Gears

[Don Dulmage <big-d@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I never thought I would be sayng this but i am. 
Last fall when I needed a set of 391s for my /6 dragster I stole the gears and Lim Slip out of my 63 MW car. They were an old set of truck geears and were a bit noisy anyway and despite my best efforts I could only make them quiter , never silent. In the rail it would not matter i thought. A friend had picked me up a set of 391s anyway at a flea marjket. Brand new almost so i was going to use them. When I went to install them they turned out to be 9 1/4 gears even though it said 8 3/4  89 case on the box they were sold in. I should have known as they were 390s and not 391s but I didnt really check them till i went to install them. I hunted around the garage and found a diff with a busted cone type carrier and a set of 355s. A friend had thrown them out and left them here. I kept the box for parts. All the bearings were gone as was the cone diff but after 3 weeks of diddling around I managed to repair all the damage with some creative machine work and a lot of luck. I put them in the 63. Right away my wife noticed the difference. The Max wedge can actually handle them too. It has lost a  bit of omph on acceration but not that much but it is a pleasure to drive and totally silent.  Mileage isnt bad either. After attending two car shows yesterday for Canada Day which involved a bit mre driving than normal i noticed the big wedge had only gobbled about 1/8th of a tank. I am very happy with this setup. I think should I have the trans out at any tme I might pop in a 276 low gear set . Then i think i would have the best of both worlds.Good launch and decent cruising rpms. Even as is it is nice to drive. So what about the old 391s??? Glad you asked. Today affter three years of puttering i took the /6 rail and the old gearset for a ride . I was driving back to the garage along the side of the road in front of my house when I had a senior dragster moment and forgot myself. My wife was taking photos and was  surprised to see this old Far... rip smartly onto the pavement and open all 6 tillotsons carbs on the leaning tower of power and disappear in a snarl towards the neighbours house some 800 feet east. Of course I had to come back too and I took the oppourtunity to wring the little baby out. Sure was fun! I asked  if she got any photos but she said the camera wouldnt click when I was driving on the road. She was sure twas a sign I shouldnt be doing that. MMMMMMMMMM????????
Anyway two days of fun ,back to back cant be all bad. 
Anyone have a low ratio gearset in a street torqueflight?
Don    
Author of
Return to Deutschland (True Adventure)
Old Reliable (Mopar)
http://altonapublicschool.faithweb.com/

http://seniordragster.bravehost.com/index.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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