[decooney]

First FE powered Cobra - 3.08 axle / Close Ratio TL, with stock 3-3/8ths input shaft. In a light weight Cobra, the FE had plenty of torque where it was usable, and the final drive in 4th was decent on the freeway. I keep thinking 3.25 ratio would be nice. Car was fast off the line too since it was able to roll off the line without completely blowing the tires off. With a larger cam over 282S it would have too tall of gearing though. It worked okay as long as idling along in traffic for long periods was not required.

Second FE powered Cobra - 3.31 axle / Wide Ratio TL, with custom big input 3-3/8ths input shaft. Works great on the street, taking off from lights is good, like the gear spacing for street better, and can still cruise on the freeway a bit, but not like I could with the former 3.08 setup; 3.31 works on the highway (somewhat okay) IF you have a larger cam that does not mind spinning up the motor a bit more for stretches here and there.... Sometimes I think a .82 5th gear would be nice, but I'm still stuck on the diehard FE-Toploader combo scene; the Toploader is butter so it stays in the ERA!. An in between custom rear 3.25 rear axle ratio with a WR trans might be the sweet spot for me with my motor/cam setup.

After trying different setups, I still believe a well built FE has plenty of torque to pull right through a taller 1st gear / taller rear axle ratio, which I prefer over low gearing or transmissions with a low first gear and just blowing the "street" tires off, thus having a completely useless 1st gear.