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Maliburevue

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Poor Man's Overdrive

Jim,

I based my comment on Kevin's input. I just checked the buildlist I put together for his car and he is running Toyo Proxes 225/45-15s, 22.9". Even still, if I were to switch to 15" tires, I might go with Toyo Proxes RA1 225/50-15, 23.9". Putting those numbers in my spreadsheet with 2.72 rearend gearing makes for 2678 rpms at 70 mph. Not bad for an investment of $75 for the 2.72 gears and $125 for the fine spline yoke.

Granted this rearend gearing would only be compatible with a wide ratio tranny. Converting a close ratio tranny to the 2.90 wide ratio setup costs me $500 in parts and I have sold several sets of used gears for $200-$250. So for a total of $500 for the tranny conversion ($300) and the rearend gear swap ($200), the highway rpms would be within 100 rpms of a 5 speed at a fraction of the cost.

Not sure what you spent for your 5 speed, but Buck Tripple (at the beach) has a 5-speed setup in one of his Tigers that he did himself very inexpensively. IIRC around $1000.

Gary
 
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