I just changed from 2.73s to 3.42s and I'll tell you, the old 305 is a lot more fun to drive

It seems that I am always in the powerband now, not that the 2.73s were lousy at all, but now I'm at 2500 rpm in no time and the engine responds much better in this range. The 2.73s were always keeping the rpms below 2000 rpm, and often below 1500 rpm!

Now when you step on the peddle, even moderately, the car moves swiftly under torque--and that makes it a lot more fun

I don't know how much faster it will be in the quarter mile, but I'd guess it is about 4/10 quicker

Now to get my ported and polished heads on, and that Crane PowerMax 260 cam :hail:

 

Heh, when I'm in Calgary for Christmas, you're going to have to take me for a ride.

This is a little off topic, but I have a question about your car.
Is it hand operated? How do the controls work?

I remember my father telling me about the hack job they had to do to my grandfather's car, back in 1971, for him to drive it. He'd had a stroke, and didn't have a lot of movement left.

 

Sure, give me a call and ask for Todd at 247-5076

No, I'm not crippled like that. I suffer a lot of chronic pain, muscle cramps and spasms, joint pain and fatigue. It sucks but I thank G0D I'm not in a wheelchair

To top it off, adult onset diabetes showed up right on time, when I turned 40. So that has started to kill my ticker.

No fun, but I come from tough old prairie pioneering stock. Heck, my great grandfather was leading wagon trains from Fort Garry to Fort Edmonton back in 1876. That's over 800 miles of open plains when the buffalo really did roam in giant herds! It's also the same year Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse wiped Custer and the 7th Cavalry out in the valley of the Little Bighorn River, just across the border in Montana. In case you didn't know, Sitting Bull and about 5000 Lakota planted themselves in southern Saskatchewan for the next five years. He was an extraordinary fellow, that's why I use him as a pseudonym

 

Yep, my great grandfather homesteaded a bunch of land outside of Wayburn, Sask, and moved to Edmonton later.
This would have been about 1899-1900. A few years before Fort Edmonton was torn down (like 1906, somwhere around there).

Good luck with the diabetes. Hopefully a few more years and we won't have to worry about diabetes, judging by the things doctors are starting to learn.
I've lost a couple of family members because they had diabetes, and were too stubborn to treat it. Both died of heart failure at young ages.
Keep an eye on the blood sugar!

 

Oops, that's Weyburn. I know, I grew up in Regina. Great to meet another long time Westerner. There aren't that many that can trace their family back that far on the northern side of the 49th parallel. We have an ancestral ranch in the Cypress Hills of southwestern Saskatchewan, just south of where Fort Walsh is. That is real Wild West country and incredibly beautiful. If you ever get a chance to check it out, don't miss it. It is dripping with Western history like Indian battles, whiskey smugglers, gun runners, NWMP forts and outposts. (All the stuff the Ontario/Quebec "experts" tell us didn't happen in the Canadian West--only those "uncivilised Americans" had these sorts of problems ) Great stuff for a history lover.

 

4 tenths sounds resonable you may get more, i went from 3.23 to 3.73, and got a full second between my fastest runs before and after, the change, in consistent runs though, it is about 6-7 tenths of a second, before it gets mentioned, i know the 3.73 was not the greatest choice for my 305, but its not always gonna be there my target rpm for my future motor is 7000, so it will compliment the 3.73 nicely, and it should work good with a t56, when i get my paws on one,

 

All the drag strip programs show 3.73s giving people the best times with a 305, so you did good. I just can't afford the gas to keep it happy, especially on the highway.

You have a cam in your engine, so you would definitely be faster than me. Mine falls flat on its face at about 4000 rpm

 

true but,
my heads are completely untouched so i fall off shortly after you do, it will continue to pull, up past 5k, but it doesn't pull as hard as i would like

but i don' t feel like dumping more money on this motor right now,

at the moment my major concern is getting a flywheel, so that i can get my baby back together, its been parked almost a month now, actually we just set the engine back in it today, it was out for a leaky pan gasket,

once i find me a flywheel, i can get my clutch, and start shiftin gears!, i'll have to be nice to it though, the trans, i am using is from a 4 cylinder car, just untill i can get the right one, or have a t56 fall out of the sky.

right at the moment my crystal ball is telling me, that the 3.73 rear gear, combined with a 3.76 first gear in the trans, and my foot will equal smoke clouds, oh well, thats what i have the car for is fun

i just realized how long this post is, and the fact that my vision is a little blurry, maybe i should go to sleep

edit, as far as gasmileage goes, it really didn't hurt too bad, i got about 15mpg, on the highway, at about 80-85mph
now i get about 13mpg at the same speed, but heres the kicker, if i go the speed limit 65-70mph, i only get about 3-4 mpg less, than at the higher speed.

 

Yeah, it's 1 am in Iowa! That's where one of my grandfathers grew up. They moved to western Canada about 1908 or so. There was a huge influx of about 300,000 Americans here at that time to collect free farmland.

I have a terrible time being without my Camaro for a day. Living without it for a month would be insufferible

 

actually its only 12 am , but since i have been up since 7am, i thinks its bedtime now

 

3.73's are funner

an di get about 15 in town
21-24 on the freeway at like 80

 

With my 2.73s and the electronically contolled primary QJet I was pulling down almost 18 mpg around town

I ditched the electronic part of the carb, though. It wouldn't idle properly in gear after I put headers on. Now I get 16.5 mpg around town.

