks like another horepower junkie is on motown..........:thumbsup:



dave's a good guy. he bought my 07 cr250. i didn't know he had a car too....:headscrat
 
Thanks everyone for the great feedback the 342 seems to be the general consensuses for the street and that’s what I was leaning towards. However the trans shop said that it is becoming more common to put an overdrive in for the guy’s that drive their rod’s to the strips. I’m not sure what is involved to install one or what the cost may be I have no experience with transmissions. Thanks again
 
If you are open to the option of a trans swap, overdrive is definitely the way to go, granted it is more expensive than a gear change.

My dad is pissed at himself for not putting overdrive in his Charger for as much interstate driving as he does.
 
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