I just blew my 3.42 open disk rear end. I called up a junk yard in Indiana and they sell open disk rear ends for $100 (82 and up Fbodies).

Apperantly, they never come across anything above a 3.08 (or something like that).

I have a 2.8 and a T5 (84 bird SE) and 3.42 gears.

Call you fill me in on the whole gear ration to engine thing and top speed and acceleration what not etc. . . .

Jon Boriss

 

for fast 1/4 mile you want the engine to be a little past the hp peak in the 1to1 gear. For topspeed its similar... but there is a lot of math involve to figure out what that will be.
With your 2.8 a 3.42 or 3.23 is about the best.

 

with yours having a 2.8 and carb, i'd recomend a 3.42 to a 4.10. top speed wouldn't be limited by over revving it, just lack of power.