Need advice on rear end ratio

[Stangman]

Car looks tough in that second pick Drew. Love the stock wheel look. Maybe some poverty caps.

[cjshaker]

Drew, just wondering if you have any problems getting that rear tire/wheel combo installed on the car? Sometimes rears don't drop enough, and trying to stuff big tires into the wheelwells is quite the challenge, if not impossible. '63s are spring cars though, so maybe not an issue?

BTW, nice car, nice stance, nice wheel combo. I don't recall seeing a picture of it before.

[Drew Pojedinec]

Doug the procedure is to just jack the car up on the frame by the forward spring eye. The rear drops a LOT.
The Moser axles with long studs are more an issue than tire size. Juuuust squeaks out.
275/60/15 rear
215/70/15 front

[chilly460]

Interesting, I run a 275/60/15 on my Merc and can't get the wheels off without dropping the shocks to let the spring droop.  I haven't measured the shocks but they're Monroe's I picked up from one of the parts houses for a Galaxie.  Even with the shock dropped, it's a bit of a squeeze to get the tire past the wheelhouse.  Guess the Merc could be different although it looks like roughly the same wheel opening.

With the combo outlined, I'd run a 3.73 with 28-29" tire for all around use

[Falcon67]

>I run a 275/60/15

That's a 28" tire.  If you decide to go in that size, a 3.70 is a decent choice.  A 26" slick for the track is an interesting idea, even if it does look a little small on the car.  If you plan to do any good amount of highway driving, then maybe a 3.50 but even with a 26" tire you'll take a hit.  SO another vote for 3.70s.  I personally run 4.56s with a 28" but I can stick to the side roads all the way to the track.  If I was to drive and not tow. 

[Drew Pojedinec]

Couldn’t say chilly.
I did install new Eaton springs when I did the rear end. Maybe they are a little different.

[gregaba]

Good pictures [nice car].  The small tires are out.
My problem is I live in a very small town without a stoplight. We have a stop sign suspended over the main street with cables.
It is a 10 mile round trip to the closest grocery store.
The closest big? town is a 70 mile round trip and a trip to the racetrack is a 180 mile round trip.
We have the turnpike 5 miles away so I can get on it to travel. The 2 lane roads are a little dangerous if you have trouble driving 65 mph.
With the distance I have to drive you can see why I am having problems deciding what rear to pick.
Cheeseburger's are Free for anyone who shows up.
I appreciate all the advice but 4000 RPM going down the road is out for me.
I guess another plan would be to go to a automatic OD but then I would have to buy a $750.00 adapter and build another auto to hold up to what I will be doing to it.
That will set back my build another year.
Greg

[machoneman]

Had 28's on my '63 Gal notchback with wide, black steelies as well and it looked great.

26's do look goofy.

Pictures of my car with 26's and the second photo with 28's

IMG_0958 by Drew Pojedinec, on Flickr

IMG_0611 by Drew Pojedinec, on Flickr

[BattlestarGalactic]

I run 275/60/15 BFG's on the black car.  I started with 8" steels and poverty caps...but found the one rear rim to be bent pretty bad so I swapped to Rodlites.  I do like the poverty cap look though.  If I ever get around to putting a new center on that rim, I could reuse them.





I have Moser axles and long studs, so I do have to drop the axle pretty far to get them out.   The shocks are plenty long enough so I don't have to disconnect them.  The Rodlites are 10" rims.  I have customized my rearend a few years back by taking a bit off each side to give it more clearance on the fender lip.   The body does not sit perfectly square on the frame and the passenger side rubbed a bit with the 10" rim.  The 8" steel rims were fine.  I snipped about 1/2" off that side when I put the brace on the housing.


I run 3.89 gears.  It's not bad on the highway, like 3500 or so at 65 mph.  Mileage?  Well, never really considered or checked.

[gregaba]

After looking at the good looking Fords and Merc's everybody is posting I think Jay needs to have a thread where people can post pictures.
If I had a 6-71 sticking out of my hood I wouldn't worry about MPG either.
Greg

[jayb]

I think 3.70s and 28" tall tires are the right choice.  Here's a formula:  MPH = (RPM X Tire Diameter)/(336 X Gear Ratio).  So with that combination you would be at 67 MPH at 3000 RPM, less whatever the converter slippage might be; figure 200 +/- RPM for that.  3200 RPM going down the road isn't too bad...

[gregaba]

I can live with that. I called SRI which has the NASCAR rear ends now and at the moment they have a 3.63 rear. I think I will wait and see if they can come up with a 3.70 in the future.
Thanks everyone for the advice.
Greg

[BattlestarGalactic]

The difference between 3.63 and 3.70 I would not sweat(2% change is not much and you won't see/feel the 50 rpm difference).   I guess it depends on your timeline of needing it.

[gregaba]

You are right. I think I will call them and order today.
Greg

[plovett]

I have come to the same conclusion as most of you guys.  My plan for my next build is to use 3.64 gears and 26" tires for the street and strip. That'd be 275/50R15 drag radials for street.  26x10" slicks for strip.  For highway driving I will mount some 28.3" (225/75R15's) on another set of wheels.   This will be with a C6 and no overdrive.  10 minutes to swap the wheels and the highway revs will drop 300 rpm.   That is significant to me.

paulie