So I just bought a 1970 442. It has the TH400 with the 455 bored to a 468. The owner said it either has 4.56 or 4.88 gears, I haven't had time to figure out which gears it has. It was built to race the 1/8 mile and I want it for a daily driver now. Any suggestions on what gears to run?? I was thinking 3.73. I'm not going to be driving on the highway a lot but I will occasionally take it on the freeway but I still want it to get up and go.

 

Well I had a mild 455 in a 70 Cutlass with 2.56 gears and still ran a 13.89 @ 90 with it so it all depends on what you want out of the car. It would have come stock with 3.23 gears. That's what I have in my car now and they work just fine. I haven't taken this car to the track but it pulls nicely for sure.

 

Good to know, Thanks. I'm leaning towards 3.55 gears and plan on doing a 20-40 miles on the freeway occasionally. Do you know your shift points with the 3.23 gears? I may be better off going back to 3.23's

 

I don't trust my tach so I don't know what the shift points actually are.

 

i run 4.10s on my caprice and do daily driving with it. as far as the H/O goes it is what ever the stock was for it, dont know if that helps but there ya go lol

 

3.23 if you do highway driving, 3.91 if you don't.

 

My nephew put 3:55's in his '69 with a 494 stroker, and says it's too low for the highway - 3000 RPM @ 65 miles per hour.
But one heck of a street gear! Especially with gobs of torque! It's a Strange 12 bolt.
He's yet to make a pass, but I'm thinking close to 6 grand through the traps @ about 120 MPH!
Low 11's??

 

I run 3:08's behind my 455 in my 57 (heavy car) and it has no problem when I hit the go pedal. bored 30 over 10.5.1 compression with Edelbrock heads full roller set up Cat rods 2800 stall converter. It will fry the tire off the car if I get on it to hard. 2500 rpm 65 MPH

 

I had this debate a few months ago in a thread I posted trying to figure out what the gears are in my 72 442. A lot of talk about it but every seemed to lean towards 3.23's........ I'm still not convinced because I tach 3000rpms @ 65mph. They seem higher to me. I tried counting turns of drive shaft, even changed the rear end oil & checked the Ring Gear. Also, checked the lettering on the tube, still unsure. I had 3.23's in another 72 Cutlass Supreme I owned, but that car was an automatic and didn't have a tach but seemed to run nice on the highway.... Speed limit was 55 back then though. Good luck on comfortable gearing. I'd go with the 3.23's for highway.