Well what would it do it I just changed it a little to have a little more power. So like a 3.00 or something around there?
You will probably not notice a difference going from 2.79 to 3.00. I'd say 3.25 or 3.50 would be good. With a high gear like 2.79 you will find yourself feeding the gas pedal a lot more to get the car moving and acceleating around town. 2.79 - 3.00 are also known as "highway gears" FYI.
I had a stock 302 with 3.00 gears in my comet and I felt like I wasnt going anywhere when on the highway I felt like I had to give it a ton of gas to get it to move and it still didnt move like I had expected. so I swapped to a posi 3.55 and it changed ALOT it has a great response on the freeway and it picks up speed around town alot faster but the gas mileage has changed quite a bit. I used to be able to go to my friends house and back thats about 50 miles from me on $10 in gas now it takes me closer to $20 and its all highway to his place. the car slows down going down hill if I let off the gas and Im rocking some pretty high rpms to hit 65-70 the old stock radiator was fine until I changed the gears as soon as I dd the car started over heating. I put in an aluminum radiator and its staying nice and cool but it definitely changes things DONT go over 3.55 without either a t5 manual trans or aod trans since this is your driver and not a race car IM SO GLAD I DIDNT put the 4.56 gears in I have I wouldve been really hating life I actually liked the old stock 3.00s now that it cost me no less than $20 to g anywhere oh and the gas price has dropped about .20 cents a gallon recently as well and I still use more gas than before put the 302 in then drive it a while before changing the gears
So in response to both of you, I should just stick with the 2.79 or 3.00 for what I really want to do? And with dropping the 302 in it should give me a little more power just from that? Because like you said it's not a race car so I do not want to give up to much gas mileage!
Ha cool, that's why I ask the questions so that you guys that have had your cars and done almost everything to them can help me out, and maybe one day I'll be able to help others out!
I have a 302 in mine with 2.79 gears and it gets ~20 city/25 highway. And it still has a decent amount of pickup. Probably gonna pick up some 3.73's with trac local from a friend. But I'm keeping the old rear end in case the change is too drastic. To kinda put this in perspective my friend has a '73 duster with a 318 and 3.55's and he gets 8mpg lol...
Like I said. By changing to a lower gear ratio you could increase your fuel economy around town but decrease it on the highway. It all depends on what youre looking for and whether you do more highway or more city driving.
if I didnt hotrod my car every chance I get I would go with the stock 302 and the 3.00 gear ratio I liked the gas mileage and my 302 isnt stock a stock 302 would get even better mileage than mine. those 3.73's are why he only gets 8 mpg he should be getting like 15 or even more if his motor is tuned good and he doesnt drive the car hard he might even get closer to 20mpg highway small block engines can be very easy on gas with the right gear ratio and the right driver v8's got there bad rap from bad drivers like me who drive them way too hard and want to gripe about not getting gas mileage lol
Why do people keep talking about putting 3.73s in their Mavericks?? 3.73s aren't available for the Ford 8-inch or 9-inch.
i was originally going to go with 3.55 but now you guys have me doubting my choice and possibly now going with a 3.25 for better MPG lol
