2.76 open to 3.55 Sure Grip...expectations too high?

Righty Tighty said
I will say that I noticed some difference, but it doesn't feel like I'm driving a completely different car, as some folks had suggested to me when I told them I was doing the swap. The car has a 318, 4bbl, mild cam, headers, 904. The only thing I wish I upgraded that I didn't when the engine was out, was the converter.

The speedo is broken, so all I really have to go by is how my *** feels in the seat.

I may take a look at the timing to double check where I'm at, but it seemed happiest around 14 initial and 32-34 total. Should the timing be adjusted with different gearing?

Yep, many will make it seem like you'll drop a second and a half by going from 2.76 to 3.55's. Unfortunately, not the case at all. I've played a ton of gear ratio games. Gears are a multiplier to bottom end grunt. Gears help get a car off the line and get into the power band quicker. Gears also help take the drop from one gear to the next. Gears help the initial launch, but remember, when you shift into second gear with 3.55's, the 2.76's are just rapping out 1st gear and at that point, the 2.76's in 1st gear are better geared than the 3.55's in second gear. Same with the 2-3 shift. So, at points during the run, the 2.76 gears are actually at a better ratio. Gears are more important to low torque motors, or motors that have high flow hp set up that start making hp around 4k rpm's. But you don't take a stock 318 4bbl that runs 15.7's and go from 2.76 to 3.91's and run a 13.9. Not how it works. In one car with a mild 360 I went from 4.30's to 3.91's and ran the exact same MPH and ET. Exactly the same. I then went down to 3.23's and a slightly smaller cam and only lost .3 tenths.