I've got a 350 motor with poston intake, cam, headers, 750 double pumper, etc. It's mated to a turbo 350 tranny that is freshly rebuilt. How crazy would 4.56 gears be if this car is a weekend driver / occasional strip car? Could you elaborate? I have no experience with gears of this ratio.
Past crazy. That is a dedicated strip gear ratio and too much for even that. You need about a 3.08 -3.23. It is not going to be competitve at the strip anyway because it is not a dedicated strip car. You need to enjoy it on the road which means you need to be able to go 60 mph with comfort.
I have 3.90 in one of my cars and its all I can take to run it down the highway here for 35 miles. The car runs 12.8's. I would like 3.73 or 3.55 the best for my weekend car. It only gets about 6-7 to the gallon.
I have a 3.73 in my car. I drive it almost daily in the nice months. I feel it is a perfect street/strip gear. 60 MPH is no problem, unless you are going on a road trip with the family. I wouldn't even consider a 4.56 for strip only. Tom Jenkins
I tried it for a while because it was came in the car,but I agree with the rest of the guys,you'll turn a lot of rpm and go nowhere fast. What rearend do you have? 7.5,8.2,8.5 3.23 or3.42 is nice all around gear.
I went with 3.90's and then jumped up to a larger tire to effectively get a 3.73, which is just about right for around town on the weekends and occassional highway use.
Be prepared to grenade your motor or trans..Thats way too high of a street gear. I have 3.90's thats in my racecar and even then,with a moderate tire it will be revving up there..
i had 4.10 gears in my daily driver back in school not that bad if you have tall tires and dont mine a little revs really cool if you have a wicked shifting 350 trans that goes sideways into second and third
When I turned 16, my first car was a 63 Chevy Impala SS that had a 396,M21 4spd, and 4.88 gears:eek2: The car was a total blast around town, and unbeatable from stoplight to stoplight, but I didn't have enough engine to maintain 55 mphou: You will enjoy 4.56's for about the first day around town, then you will grow to hate them about the time you have to try to go down the highway. Any moderate performance built Buick 350 or 455 will Love 3.42's or 3.55's, and you will Love them too:TU:
I have 4.10s in mine , from red light to red light a rocket . If you stay around town might be OK but not for the High Way . Unless you have a high RPM motor you will over rev at 1/4 mile . Way back in the day of super high revving engines we used a 6.14 gear in 1/4 mile .
Those gears will put the engine out of its power production range in a hurry. Buick engines make the torque, numerically lower gears let you use it more effectively.
kenne bell did an article one getting a 72 gs350 into the 12s and they did use deep gears to do it the article is posted on the board here somewhere
Fine for a 350 Chevy or even a strong BB Chevy. Your Buick is going to run out of air and "nose over" long before it gets to the rpm level a 4.56 gear is going to take it.
I wouldnt think of it the cost of fuel and tires would put me in the poorhouse. 373 will let u play aroud tire size to get what u want I like the look of a full wheelwell and tall tire. I run 295 65 15 they r about 30 tall with 410 but it is street/strip.
I've got 4:33's screwed into my W-30 4 speed. It was bought for racing by the original owner and yes he grenaded the motor (#@&!*). I took the Olds down the turnpike one time. That was the first and LAST time the W will see the highway. That thing will get you from point A to point B like you've got a "Rocket" strapped to your axx. But if you actually want to get to point C, forget about it. That bugger was would out tight and that Muncie was whining its guts out. It's been a while and if I remember correctly, I must have been at about 5500 just trying to keep up with traffic.
5.00 gears were available from Buick for the 8.5 rear! Pretty crazy, right?....what were they thinking????o No:
Buick recommended 4.78:1 for the stage 2...but let's face it, the cars that ran those gears arrived at the track on a trailer...or the driver lived in town. In the late '80's I buzzed around in a '57 Chevy 210 with a fuel injected LT-1 and 4.56:1 gears...that car never left town on its own...but what a waaaaay fun car! Devon
Buick probably didn't care if we blew up our motors either.....with 4.78s. I could see 4.78 in a pure stock car just to get the most out of what was there but once you add a few things and it want to go faster it will be too many rpms at the track. Eddie St. Angelo in RI ran 4.78s with his Stage 2 GS400 in the late 60s early 70s with a 4 speed.....going thru the traps at like 7400 running 11.40s. Never broke much of anything....amazingly!
