About 3 years ago I put the original 4 speed back in my 1969 442. I made the mistake of putting a close ratio gear set in the transmission, thinking it would be cool to have the RPM close between gear changes. The thing I didn't think about was how much clutch slipping it takes to get this thing going from a stop. It seems to idle about 30mph in first.

Will swapping the gear set to a wide ratio change first gear by a bunch? Everything else works excellent. I just don't like first gear. Its a mostly original car, so I don't plan to put a 5 or 6 speed in it.

BTW the car has 3:73 rear gears and a pretty tall rear tire.

Thanks!

Going from the 2.20 first gear of the close ratio box to the 2.52 first gear in the wide ratio box makes a noticeable difference in getting moving from a dead stop. I think the drop in rpm percentage between the first three gears is about the same between both boxes with the wide ratio box having a larger drop from third to fourth. I had a close ratio trans and 3.31 gears in my Camaro at one time. You almost didn't need to shift out of first gear until you got on the freeway.

 

Cool, thanks for the information.

 

Using a 2.20 low Muncie is like taking off in 2nd gear. Get a Super T-10 with a 2.88 low gear it makes a huge difference in performance.

 

Absolutely! Best bang-for-buck you can do!

 

Thanks for the help guys. I ordered the wide ratio cluster and input gears and took it apart yesterday. Doesn't seem like its too tough of a job besides placing all the needle bearings that fell out.

A super T-10 sounds like it would of been fun with that 2:88 first gear!

 

Make a doll the same length as cluster and just the right size to push through front hole on case. That way you can load up bearings, washers and set complete assembly in case. Use main shaft pin and push doll out front of case. This way everything stays in place and makes life easier. Sell Muncie and buy Super T10 2.88 first is great and bolts right in place

 

Man, you're right. I attempted to put that cluster in 5 times yesterday. I had to sand down the thrust washers .001 each to get it to spin free after assembly. The new gears don't use the tube. The tube is actually machined into the cluster gear. The needles stuck good using the red assembly grease I ordered with the gear set. Finally got it together and saw a needle bearing laying under the housing. Back out again. The 5th time all went perfectly. Hopefully it will be done today.

 

I have a 1st design cast iron ST-10 trans In my Camaro. I wish I knew the gears are in it. I think my trans was an over the counter replacement trans so there wasn’t much info about it. I do know 1st gear is low Numerically and it’s not the best with 3.42 rear gears. If I remember correctly, the input shaft has 2 rings on it. If I had a 2nd design ST-10, I think that would mean it had a 2.43 1st gear.

 

Friend had a Super T-10 w/ 2.88 1st and 3.54’s in the rear. Fast car. Smoked a lot of chevy’s with this 401 Gremlin. He took the ST-10 out and put in a 2.20 1st gear trans as he was selling the car and wanted to keep the ST-10. Man, that thing was kind of a dog after that change.

 

Wow, 2.20 first gear sucks... lol With a Ford Toploader, the close ratio is 2.32 and the wide is 2.78.

The only application I'd use a close ratio box in might be road racing. Street is FAR more fun with the wide. Wide works better at the track as well. No idea why Ford made ALL of the big in/out Toploaders close ratio... unless it was the big blocks with the tiny tires of the time. Still, I'd rather have the wide.

Good Luck!

 

What a difference! Took it for a nice ride today and its back to being fun again! I also replaced an "offshore" flywheel with an externally balanced billet and that made a huge difference in the vibration the car had.

Not fiddling with the Vette in my avatar has given me more time to work on correcting things I have let go for years on my 442. I've been trying to find the time to change the gear set and flywheel for 5 years....LOL

 

Place all greased needle bearing assembly's in the freezer before final assmbly. You are welcome.

 

I did buy the better red assembly grease. It surprised me how good that held the needle bearings.

Heck, I buffed it and waxed it and put the cover back on it. I might drive it once it cools off down here. 95 degrees is not fun driving a non-ac muscle car.

 

Had a ’69 Mach 1 with 290 HP 351W and wide ratio 4-speed (2.78 low). Didn’t know any better and thought I had the “bad” transmission as a “close ratio” sounded like it must be better for racing. Right? Lol. At that age I thought a 2.78 should be better but all the serious muscle cars had 2.20 or so 1st gears.
Now I race with a Jerico and I think a lot of Class racers have to much 1st gear and I’ve gone the opposite...don’t have a 3.19 like many. Have had good results with a 3.02 and just changed to a 2.93.

 

My 70 Chevelle has the original M-22 in it, with the original 3.31's out back. Yeah, it sucks taking off, even worse in reverse. When I use to drag race it years ago, I had a ST-10 with a 2.64 first gear, and 3.73's, a lot more fun.
I still have an original ST-10 Power Brute AS9T10Y on my shelf. Sold over the counter at speed shops, back in the days for the 4 speed racers, that were tearing up Muncies. Has an Iron case, nickel gears, 2.88 first. Use to run it in my 10 second Elky till I stumbled across a deal on my 2.93 first gear G-Force.
Here's some good info no ST-10's.

Borg Warner Second Design ST

 

Where did you purchase the gear set?