I use 4.56's and have since 1980. I made a ton of money off of fools who had no gear and couldn't leave. Hell, I taught a friend to drive his 70 Challenger. It was a 440 4 speed with a 4.10 Dana. He was a slow learner with shifting but he got to where he was good enough.
I came home on leave from the Army and we all ended up drinking at a park we used to hang at. A few beers and he got to running his mouth. Wanted me to go get my car. I said no
It couldn't be possible you didn't have the correct set up? Not enough gear? I see that all the time. Not enough converter? See that just as much. Junk shocks? Yep. Lower RPM and less gear makes it easier on shocks and suspension settings.
When the power glide craze hit, most guys went faster. Was the power glide better? Not likely. It's a physical impossibility that more gears are slower IF the engine is built for it and the chassis is tuned for it.
Remember when Pro Stock were running 4 speeds? I do. All the fence leaners and comic book reader said a 5 speed would be slower. They were wrong. I personally watched Bob Glidden testing a 5 speed. I can promise you 6 gears would be faster yet.
Just because you put more arm in an engine doesn't garantee better ETs.
Fi
I use 4.56's and have since 1980. I made a ton of money off of fools who had no gear and couldn't leave. Hell, I taught a friend to drive his 70 Challenger. It was a 440 4 speed with a 4.10 Dana. He was a slow learner with shifting but he got to where he was good enough.
I came home on leave from the Army and we all ended up drinking at a park we used to hang at. A few beers and he got to running his mouth. Wanted me to go get my car. I said not until you beat the car I came down here in...a 1970 Firebird with a 326 and a 2 bbl. The bet was a trunk full of beer to the winner.
Needless to say, that no HP Pontiac would hook in a car wash. I got out on him and he panicked. After he gathered it up it was too late.
We came back to the park with a trunk full of beer on ice.
The point is it ain't about horsepower all the time. It's about getting the system together.
I have a little back ground in making cars go fast . my 3000 lb dart goes 8.70s on radials, 8.80s on bias slicks, and has put six passes together within .003 in the 1/4.
One thing i have learned, is NON of us know a whole lot about what really makes an engine tic. It is such a complex subject, engineers study for years to basically start as an apprentice in an engine development lab. But we can see trends. I see that stock class racers can have a crank that is .015 longer than stock stroke. I would bet my last dollar every fast stocker out there takes advantage of it. Another trend is when you read about a large group of guys running the same head, and the bigger motors are by and large faster for the build, that says something. When you put that intel to use and it works, that says something. A lot depends on the capability of the head used. There may be a point where stroking makes Less power , but it is darned hard to reach.
In some cases it is impossible, like the heads on a 1970 Boss 302 motor. Bone stock ports with 302 cubes, a tunnelram and a roller cam wanted 9500+ rpm! You couldn't possibly build a big enough motor to use all of those heads capability.
