Henry Rifle,

Thanks a bunch, I value your experience and maybe if I get my roadster running within the next year I can visit you on the way to the beach! I wonder why the 3.27:1 ring and pinion for the 8" rear is so rare and expensive, except that maybe that is what everyone wants and they are out of stock? I only found one site that has 3.27 gears for the 8" Ford rear at a price of $750! Anyway, you offer real data so maybe I need to look at 3.00 instead of 3.55 since the low gear of the 700 R4 is, I believe, 3.06 which is quite a bit lower than low gear in either the TH350 or TH400. Anyway I am trying to learn about the auto trans 4 speed operation. "Experiments" with my '98 Pontiac Sunfire show that there is probably only one setting for shift points at about 3500-4200 rpm, but once in 4th gear you can coast down to about 20 mph and stay in 4th with the tach showing about 1900 rpm. Then you can goose the engine up intermittently with an increase in the tach reading and only a small change in speed, so I think this means the Pontiac (Japanese) 4-speed auto DOES NOT have a lock for 4th gear. Still I get about 24 mpg with the Sunfire, but the performance with a 4 cyl 110 H.P. engine is just slightly better than pathetic! I recall in an old Thread Don Meyer mentioned obtaining a 3.27 rear gear but I don't recall if that was for a 9" rear or and 8". The gear selection seems to be much more readily available in a wide range of ratios for the 9" rear but there is a gap between 3.00 and 3.55 for the 8" rear. I would welcome references to a site for a reasonable price for a 3.27 ring and pinion set for the 8" Ford rear. Thanks Henry, it looks like at least you have ruled out the 3.70 gear if I want to get at least 20 mpg.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder