JoeinCA Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 hey guys, i am still turning over different ideas for building a good engine for my Z. anyways, i was wondering, with a 383 stroker engine, what would be an ideal gear ratio for the rear end matched with an m-22? i would like to be able to use alot of the torque that the engine provides. and i would like to avoid spinning the tires all day long.. Also, what do i need to do/get to do a 383 conversion on my 68 327 block? i have been looking at speedomotive.com and i think that i will be buying one of thier kits... will i need to bore the block .30 over? thanks for any help that you guys can provide.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 well on the kits, i think that PAW offers some good kits as well. as for a good ratio, use one of the R200 LDS's, it comes with 3.70 gears and at 65 will be around 3300-3500 rpm depending on tire diameter.but if you are stuck to using an open diff....i dont see a point in worrying about it unless your wanting to drop your rpm at freeway speeds.....383+open diff=tire spin W/ any gear ratio (imo) hope it helped later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 to build a 383 you need to have a 4.030" bore,so if your bore is only 4", yes you will need to bore the block, the rear gear you need will partly depend on your tire size and the rpm range you want to run the engine at and the top speed that your trying to reach but in general a 3.36-3.73 rear gear makes for a good match to the torque and rpm range of the 383 engine for a street combo! the heads,cam,intake, and compression ratio will also determine the best gearing.if you want a good engine combo , think it through fully before buying ANY parts but the most important will be the cylinder heads,intake type,compression ratio and cam as they more than any other parts will determine the hp and torque curve your engine will have, the rest of the parts will determine how long it runs well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted January 6, 2002 Author Share Posted January 6, 2002 thanks for the info guys... i still dont know what to do with my engine... i am weighing all of my options though, considering that i dont have any expendable cash at the moment, and am more concerned with just fixing my rear suspensions and electrical problems so i can at least get my car back on the road... but with being at a halt in progress ( cant figure out why the turn signals are causing the battery to drain and blow fuses and other wierd things) i have alot of time to think about the future of the car... thanks for the tips.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 With a four speed personally I'd probably go no higher numerically than a 3.54 and if you were able to score a 3.36 that would be even better. Going higher numerically than 3.54 IMHO will severely effect your top end, which without a overdrive will be pretty buzzy on the freeway. Just an opinion of course, depends on what the car is setup to do and as Grumpy mentioned tire size and overall height. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 quote: Originally posted by grumpyvette: ...but in general a 3.36-3.73 rear gear makes for a good match to the torque and rpm range of the 383 engine for a street combo! Just remember that the Z has a smaller tire diameter in general (25in vs 27 on most Chevy's, etc.) and this has a sizeable effect. This is one of the reasons the NISMO 3.15:1 gears are so sought after for a non-overdrive V8Z. Unfortunately they are NLA from NISMO, but Eric Neyerlin knows someone with a set to sell... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 The 3.54 R200 is a most common (around here anyway) IMO. If you can get a 3.36, or best yet a 3.15, you will be doing yourself a favor in general. As Pete mentioned, the Z has smaller diameter tires and going with 4.11 gears does not help any at all, especially with cubes like a 383 has. Just food for thought. Lone, I'm not trying to nit-pic or anything, but aren't lower gears actually higher numerically? 4.11's are low and 3.15's are high? Not dumping on you, Buddy, especially after a long day of caring for your bro. I was just getting confused and had to put it down in black and white to understand again, that's all. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 the way i see it, the best rear end to run is the one that best matches your combo or trans gears, intake, cam, power range, etc etc, no matter what car you are in. you run a 3.54 with a mild motor, like mine, once you run that crazy lift cam and the big high manifolds, your low end will be sorely affected by those 3.54s, and that power will be of no use to you on the street until way up high, and you will be slower light to light. yes 3.36 or 3.15 is great with no overdrive, but who here built this car to drive to work on the freeway everyday, and can i get a show of hands for the people who built their ride for performance??? your whole combo should reflect what you are trying to do with the car. no overdrive and 3.90 or numerically higher, your top end is affected but it works with radical combos to make the most useful power the way its supposed to. i dont have an overdrive, and i run a 3.54, im slow on the freeway but its fine, i drive slow in general until its time to rock. if you build a crazy motor that makes that mid and top power, i believe 3.70 and up is in order to maximize your ability to use that power, isnt it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 FL327, thats totally right. If you have the RPM's built in an engine then