Is this a bad idea?

There were many Aspens and Volares factory equipped with the 833 OD. It was also used in Feather Dusters and Dart Lites. I guarantee you those cars did not have steep gears.

In the early 80s I worked on a Volare station wagon with a 225 /6 and the floor shift OD. it was a coworkers and he bought it used CHEAP. It had veen used as a delivery vehicle, and only about 3 yrs old but had 100k on the clock. He only bought it because I agreed to fix it. It was parked in a garage downtown and driving it the 20 miles home from work, it wouldn't go over 35-40 mph. Compression check showed it had 2 dead cylinders so I yanked the head, sent it out for a valve job, (2 burned exhaust valves), did a 4 wheel brake job, 4 shocks, oil, grease, and rebuilt the 2 barrel BBD Carter carb.

Drove it back to work about 10 days later and it was like a new car, a real pleasure to drive. For awhile, every time we passed in the halls at work he would thank me and shake my hand.

3.21 with OD? DO IT!!! Not everyone builds a car for maximum acceleration.