340 Stroker mainly for street, what gear would you run?

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SalC

SalC

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Hi,

Have a 340 in the shop being built, stroker. Aiming for ~450hp. Mainly for street driving, not a daily driver. Mostly sunny day driving, cruise nights, and shows. Currently have a 8 3/4" sure grip w/3.91. Currently running 26" tires. Not looking for a ton of highway driving but occasionally to cruise nights and shows, currently rpm's run a bit high. Wondering if I should go with 3.23 or 3.55? With the torque of the stroker can I still expect to peel the pavement well with a 3.23?

Thanks for your input...
 
Yes, 3.55's are my favorite. I peeled the pavement with 2.76's in my 65 340, and that was a stock 68 motor, manifolds and all, but the 3.23's or 3.55's that were in my stock 7.25 SG were a lot quicker.
 
3.23 gears if you are going to do mostly highway driving, my favorite for lower speed street cruising is 3.55.
 
it will depend on your cam and vehicle weight. 450 hp could be a bit lazy
below 2500 rpm. You have to look at the whole package.
How did you come up with 450 hp?
 
Duster Dennis said:
3.55’s, what stall converter ?

your building a stroker and only aiming for 450 :(
Click to expand...

nothing wrong with that at all

450 hp is a lot for the street. Remember when Mustang 5.0’s had 225 HP and that was a big deal? This is double that.

450 hp and lots of torque will rip the rear tires off on the street at will.

will be more street friendly than a 450hp 340.
 
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With a manual trans;
The goal is to get a starter gear of just around 10/1
3.55 w/ 2.66 low manual trans =9.44
3.23 x3.09= 9.98

With an automatic and 2400 stall;
She might get away with 10% less so 9/1 target;
3.73 x2.45=9.14
3.55 x2.45=8.70
3.23 x2.74=8.85

With a 2800 stall, you can drop another 10%, so say 8/1
3.23 x2.45=7.91
2.94 x2.74=8.06

However; the lower the OVERALL gearing is, the lower will be your rpm at the top of second gear, at 60 mph. So not much of a problem for a stroker if it overpowers the tires. But if the tires are married to the road, then that will slow her down some.
Take for example; 2.94s x1.45 second gear(A727)=4.26, and 60=3070/zero-slip with 28s, say 3500 on the tach @15% slip.
Whereas; the 3.23 x1.92second in the manual trans =9.98, will get you 60=4470 with the same 28s ..........
Never having had a stroker, I can't say exactly what rear gear to run, but I can say that the 3.55s with the Commando are a dynomite combo...... until you have to cruise for hours at 65=2770....... I installed a GVod to drop that to 1940
 
SalC said:
Hi,

Have a 340 in the shop being built, stroker. Aiming for ~450hp. Mainly for street driving, not a daily driver. Mostly sunny day driving, cruise nights, and shows. Currently have a 8 3/4" sure grip w/3.91. Currently running 26" tires. Not looking for a ton of highway driving but occasionally to cruise nights and shows, currently rpm's run a bit high. Wondering if I should go with 3.23 or 3.55? With the torque of the stroker can I still expect to peel the pavement well with a 3.23?

Thanks for your input...
Click to expand...

with a decent carb like a 750 double pumper, you will be able to haze the tires with whatever rear gear you choose.

I have ~450 hp stroker. But with 24.5” diameter tires. So in between 3.23 and 3.55.

it revs much quicker than you think and I have instantaneous throttle response. The modern rods and pistons are way lighter than factory 340 stuff.
 
...and what stroker..372 or 416?
is it an A body..B body...Truck?
 
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I'm running the 3.23's that came in my Dart from the factory with a Tru-trac that DTS installed for me. 416 4sp and it's loads of fun in ANY gear.
 
autoxcuda said:
nothing wrong with that at all

450 hp is a lot for the street. Remember when Mustang 5.0’s had 225 HP and that was a big deal? This is double that.

450 hp and lots of torque will rip the rear tires off on the street at will.

will be more street friendly than a 450hp 340.
Click to expand...

Its really not, every commercial 1/2 ton pickup now makes approx 450. As someone that has owned over 2 dozen 5.0 mustangs since 1993, a super majority of its snappy performance was due to the EFI set-up, the 5.0 came into its own after its introduction. I have witnessed many 300-350 hp 5.0’s take down cars well outside their league.
 
Duster Dennis said:
Its really not, every commercial 1/2 ton pickup now makes approx 450. As someone that has owned over 2 dozen 5.0 mustangs since 1993, a super majority of its snappy performance was due to the EFI set-up, the 5.0 came into its own after its introduction. I have witnessed many 300-350 hp 5.0’s take down cars well outside their league.
Click to expand...

And those new cars weigh a lot more. With the good carb a 450 hp motor will be plenty snappy compared to the new drive by wire stuff.

No need to build some big cammed motor on the street you’ll never get the power to the ground with street tires.

maybe “a lot” was a bad term. There’s always someone with 550 or 650 or... but no way that just because you’re running a stroker kit at 450hp you choking it or wasting your money.
 
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As you probably know a 3:55 will be a little bit quicker through the gears a little but a 323 will have a better top end and fuel economy if that matters.They're both great Street ratios especially with the stroker combo but a 323 will get you a bigger ticket LOL if it's going to be a around town cruiser I'd go with the 355s if you're going to take it down the highway regularly I would be looking at the 323s real seriously.
 
SalC said:
Hi,

Have a 340 in the shop being built, stroker. Aiming for ~450hp. Mainly for street driving, not a daily driver. Mostly sunny day driving, cruise nights, and shows. Currently have a 8 3/4" sure grip w/3.91. Currently running 26" tires. Not looking for a ton of highway driving but occasionally to cruise nights and shows, currently rpm's run a bit high. Wondering if I should go with 3.23 or 3.55? With the torque of the stroker can I still expect to peel the pavement well with a 3.23?

Thanks for your input...
Click to expand...
I’d try to borrow (if possible) a set of 27” wheel assemblies and/or 28’s and see what you think. That’s the cheapest way to trial and error. From 3.91’s to 3.73 or 3.55 would IMO be a waste, not enough rpm drop to make much difference. 3.23 would be likely better, and happiest medium
 
I’d keep the 3.91s if you’re just doing a lot of city driving. I’d you’re dying to swap then go 3.23.
 
Old school rule used to be 3.23 was the big block gear and 3.73 was the small block gear. Since it's got the torque curve of a big block now with the extra stroke, it'll have no trouble pulling a 3.23 or even the 2.94 that @abodyjoe talked about. It's gonna have gobs of bottom end torque.
 
3.55 is my go to gear.

However. This is a trick question. I run a 340 stroked to 418 with w5 heads and 28" tires.
I had 3.55s for awhile till i changed transmissions to passon performances Hemi Overdrive Hemi Overdrive

I installed 4.30s, but now contemplating 3.55s again as all i ever do is street driving with kids in tow.

Mind you for the record. I do plan to pull the 418 and trans out and put it into the 96 dakota. I want to stroke the 400 to 512 and mate it to a t56 trans.
 
Have you considered just a taller tire? Your barracuda has lots of wheel well. Just an inch or 2 will make a big difference.
 
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