87TPI350KID

My car has the 3.27 rearend, ands very pedal happy when taking off the line. I bet TPI's with a smaller rearend are alot easier to get to hook up, plus the smaller rearend gives it a little better 'hp'. What do you guys think?

RB83L69

I think you'd do better to work on getting traction, rather than downgrading your car. Better tires; followed by LCA lowering brackets.

There is no "better HP" from the grocery-cart gear.

A TPI 350 doesn't have the kind of power to where it can't be hooked up with some minor effort. Those of us with big block cars seem to work around it just fine. I'm not about to pull the 454 out of my one car that has one, and put a 305 in it, just so the tires won't spin, for example.

fireturd350

iTrader: (8)

Most people will agree the usual sweet spot for TPIs are around 3.42 ratio. At least unless you have a highly modified one that doesn't mind lots of RPMs.

And yes 3.27s can be a little hard to get traction with on the street. I found SFCs, LCAs, and brackets help a ton though.

You shouldn't be trying to swap out to a set of crappy gears for a 2nd series if you have a decent set now. That's what tires and suspension upgrades are for.

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

yeah you wont be too happy with the 2.77 gears... they leave alot to be desired. i am going 3.27's soon.

do you have a torque converter? cuz with the stock one, i could spin easy on the street with 2.77's. it made it hard to launch well. with 2800 stall i got now, it makes it abit easier to control spin. i can "walk" it off the line abit better and keep tire spin minimal and thus make a good launch. with so me suspension mods, it hooks abit better, but LCA brackets really help out

fireturd350

iTrader: (8)

Like RB83L69 says, gears don't give "better hp". Actually gear changes do not add any horsepower to the motor at all, it's all in how well the gears top out for the 1/8th or 1/4 mile. Normally you'd want to be running near your peak in 3rd gear at the end. That way the car should pull hard all the way through the traps. Any less gear you're not taking full advantage of the powerband, too much gear and you'll be lifting off the gas to shift into 4th or redlining and having the motor fall on it's face.

Like I said suspension add-ons help in my opinion. After I did boxed SFCs, adjustable LCAs, and brackets I would actually bog a little on the street.

87TPI350KID

I never said I was changing my gear out for smaller ones, I was just wondering if the tpi would benefit from it since it's hard to get the torque to bite down on the track. I'm going to work on my launch a bit (every redlight in town )and see what I can do. I'm sure a stall would help a bunch so I'm considering that. I've heard tpi's like a ~2800 stall. Am I correct? With a stock L98 I've heard of people hitting very low 14's with just a stall converter.

fireturd350

iTrader: (8)

IMO a stall only helps if you can footsie with the pedal off the line, unless you're pulling some good traction and can launch off the flash. If you're already having problems controlling the launch with the stock one I don't really see how rasing the stall 1400+ rpms is going to help. Especially if you go with anything smaller than a 12" which should have a higher torque multiplier.

I'm running a 2400 ACT 9.5" Lockup style, which flashed slightly higher the stock 350 loved it. Picking the correct torque converter isn't that simple. If you want a universal application "grab bag" stall range then just buy one from TCI or simliar company. Basically when with those choices you have to hope the company tested them right because there rated from a certain amount of torque the motor produced.

If you want a converter designed for the car specifically then they'll use specs from the engine, cam, intake, gears, transmission, weight, etc. Unless you like dropping $400+ then hoping it still works in the right flash range after you start modding the motor. The specialized converters are usually dead on for the range you want since it's built around your application and they normally come in smaller than a 12" (stock size) which means more torque multiplier, less weight, and less stress on the transmission.

If I were you I would start out with the smaller mods first, because you should try to get the traction and suspension up to par before trying to go all out for a launching machine. But that's just my opinion.