The aussies used
4 door A body with 360 a 727, and all the luxury goods electric everything and aircon and it got a 2.77:1 ratio rear
This was with an automatic gearbox so the converter played its part in this being a reasonably appealing combo.
On the other hand
A Manual 2 or 4 door with 318 or 265 got either 3.5:1 3.23:1 or 2.91:1 rear end
the 2.92:1 rear was put in cars with truck-ish ratio 4 speed manual gearbox 3.32, 2.00 2.43, 1.00 r 3.29
the 3.23:1 rear with 2.46, 1.78, 1.27, 1.00, r2.70
the 3.5:1 rear with the above 4 speed ratios in an R/T
all the drive train was BorgWarner hence the slight ratio differences compared to US mopar drivetrain.
but the genral sentiment was much the same across the pacific
big torque motor got long legs and and an auto
2 versions of the 4 speed manual one used across the whole range with the 2.92:1 rear and one with slightly more "close ratio" for use with 3.23:1 and 3.5:1
this was all considred fine for a market with a prefrence for torque over all out BHP. The car had to be able to tow the boat full of bilge up the slip, cover vast mileage quickly and take grandma to church on sunday
so there was a market for a heavyweight A body in top level trim with a 360 727 and 2.77:1 rear....
and for the less torque focused motors the 2.92:1 was felt to be ok with a 4 speed with a 3.32 first gear
but not ok for a 4 speed with 2.46 first.
That box was always paired with 3.23 rear for grocery getting and 3.5:1 for circuit racing
all of the aussie A body cars weighed between 1.3 and 1.6 metric tonnes 2900 - 3600 Lb
dunno if that helps.. Possibly not
but they (C A Ltd) felt they covered the market in the 70s with that range
I ran the truck like box with 2.92:1 rear and found all gears to be fine apart from reverse up a hill that took a good bit of clucth slip this with a 250Ftlb 6
not breath takeing but a 15 second 1/4 with a carter BBD and cast manifolds was not impossible
i now run 3.5:1 with the closer box all good
Dave
