Say, Alpha,
-I was re-reading this thread, and I came across something in post 14, that I missed the first time. In it you mention that you feel like your engine is wrapped up too far in first with 3.55s and that your car loses too much momentum, going into second. This is typical of wide ratio boxes, like most all 3 spds, including the 3+1 O/D box. It gets aggravated with engines that are not tuned for stump pulling;ergo,your 360. The problem wont go away until you go to a 4 speed or more.No amount of rear gear fudging will get you out of this situation.
-The 4 speed boxes tighten up all the splits, so that the revs dont fall so far between shifts. So #1 you dont have to rev it up so high in 1st, to grab a comfortable 2nd. Or #2, If you do rev it out higher in 1st, then 2nd will pull harder, right away.
-The early 4spds with the 3.09 low, have a medium sized 1-2 gap(similar to your A-230) of 61%. The 2.66 low box has a regular gap of 72%. And the T/A box has also about 72%, but has all the other gears tightened up as well. The O/D box is the worst with 54%.
-So I see only 2 possible solutions for your 1-2 gap complaint:
. 1) Find a trans with a tighter 1-2 split, or
. 2) Increase the off-idle torque of your engine, or
. 3) Switch to an autotrans, or
. 4) Contact the guy in a previous post with the tractor teener, and clone his torque monster.
Ok, well thats 4 options.
-After all the box swapping in my combo, I settled on the 3.09/direct box. The 3.09 to 1.92 split at 62% is liveable, and lets me run highway-friendly gears of 3.55s or 3.23s with my 230* cam. With a stockish cam, you should be able to pull 2.94s Ok , and maybe even 2.76s.
-One more general observation, on starter gears(low ratio x diff ratio):
. . . For 360s with street cams; a brisk pull away needs ratios of 9.5 to 10.5. The lower is acceptable, the higher is busy. At 8.5 I didnt like it at all. At more than 11 it becomes a race starter.If you have the lower gear in the trans, you can move up the scale, to help with 2nd.
-I am very happy, finally, with the 3.09/direct box and 3.55s(10.97 starter, the equivalent of 2.66 x 4.12s).
-Happy swapping, AJ