I have a 71 maverick with a 347 stroker motor. c4 transmission. I swapped to 355 gears after reading the forum, I cannot drive hiway past 55-60 without too high rpm. (feels like a vw bus.) my question is should I change to 325 gears / or do an aod swap. looks complicated to install the aod. any expert help greatly appreciated. want the best performance for my $$$ and dont want to make costly mistakes.
not a bad swap...there are a lot of them on the board here. there may even be a write up on here somewhere. is your 347 a 302 or 5.0 base engine? the AOD came behind a lot of 5.0s. I've sold over 200 AOD swap crossmembers on here...
There won't be enough difference with a 3.25 gear to notice. I suspect for the RPM reduction you're seeking, a O/D trans is the only choice. Even with a 2200 Hughes converter in the C4, the 3:00 gear my Comet is a dog, needs around 3.80 & O/D trans. With AOD, that setup gives a final ratio of 2.54. OR a nice cruising gear. I have approx same in my T-Bird, cruises nice at 75.
I have the exact same set-up in my orange car. I drive it around.....I just don't drive it on the 70mph interstates. I think we get used to driving newer cars and we forget that old cars....that was the normal.
Unfortunately I live a bit out from town, and need to travel the hiway. Yes I miss those days, much simpler. Thanks craig
Still was the norm. After three or four hours running 70 mph with 3.50 gear(factory), my Cobra Jet would put my foot to sleep from buzz in gas pedal. It's noticeably better with a 3:00 gear but it just ain't the same.
