[Dirty Harry]

Sounds like you're on your way. I've always liked dealing with SVM. I called for Dana the other day and missed him, but another fellow cheerfully answered my question. On your axle ratio...I've got a 3.25 and I can steam the 295's all the way through 1st, part of the way through 2nd, and chirp 'em in 3rd. All with a mild small block and a 5 sp. If I were you, I'd stay with what you've got until you drive the car a few hundred miles. It's kinda nice on a quiet evening to bump it up into 5th and let the revs fall to 1800 at 55 mph. In-car conversation can resume and the car almost becomes semi-civilized.