I'm having problems at the track when running my car. I'm running out of gear before finishing. I have spun and I know that is the main problem.I'm running 3.73 gear with a th350 trans. I'm shifting the car at 6400 but I can't seem to finish without running out. What I want to do, is swap in a set of 3.42 gears to allow me to have a little more room. Look in my sig to see my set up. The car is not a daily driver, more of a weekend car. I'm curious if anyone out there thinks I will lose anything? I think I will gain because of actually being able to finish a run. The car ran 11.40 at 122 bouncing off the rev limiter and spinning out of the hole. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

 

If you're running 26" tires, try running 28" and leave the 3.73's.

Have you used this calculator before? It should help you determine the top speed potential of 3rd with different gear / tire combo's.

 

I would rather switch gears. It would be cheaper anyways. I saw in your sig that you had a 383 with th350 and 3.42. What size converter did you use? How did it run?

 

The '81 ran great............on the streets only.

I had it at the track twice, two weeks in a row, and the best I got was a 14.2 @ 97 mph . What a terrible F***ing performance that was . I don't know what the heck happened.....my Dad and I never did figure out what the problem was, but for some odd reason (and ONLY at the race track?! the car worked great on the streets ) it was leaning out on fuel, or something like that, because once it revved to ~4000 - 4500 RPM, the motor would start cutting out like it was hitting a rev limiter or something, but then if I'd let off the gas, it would come back on again?? I know it sounds like an ignition problem, but I believe it was fuel.

...anyway, long story short, the car cut 2.0 60' times on street tires, with the TH350, 3.42's, and a factory stall. It was capable of pulling to ~6500 RPM (again, I shifted around ~4200 - 4300 at the track) so I know it was a low 13-second / high 12-second car. Keep in mind, the cam was fairly mild (only a .480" lift hydraulic). Oh, and I was only 17/18 years old when I owned it, and I was still in highschool! I miss that car, but we've got 2 Camaros in the family to compensate now!

 

Say, what size tires are you running?? I was just plugging #'s into that calculator (assumed stock ~25.6" tire height for your '95??), and it doesn't make sense that you're hitting the rev limiter with a trap speed of 122 mph? It shows as if you should be good to ~133 mph @ 6500 RPM in 3rd. My only guess is that converter slippage is what's increasing the RPM's higher compared to the speed??

Have you considered raising the rev limiter slightly so you can hold it that last little bit in 3rd across the line?? Just a thought. It seems a shame to have to go through the work of swapping gears just for a couple hundred RPM. Even going to a 27" tire would give you another ~7 mph top speed capability, according to that calculator anyway, and it still works out to a better "effective ratio" than 3.42.

 

the tire I'm running is 26" tall. I am spinning every time I launch the car so I know that is a major part of the problem. I sshift the car at around 6300. The converter is another problem be cause the stall is about 3500. if I hook the car. it will run fine I'm sure . My thing is that i'm probably going to put nitrous on the car too and feel that this will cause problems again. I have yet to finish a run and still run 11.40 at 122. I go through the traps bouncing off the rev limiter which is set at like 6500. I figured if I lower the gears I will gain enough to solve this problem.