What do you folks think of tunnel ram, 4 spd, and 3:23 gears?

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Kevin Jonker

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I have 68 FB Fish with 340, 11:01, ported iron heads, 245,250 @050. 550/575 lift solid Hughes cam, eddy street tunnel ram w/600 holleys. It has 4:56 SG gears right now ( very well mannered on the street ). I need to be able to drive it further than in town sometimes. Heres my thoughts. I have a 3:23 open rear that I can swap into it for crusing and swap back to 4:56 if I can get to the strip. Do you think the 3:23 is to high and would it cause clutch problems getting it off the line? I would probably keep the 3:23's in most of the time till I can afford say 3:55's to 4:10's.

I have thought about taking the SG out of the 4:56's and putting it in the 3:23's and either putting in a spool or welding the spiders in the 4:56. Anyone have any experience with the welding aspect? I just don't have the money to buy the perfect 3rd member or O.D. Thanks for your thoughts, Kevin
 
Kevin Jonker said:
I have 68 FB Fish with 340, 11:01, ported iron heads, 245,250 @050. 550/575 lift solid Hughes cam, eddy street tunnel ram w/600 holleys. It has 4:56 SG gears right now ( very well mannered on the street ). I need to be able to drive it further than in town sometimes. Heres my thoughts. I have a 3:23 open rear that I can swap into it for crusing and swap back to 4:56 if I can get to the strip. Do you think the 3:23 is to high and would it cause clutch problems getting it off the line? I would probably keep the 3:23's in most of the time till I can afford say 3:55's to 4:10's.

I have thought about taking the SG out of the 4:56's and putting it in the 3:23's and either putting in a spool or welding the spiders in the 4:56. Anyone have any experience with the welding aspect? I just don't have the money to buy the perfect 3rd member or O.D. Thanks for your thoughts, Kevin
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Welding the spiders is a BAD idea. Your just asking for trouble. As far as the
gears go, I think with that motor it'll be a pain in the rear(No pun intended).
You will smoke your clutch trying to take off without it bogging or chugging.

Jmho.
 
I disagree, The 3.23 is a good all around ratio for highway and in town. True I would rather have 3.55 but compared to driving around town and highways with a 4.56 has got to get old real fast.
 
Four speeds are forgiving,my buddy runs around in a 68 fb barracuda with a true 10.5 to 1 340 that has the mopar solid 296/.557 cam,m1 intake,holley 650 dp and it runs fine on the street.
 
First off, don't weld your spiders, welded spiders and spools just don't work on the street.


What size tire do you have? What RPM does your engine idol at? 3:23 sounds too high for your engine. anything under 4:11 may cause shaking and lurching at low speeds with your cam and a 4spd, you could get by with it if you had an auto with a stall but you have to remember with a 4spd. your directly connected to the drive shaft and there is no dampening effect like you get with a converter to help cushion the lope of the cam.

My car has 4:56's and idols at 1000-1100 and with my cam (578 lift & 248 @ 50) I can't go under 35 mph in 4th or the cam shakes the car and it starts to lurch.

I ran a 508/312 cam in my Dart with a tunnel ram and two 600 Holleys with 4:11's and a 4spd which ran pretty good, I tried to run 3:23's in it once so I could drive it more often but it just didn't work, I finally stuck 4:30's in it and gave up the idea of driving it on the hwy very much.
 
As aid above,dont weld the spiders. If you are serious about more traction,put a locker in it or a sure grip. Tunnel ran is more of a 3000 rpm and up intake.
 
3.23 was the standard gear ratio in a 68, 340 car (but the stock tire was just under 26"). Tall rear tires + your set up, may make it kind of a pain to get moving, but once moving should be way nicer than 4.56s.

I think it would be an equal trade off……. Not very good for not very good. LOL

Welding up the gears is a really stupid idea.
 
trade the 456 and 323 for a 4.10 and you have a streetable car thats track ready.I have been on 1000 mile trips with my dad with 4.11s and a 4 speed
 
Thanks for the replys! My son is into offroading and he's the one who suggested welding the spiders, i will stay away from that. Car has 25.5 inch tall MT Indy S/S tires now. Hopefully will have 15" rims and 27" or 28 " tires one day, again money issue. Cam idles around 1000 rpm. No one wants 4:56's anymore, 3:91 or 4:10 sure grip chunks are out of sight price wise. I am on a real tight budget. Remember the days ( back in the 80's ) when a 3:91 sure grip was $50.00 and ya had 2 or 3 laying around ? Remember the spool would be 95% for strip use and car would probably be trailered to strip since it's 2 hours or more to any race track here in SoCal for me. SUCKS to be me!!!
 
Kevin Jonker said:
Thanks for the replys! My son is into offroading and he's the one who suggested welding the spiders, i will stay away from that. Car has 25.5 inch tall MT Indy S/S tires now. Hopefully will have 15" rims and 27" or 28 " tires one day, again money issue. Cam idles around 1000 rpm. No one wants 4:56's anymore, 3:91 or 4:10 sure grip chunks are out of sight price wise. I am on a real tight budget. Remember the days ( back in the 80's ) when a 3:91 sure grip was $50.00 and ya had 2 or 3 laying around ? Remember the spool would be 95% for strip use and car would probably be trailered to strip since it's 2 hours or more to any race track here in SoCal for me. SUCKS to be me!!!
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I would spend the money on some taller tires first, that would help out quite a bit and be cheaper than the gears, you also need them before you decide on what gears you will need anyway. You could get a set of stock 15 x 7 steelies "cheap" if you don't have the wheels.


There are a lot of people that still want 4:56's just not as many that use them for street use like me. I bet you could ask around the track and find someone that would trade you for some 4:10's
 
I need to know how tall are your rear tires. If they are 14s maybe . It is easier to run skinny tall tires and then change out to what you have on there know. Nothing is more appealing than to have 90 wt. running down your armpits and that refreshing smellabout you. Keep the 56s get taller tires or drive a little slower till you get there.
 
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