T56 Help
 

I have found a t56 that has the 2.66 ratio first gear and the .50 sixth gear. I am wondering if this will work with my 383 small block and 3.73 rear end gears? I've had two peolple tell me two different things. One says it will be a dog off the line and another says it will be fine.
Can I get a little help from the masters?
Thanks,
HEEP

It's not going to be a dog. F bodies came with something in the range of 2.73-3.08 gears from the factory.

If you have ever
 

driven a stock 1st gen camaro or any of the older GM stuff with a Muncie, they came with a 2.20 1st gear. Hot ticket was a 3.73 or 4.11 with a Muncie. The T56 with the 2.66 will make your 3.73 feel more like a 4.56 if you are going off the old 2.20 fisrt gear of the older cars. I had a 3.80 gear with my T56 and first gear is more than snappy.

depending on the tire size i would even think of runnig a 4:11 with a .5 od
go to richmond gears web site and have a look at their gear calculators and figure it from there, you may find that with out a deep gear 6th is totally useless unless you are going 130

I'm running 4.11 in the rear and I am more than happy with my freeway cruizing.

It's what I am using in my 79TA. It's also what I had in my 96 formula since my drive train for the TA is my formula's drive train. It won't be a dog. You'll fry the hell out of those tires in 1st if your 383 makes torque like a 383 should.

http://www.tacreationsusa.com/manual_trans.htm <---- gear ratios by year

I agree Blake -- he's got to run some gears... with a 26" tire - and .5 OD - and 3:73 he'd be turning 1685 rpms at 70 mph... pretty dang low. Probably make for crappy fuel milage and a lugging pig.

I'd want to see 2000 ish or 2100 rpms at that speed.

What's the power band on your 383 HEEP?

1685 is slightly higher than what 4th gens cruise at stock because we have basically 26" tires stock with 3.42 gears.

Here's the tires I had on my Formula last
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes


Look at your power band and see if you have any torque below 2000 rpms. I'm not saying you want have to jump down to 4th to accelerate good while at 70mph, but I can tell you bone stock my formula pulled just fine at 70mph while in 6th gear. I rarely had to come out of 6th on the interstate or back roads when just cruising. Car weighted in around 3500- 3600lbs.

When modifying a C4 or C5 that was an M6, I always went to 3.90s which made 6th more lively but by no means was 6th bad before. It was and should only be used for interstate cruising. Only look at gears 1-4 for performance.

I had 3.80
 

gears with a 27 inch tall tire (285/30/19) in 6th I would run 65 at 1500 rpm. My warmed over LS1 idles at 950. If some one would slow me slightly I had to pull back to 5th because of the bucking. Changed to 4.11 and now 65 is at 1750...much better.

At 1750 RPM's I get 26 mpg. The LS1 made 425 rwhp.

I like the .50 overdrive as if I run 2000 it is right at 75mph. Easy cruising