definitely a 3.70 or higher numerically wouldn't hurt. For a stock 350 or a TPI engine (stock) that only RPM's up to say 4800-5000 RPM's with something above 3.54 will have you rowing the shifter alot. I have 55 series (only 205's) and a 3.54 and first gear on the T56 is gone before you can blink with the limited RPM my motor currently has, then again the T56 6sp was made to slep that big F-car around and first gear IMHO is rather low to get that big barge rolling. Davy, I think I phrased that right above, but if not yes you are correct, 4.11 would be low gearing, 3.36 would be 'higher' gearing, numerically its the other way around low numerically would be higher gearing and high numerically would be low gearing. Clear as mud no? As Pete mentioned the tires will play a big part in overal gearing too. Using a higher aspect ratio tire can make quite a diference when your talking about overal gearing. Well I'd better get my insomniatic 'rear end' back to bed. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 3 AM?!? You were typing that at 3 AM??? Man, you need some sleep... Hang in there, Buddy, and you'll be home after a while... Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted January 9, 2002 Share Posted January 9, 2002 Enjoy your planning as you say...sometimes it's 95% of the fun and has to tide us over. As others mentioned, if your motor isn't cammed too high with lots of overlap you can use 3.7's down to 3.15's with lots of fun as you're building a torquey mill with very broad power band. Larger/lumpier cam and you'll want 3.54's or higher......some apply gearing of heavier cars which don't really compare as it takes very little torque to move our lighter Z's.....(ie. don't run away from a single plane intake etc or gears thinking you'll be bogged in the hole....) Whether it was my mild 327 or stouter roller 350 with single plane they both had tons'o'torque off idle (with an OEM TC and my built 700R4). For 'planning', I'd scheme on a quaiffe LSD and 3.36's or 3.54's (3.54's being so easily available it's hard not to choose them if you don't have a specific goal requiring 3.36's or lower). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinCA Posted January 10, 2002 Author Share Posted January 10, 2002 hey, thanks for the advice guys... i was thinking of going with a 4-5 speed tranny, manual with a final ratio of 1.00 i was wondering what year, after 77... had the least visile smog components and testable components on a... 350 engine... i had a couple of other questions... but t lost what i wrote...; and now i have forgotten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 12, 2002 Share Posted January 12, 2002 Joe, I ran a 3:54 R200 in my 240Z-L28 Turbo and my feeling was that it was way to low a gear for the power I had in that light car. Car was very "buzzy" at 70 mph. Previously I had run a 1/4 mile time of 13.3/102mph in that car with a non-LSD R180 with 3:36 gears and my buddy could not keep the tires planted if we launched at 5000 rpms. A big V8 with gears lower than 3:54 would probably be a drag to drive (no pun intended) Pardon the plug in the same post, but wanted to mention that I have two of the hard to find 3:36 r200's in stock at the moment in case anyone is looking. Also recently had contact with a source selling new NISMO 3.1 (not 3:15) and 3:36 gear sets for Skyline R200's that wanted to move 5 sets through my ZPARTS.COM website. Pretty pricey, but damn rare to find these days. I am looking for enough persons to create a group purchase to keep prices "within reason?" Eric Neyerlin of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zgeezer Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 Eric, what would "damned pricey" look like today? I am in the market for something numerically lower than the 3:36 I have. g Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boodlefoof Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 Davy is correct. "Lower gears" = numerically higher (4.11, etc) = higher rpms at freeway speeds, but lots of accelleration. "higher gears" = numerically lower (2.56, etc) = lower rpms at freeway speed, but less accelleration. When you've got a boatload of torque anyway... you probably don't need the lower gears to get scooting. As for spinning tires... lower gears are typically associated with spinning tires... but with higher gears if you break them loose... you typically have more trouble regaining traction than with lower gears. About your 383 conversion... I have read some negative reviews of Speed-O-Motive's machine work (balancing, etc). Good luck with the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleMX Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 I know the LS1 has no problem accelerating using 2nd gear starts on a 3.54. Lucky for me it has a .5 OD. If I had a 4 speed manual, even with a big cam, I would be very inclined to go to 3.15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 Really also depends on the usage... My 383 stroker had a T56 backing it and 6th was useless. However, I think the TKO600 with the road race gearing is really going to be nice in my car. It'll tach pretty high, but I'm road coursing the car... If I had it to do over again, I'd build a 355 Chevy SB and go for more revs and less torque. It's fun blowing off the tires shifting from 3-4 at 100MPH, but I'd prefer to hook up and GO!!! My new build will have the Q45 Diff, with 3.54 gears, 26inch tire combo, and the TKO 600 with road race gearing. Good luck! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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