| Once you have built that big bad engine for your | | | | better results with your car, but the gearing in the |
| muscle car, you'll need to be 100% sure that a | | | | rear end is not the only thing to consider, if your |
| few other things match the engine that you just | | | | running a four or five speed transmission in your |
| built, this is another one of those times when you | | | | car, you should know the first gear ratio, is it 1:1 |
| need to think about what it is you want the car | | | | or less like .85:1 or .90:1 this will help you also. |
| to do, is it a daily driver, or a race car / show car. | | | | If your running an automatic transmission you'll |
| What you use the car to do will change the set | | | | need to match a stall converter to your cam |
| up of things like the rear end, suspension, and | | | | shaft, which means that you need to look at the |
| transmission immensely, you can divide the two | | | | power band of your cam shaft, if it runs from |
| things evenly, but it usually doesn't work very well | | | | 3,000 rpm to 6,500 rpm, then you'll need a |
| to put a race engine on the street as your daily | | | | converter that stalls at 3,000 rpm. |
| driver. | | | | Let me give a very basic explanation of stall, with |
| To get lower ET's at the drag strip the racers are | | | | a standard transmission you'd have a clutch so |
| usually running a low rear end gear, or ring and | | | | you could get your car to it's power band before |
| pinion set to lower their time when they run the | | | | stepping off the clutch pedal, a stall converter |
| ¼ mile, and the lower the rear gear, the | | | | does the same thing for an automatic |
| harder it becomes to drive the car on the street | | | | transmission. |
| every day. | | | | But it has some draw backs, your car won't drive |
| Most of the real racers are running a gear set | | | | normally until you hit your transmission stall speed, |
| that has a 4.30:1 ratio or a a lot lower, while most | | | | it will seem like you don't have the power that |
| street cars don't run a gear lower then 3.73:1, as | | | | you should, or seem doggie, these are reasons to |
| a matter of fact it's more common to see even | | | | build a street engine for the street, rather then a |
| higher gears then that on the street, like 2.90:1. | | | | race engine that you drive on the street. |
| Obviously the lower the gear in the rear end of | | | | You can't have the best of both worlds, and |
| your car, the harder it will be to take your car on | | | | expect your car to be reliable for every day |
| the freeway around your city, the engine will rap | | | | street driving, you can build a street / strip car, |
| out at a lower rpm, but this is ideal for a race car, | | | | but you'll always give up some of the good reliable |
| when you build your engine, get the company | | | | street habits of your car when you do, you'll |
| that you buy your cam from to recommend the | | | | always have to give up something to gain power |
| right gear set. | | | | in your engine. |
| If you do what they tell you you'll get much | | | | |