408 Stroker

Page 3
And now for the final secret, and the one you might like.
Heave that pos od box as far as you can.
Get yourself a 3.09/direct box from a 65 FormulaS or equivalent. The ratios are
3.09-1.92-1.40-1.00. This is a great box for everything except the hiway with 4.56s.
The secret is to put the GVOD on that old hummer. The ratios now are
3.09-2.41-1.92-1.50-1.40-1.09-1.00-.78od. GV in red again. In practice, you never use 1.50/1.40 back to back, nor 1.09/1.00. It's always one or the other. the rpm difference at 6500 is less than 600.
So, how do I use this box? Let's go to the track first.
I use 3.09-2.41-1.92-1.50 in the eighth and gear it to run thru the traps at 6460. That would be 3.73s. The starter is a sane 3.73 x 3.09=11.53. The splits are .78-.80-.78; how do you like that, I pulled the main stick just once!, and she trapped in second-over.
But you like the quarter, so I'd set it up to trap in 1.09 gear. Depending where exactly your hot teener power-peaked, let's say 5800 and you wanna trap at 6000 max, this would require 4.10s now.Wow, things are looking up! Ok so the ratios to use are;
3.09-2.41-1.92-1.40-1.09... hyup you're seeing 5 ratios, this teener is gonna rock!!, and the splits are .78-.80-.73-.78, pretty sweet, and the starter is 4.1 x 3.09=12.67. So this is 5 ratios with just 2 pulls on the stick, including the sometimes tricky 2-3. This is awesome!
Now how about around town? Well it shifts like any other box,you just never use the od until you hit the hiway. I drive it like this 3.09-1.91-1.40-1.09-.78od.. That gives me a short 4th and a bigger drop into od.
How about granny driving? Again I like to short shift the 1-2 cuz I have a BIG 367,lol. But say you took a bunch of cam outta that teener, cuz it's now running off the charts with 5 gears in the quarter, and to go 12.9 you no longer need a monster cam. I mean that makes sense to me. Why have a 337 hp teener that only spends 20 miles a year at the track;if that,right?
Ok so let's say you're down to a 268cam and hi-flow heads, plus a matching compression ratio, and all the usual bolt-ons. This teener is now making torque. So you can shift at say 3300, Hyup 3300 isn't outrageous. So 3300 with 4.10s and a 3.09 low is 21mph;perfect. So you pull the stick and on the 1-2 shift,the Rs fall to 2050. Sounds a lil low, but the teener is now pulling harder,a lot harder than with that race-cam it had before.So now you buzz it up to 3300 again,now doing 34mph, and on the 2-3 shift,the Rs drop to 2406. That's pretty good. And buzzing 3rd up to 3300 will get you 46mph, and at the shift into 3-od, the Rs fall to 2574, which you then drive up to 65 and pull the stick for the last time, and the Rs fall to 2580. That all sounds pretty good now.
Spirited driving? Well you'll want to keep the Rs between about 4000 and 5500. In second, this would be 40 and 55. Anywhere in that zone and she'll be rocking. Too fast for ya? Get it into first-over and that will be 32mph to 45mph, sound Ok to you? Hah! I knew it would.
Ok but guess what; Second gear with 4.10s will get you 60@5870. How U likey dat? That would be first gear, and first-over,and second, and three ratios all used up. You make that hook and you are gonna show a lotta bigger boys, taillights. If you can't make it hook, no worries, spinning to 60 is still a lot of fun......as long as the car goes where you point it, and only where you point it, cuz getting crossed up at over 50 is usually a write-off. Even 30 will do a lotta damage.
When my son asked to take the Cuda to prom-night, we had a little talk before I gave him the keys.
IIRC there were just 4 rules;1)Before you stand on it,And I know you want to, and that's what it was built for, but; you pick your spots; don't let your buddies push you around. 2)Bring it back with at least enough gas to drive it to a filling station, 3)and bring it back when you say you will;If you can't, you call me I don't care what time of night or from where.I'm not interested in calling every hospital in a 100 mile radius. 4) And if you break it you fix it.
After he brought it back as per the rules, I had to add another one; 5) if your buddies smell like ashtrays, they're not allowed in. I hate cigarette smoke;almost more than anything.
So the point is this; make sure your car goes where you point it; but if it does get outta shape, make sure it can stop!
Oh yeah, my 367 is pretty tame, but it's way more than I need to go 12.9 in the quarter. Is it fun? Heck ya. Is it dangerous? Well my 17 year old son managed to bring it home on the morning after the prom,as promised, unscathed. And she's never been crashed since I built her in 1999.
I could be just as happy with a warmed up teener; this transmission combo is dynomite.
And you get it free right here on FABO.
Done.lol