I haven't had a chance to really do a test mileage check on the 3.42s yet, they were only installed yesterday. But with overdrive I think the rpms are staying about the same as they were, so I'm not anticipating any loss. I don't know what I get on the highway. Haven't been out of town with it since I bought it

That's great that you are getting such excellent mileage with your 3.73s though

 

thats holding it at 80 on the interstate and not playing at all

when im playing ( spurts at 120+) its more like 8 - 10

 

What is your overdrive's gear ratio?

 

I did the 3.23>3.73 swap and love it. Even my extremely sick 350 can get them spinning whenever I want now.

Don't know what kind of mileage I'm getting but I don't care either. If I wanted fuel mileage I'd get a Metro, not get ready to install a 400+hp big block. If it's worth anything I'm thinking I can get at least 10 after the swap.

 

3.42's are nice...I have the .73:1 OD in my T5 and run about 2k rpm at 100km/h using 235/60R15 tires, and haul down about 24 mpg (US gallon@3.78 litres). At the strip, I'm crossing the line at about 4500 in fourth.

 

I also just had my 2.73's replaced w/ 3.42's, car is much quicker and feels a lot stronger, the new gears & Auburn posi are by far the best mods so far.

 

JS92RS, have you run 1/4 miles since the gear upgrade ? if so , how much you gain ???


I just received my gears this morning, I'm going from 2.73 to 3.55.



How much stronger does it pull ???

 

I have alot of fun rolling around town now that I have 3.42's backing up my camaro. I want to get a posi unit, but I think that will have to wait till tax time due to school starting back up in a couple of weeks. My wife and I are paying for school out of pocket this semester so.....

 

Well, put it this way, you will notice a big difference. It should knock around 4/10 second off the ET. People will ask "What's the hurry?" when you are just driving normally

 

Here's some light reading regarding your 305. 325 HP from a 305. Enjoy!
http://www.transamtemple.com/article...ne_buildup.htm

 

How much did ya have to pay to install the gears, or did you do it yourself? And did you put a Posi in?

 

hey js92rs, where did you come up with the correct gear for your speedometer? 3.42 wasn't an option for '92s.

 

Hey Trevor!

How you doing? The Edelbrock intake go on OK? The QJet rebuild work out?

It cost me about $600 for the gears and installation. No posi, don't seem to need it. I'm not spinning much.

I got the gears, used, for $175. Would have cost less if I hadn't needed to spend another $100 on a 3 series carrier. I didn't replace all the bearings and whatnot, it didn't need it. Add $150 if you need to change them. Anyway, I'll get a posi if and when I need it. Try and find a mechanic who has some good used parts connections and knows what he's looking at. A good used set of gears will work fine.

 

It depends on how many teeth your drive gear on the tranny has:

15T drive gear, 41T Driven gear
16T drive gear, 44T Driven gear
17T drive gear, 46T Driven gear

Just keep in mind that GM only makes driven gears up to a 45 tooth limit, so in the latter case 45 will have to do. It would leave you going a couple mph slower than you are reading on the speedo, so it might save you a few tickets

I should add that these numbers are for a 15 inch tire, or one that has a height of close to 26 inches.

 

Intake went really bad - I didn't realize I bought an intake for 86 and prior SB's. Mine's an 87, when they started a new style so it wouldn't bolt straight up. I could have made it fit, but that might have caused some vacuum leaks so I just held off on it. I'm just glad I noticed it during the carb rebuild before I took the old one off.

Carb went awesome - now it's one pump and she starts. Oh - and my secondaries are actually opening now too I rebuilt to stock specs, so that I knew I could get it working (I have no faith in myself). Now I'm going to tune it according to the articles with the rod's/hangers when I get time (I'm working 75 hours/week right now). I just can't believe the carb went so well...

My rear-end was next on my list. I have a guy who will swap a used one, and convert to disks for 600, but the only downside is I have to pick from the gear ratio's he has available (3.23 I think is the best he has). But I haven't had time for that between work and painting my Talon...

 

3.23s are a good ratio too. You'll notice a difference!

I think all you have to do to the intake is elongate a few of the bolt holes to make them line up with post-86 heads. Do a search or post the question. You'll get an answer.

Glad the QJet went so well. DR rods and B hanger now. Also, reset the AV spring tightness according to the articles I sent you. Then, Vrooooom!!!

 

Summit sells Richmond gears new for $195 and they have 3.42 and 3.73 ratios for the 2 series carrier at that price. I'd spend the $20 but thats me.

 

Alas, we on the north side of the border are dealing with a .63 cent dollar, thanks to a federal government that only does what keeps Ontario and Quebec happy.

Thus $175 US is about $280 Canadian.

$175 Canadian is about $110 US.

PS Why aren't you guys coming here in droves for your holidays? When your buckaroo stretches that far, and Canadians are friendly with Americans, what more could you want?

 

Yes, that's an excellent column

I don't need 350 or 400 hp to get me around to where I need to go, and the gas is a fortune these days.

I'm hoping 300 hp will be snappy enough to satisfy my craving for speed. And remain reliable, too

 

This gear ratio was standard for the V-6 RS's for that year.

 

the speedo gears that my mechanic friend used is 15T drive gear/41 T driven gear. You can also go to 700R4.com and use their speedo gear calculator.

 

Have not gone to the track yet, I still have to address the rear suspension which I am hoping to finish by the end of summer.