[Jim Vander Wal]

The unfortunate thing about transmission selection, like motor selection is, unless you have prior experience in a similar car, you won't really know what you may or may not like until you've made the selection and driven it.

I started with 3.73 rear gears with a Ford diff, 1st gear was mostly useless, changed to Torsen T2 and 3.27s, a much better combo for my motor. Very pleased but not cheap. I've tried many different lubes and finalized on RedLine MTL. Had Liberty do their mods on the TKO-600 .64 OD, it's OK, not great. It's still a TKO.

I'm considering a T-56 Magnum for the current build, a FFR Challenge Car. IRS and a really short driveshaft, wouldn't even consider it with a solid axle. What I like is the two ODs as it has the option of the "road race" and "street" ratios. Should be able to keep the RPMs in the range for the type of road and driving conditions. I still don't expect to shift into an OD gear when on road tracks, 140 in 4th is plenty. Yup there's a price to pay in $$ and weight (about 35#) in the middle of the car.

I spent a lot of time looking at gearing/speed calculators then comparing this to HP/TQE curves in an attempt to evaluate how it would perform. In the end it was recommendations from friends that had experience that provided the better guidance.

Jim