The gear thing has got me thinking now. I almost forgot I have a rebuilt 8 3/4 rear with a 489 case in my 68 Dart that has 3.91s and a Sure-grip. I could easily swap pumpkins. I guess my only problem is that the current rear-end in the 66 hardtop is a 742 case. Wonder if I would have to get a new drive shaft?
If I understand you correctly that both are 8-3/4 rears and you just want to swap the 3rd members out the driveshaft won't be a problem as long as both have the same size yoke. Even if one is the small yoke and the other is the big yoke you can cheat by changing the rear u-joint to the one that is small on one side and big on the other.
The highway cruising with 3.23s is really nice, 3.91s would sure put you in your seat though. Tough one.
The 3.91's are getting pretty deep for a street car. Like Longgone said maybe consider a 3.55 or 3.73. I have 3.73's in my Cuda and can tell you that with 27" tires it's as deep as I would care to go on the street but that's just my opinion.
I may take a look at the Voodoo/Lunati cams.
I only recommend them because I like mine so much and have talked to several guys that run them and they like them also. I even talked a buddy of mine into putting one in his 406 Corvette and he loves it. As Camd64 said Crane is another good cam. They are high on my list also.
I guess I want something that will kick you back in your seat, roast the tires and have good street manners. I guess I could clone my convertible build. LOL
You probably wouldn't want to go with a cam as big as the 60404 I have then. It sounds neat but is pretty lumpy. If you want to keep the 3:23 gears you have and want great low end grunt go with a 60402. It'll have a noticeable idle but not ragged and will have tons of low end grunt.
Would be nice to open this engine up with as little as possible since I have many of the parts needed.
Guess the only thing I really need to buy is headers right
now. A new camshaft and intake would be next if things still suck.
I know where your coming from about hoping not to open things up all the way and headers will definitely help but with the cam and tall gears your running I wouldn't bank on them solving all your problems. I think you'll find you really need to change all 3 components to work together and then you'll see the huge improvement your wanting.
