Street vrs strip diffs

[Len]

I have been thinking about this and on the strip you want a full spool or a miny spool but on the street you want a possy. Along with the gear ratio to suite the need. strip vrs steetablity
The hard part is is having both ????
Just a posable solution is have 2 diffs from the torque arm back set up and ready to go including the rubber. easy enough to walk a H body rear diff ass around with the toque and drive shaft !!!
Shackle the sprigs so they stay in the up position. On the average H body 75 and up = tourque arm bolt , lower shock bolts ,rear controll arm bolts and the track arm bolt . Bleed the brakes set it on the ground and your done !!!!!
Pick it up and do it again. Track traction over .streetablity
Just thinking, Any insight would be appreciated
Len

[spencerforhire]

I will admit that the later H-body's torque arm rear suspension would make this a fairly simple project; 2 guys should be able to do it in well under an hour. If the rear brakes were converted to disc, it could be even easier; the calipers could be left hooked up if the flex lines were hung from the body instead of the housing.
All this being said, most guys swapping carriers(and gear sets) for street/strip use the 9" Ford or 8 3/4" Dodge. A good friend is building a dual purpose 71 Monte Carlo(all 2 tons of it!) with a 1000hp 598(!!!) and has two 9" centersections; one with 4.56's and a spool for the strip and one with 3.90's and a locker for the street. He's even contemplating running two different sets of axles; the Strange's "Hy-Tuff" race axles are actually too soft for street use and their "Pro Street" axles are more resistant to wear but wouldn't stand up to trans brake launches at the strip.
Did you ever see a NASCAR pit crew change a 9" centersection? It takes then about 3 minutes; they even save time by tossing a thin plastic bag full of gear oil in just before the "pumpkin" goes in!

[speedphreake]

My answer to this question for myself was a gearvendors overdrive setup, posi and 3.55 gears. This gives me a pretty decent highway set up and still runs great at the track. It's not a perfect setup for either, but a compromise I can handle with out having to swap rears or center sections.

[flowerz489]

Im not that ambitious, I leave early and drive 40 on the highway
4.33s and a powerglide arent the ideal setup for road trips

[Len]

Here is the pic for the thought

Library - 58.jpg

Len

[gmagilla]

I had a 80 Malibu with stock 400ci , 350 turbo , 3:73's with Auburn posi . Ran 14.20 in the 1/4 and not a lot of rpm at 55 or 60. I don't remember the tire size .

[Bob Gumm]

I'm running 3.73:1 with a heavy duty Auburn posi and 295-50R15 tires. This does fine on the street, but more than a few have told me lower gears will help with my wheel spin problem at the track. So now I'm considering somewhere in the 4.10, 4.56, 4.88 gear range. However, 3.73 gears are fine even on the highway, but just a change to 4.10 gears has me driving more slowly on the highway as the engine just screams constantly with those gears and I'm sure it would be worse with even lower gears. So I also want a dual gear setup, but I'm already planning to do a Ford 9-inch setup as it is much easier to swap the gears compared to swapping a whole rear.

[TERROR]

mini spools are useless unless your running dirt track, theyre weak as hell. put a spool in it and be done. as for gears it depends on what tire you have. if your worried about highway driving get a set of 26's and 3:73's. if you wanna man up get your self a set of 4:10's.. we made a trip to the summer nationals in massachusetts from ny last year in a nova with no overdrive and 4:10's....

[TERROR]

I'm running 3.73:1 with a heavy duty Auburn posi and 295-60R15 tires. This does fine on the street, but more than a few have told me lower gears will help with my wheel spin problem at the track. So now I'm considering somewhere in the 4.10, 4.56, 4.88 gear range. However, 3.73 gears are fine even on the highway, but just a change to 4.10 gears has me driving more slowly on the highway as the engine just screams constantly with those gears and I'm sure it would be worse with even lower gears. So I also want a dual gear setup, but I'm already planning to do a Ford 9-inch setup as it is much easier to swap the gears compared to swapping a whole rear.

i wouldnt go any higher than a 4:10.. you shouldnt have a problem. what kinda of tires are they drag radials? ever consider trying a slick?

[Rickracer]

....So now I'm considering somewhere in the 4.10, 4.56, 4.88 gear range. However, 3.73 gears are fine even on the highway, but just a change to 4.10 gears has me driving more slowly on the highway as the engine just screams constantly with those gears and I'm sure it would be worse with even lower gears...

Bob, I went that route over 20 years ago with my Vega, everybody kept telling me it wasn't spinning that bad, but I went from 3.73s to 4.10s, then to 4.56s, then to 4.88s. STILL ran 12.40s (street trim), no matter what. Each gear change seemed to bring wheel spin down, but didn't make the car any quicker. Then one night, on a whim, (and chance availability), I borrowed a set of 8 x 26" drag slicks, (with the 4.88s, ), I was out of motor at about 1000', but it yanked the front tires for the first time, and went 11.91, through the mufflers. This was back to back on the same night. With a taller slick, it probably would have run an 11.70.
What I'm saying is, traction is the answer, not gearing, and you can't really figure out the best gearing until you have good traction,

[cjbiagi]

How does going from 3.73's up to 4.88's bring wheel spin down? It would seem with the increased torque multiplication it would increase the wheelspin?

[Rickracer]

With 4.88s, you are shifting quicker, so each gear is less number of feet, plus the extra leverage helps plant the tires a little, if your suspension is working decent. I went from spinning way past the 330' mark with the 3.73s, to just a little past the 60' mark with the 4.88s, but it made virtually no difference in my ETs till I got it hooked up with a TINY set of slicks. The N50s I was running were almost 28" tall, and right at 12" wide, the Vega looked like it was running uphill with those little 8x26" slicks tucked up into those cavernous fiberglass flares, but it sure hooked,
I blew the 327 up not long after that, and commenced to building a 427 for it, , and right off the bat, I started looking for better tires. I wound up running some McCreary GT series dirt tires, not DOT legal, but had a legal looking tread pattern, and hooked waaaay better than any N50 I ever had on the car, even better than the M/T S&S N50s. I also went back to a 4.56 gear with the 427, but it would easily spin as many rpm as my 327 anyway.

[TERROR]

....So now I'm considering somewhere in the 4.10, 4.56, 4.88 gear range. However, 3.73 gears are fine even on the highway, but just a change to 4.10 gears has me driving more slowly on the highway as the engine just screams constantly with those gears and I'm sure it would be worse with even lower gears...

What I'm saying is, traction is the answer, not gearing, and you can't really figure out the best gearing until you have good traction,

X2!!

[gmagilla]

My 71 with a 406 , 292 comp. cam . Carter AFB , TH350 , 12 bolt , spool , 4.56 gears , 31x18.5 Quicktime Hoosier , never spun the tires . Ran 11.88 through the mufflers . Seemed to stop pulling at the bigend , I put 3" exhaust on it and was going to go 4.11 and a bigger cam but never got the chance before I sold it .
I'm going about the same way with my 73 , just no time to start the biuld .