[OCMDGTO]

Wow really cool car! Congrats, guaranteed fun time driving it. Can't say I recognize it coming from a Md Pontiac guy

[4birds]

Congrats on your new acquisition. Super nice looking car. Enjoy it and don't sweat the small stuff. NONE of them are perfect. The important thing is to have fun with it!

[98 SNAKE EATER]

We need more videos of her in action

[Drag Star Le Mans]

Great car!

[455abody]

Congrats what a beaut!! Probably my favorite Poncho of all time.

[unruhjonny]

Congratulations on a great looking (and sounding) car!!

Number matching is great, but not the end-all;
Numbers correct is every bit as good.

I hope you get many miles of enjoyment out of it!!

It's pretty neat that it's an M20/3.73:1 car!
I like spartan interior (no console), with what appears to be the correct non-console shifter arm, and correct black ball shifter handle!!

[jhein]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

Congratulations on a great looking (and sounding) car!!

Number matching is great, but not the end-all;
Numbers correct is every bit as good.

I hope you get many miles of enjoyment out of it!!

It's pretty neat that it's an M20/3.73:1 car!
I like spartan interior (no console), with what appears to be the correct non-console shifter arm, and correct black ball shifter handle!!

Thanks very much! I agree about the numbers matching. I knew it when I bought it. Didn't matter that much to me.

I also had to have a 4spd. I agree that I think the console delete and the short straight shifter look very cool IMO. Looks all business.

Now, the rear gear... It seems that somewhere along the line someone put in 4.10 gears. I kinda noticed right away but again, I was taking in so much I put that aside at the time. Today I had her out again and assuming the tach and speedo are reading correct, I'm doing 3000 rpm at 60 mph with 27 inch tall tires. That seems to suggest 4.10's. I need to verify that but if it's correct that's gonna need to be changed. Way too low of gear for the way I will use the car.

[unruhjonny]

my car is a 3.55:1 car, and I seem to recall being pretty darn close to three grand on the tach at 60mph;
Granted, I never had GPS (ect) to verify what speed I was actually doing...

I just looked it up with 4.10:1 gearing you should be past 3k rpm at 60mph.

https://purperformance.com/p-29669-rpm-calculator.html

[bird72]

Originally Posted by jhein

Now, the rear gear... It seems that somewhere along the line someone put in 4.10 gears. I kinda noticed right away but again, I was taking in so much I put that aside at the time. Today I had her out again and assuming the tach and speedo are reading correct, I'm doing 3000 rpm at 60 mph with 27 inch tall tires. That seems to suggest 4.10's. I need to verify that but if it's correct that's gonna need to be changed. Way too low of gear for the way I will use the car.

You might save 500 rpm with 3.73 vs 4.11 at (75mph+) highway speeds, you still will be 3500 rpm or more. No way out of that box without overdrive or tall gears the car didn't come with.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by bird72

You might save 500 rpm with 3.73 vs 4.11 at (75mph+) highway speeds, you still will be 3500 rpm or more. No way out of that box without overdrive or tall gears the car didn't come with.

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

my car is a 3.55:1 car, and I seem to recall being pretty darn close to three grand on the tach at 60mph;
Granted, I never had GPS (ect) to verify what speed I was actually doing...

I just looked it up with 4.10:1 gearing you should be past 3k rpm at 60mph.

https://purperformance.com/p-29669-rpm-calculator.html

When I run the calculator using 60 mph, 27" tires and 4.11 gear I get 3068 RPM. For 3.73 I get 2785 and for 3.55 I get 2650.

This particular car was optioned with 3.73 gears but I think that 3.55 gears were standard. I get the originality thing but driveability goes a long way and it's easily reversed if needed. Hell, maybe I'll even go 3.42...

[unruhjonny]

if I had a factory 3.73:1 car, I'd be hard pressed to change it.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

if I had a factory 3.73:1 car, I'd be hard pressed to change it.

Yeah, I'll give you that, but what if you had a factory 3.73 car that someone put a set of 4.11's in? In other words, if I'm gonna change it, after it's already been changed what's the difference? Also, I could just tell people it has 3.73's just like the guy who sold it to me!!! Ha ha. Although, honestly, I'm not sure he even knew.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

It's possible the car has enough variance in the speedo & tacho that it could still be the 3.73's inside the axle.
The old "jack it up - spin valve stem 1 exact revolution" and count the exact number of revolutions the u-joint spins.
4 and a bit revolutions would be the 4.11
3 and 3/4 revs , the 3.73
Just for knowing.

After that i would be looking for a 3.07 or 3.31 gear set swap

[jhein]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

It's possible the car has enough variance in the speedo & tacho that it could still be the 3.73's inside the axle.
The old "jack it up - spin valve stem 1 exact revolution" and count the exact number of revolutions the u-joint spins.
4 and a bit revolutions would be the 4.11
3 and 3/4 revs , the 3.73
Just for knowing.

After that i would be looking for a 3.07 or 3.31 gear set swap

Yeah, that's my plan. That's how we used to do it.

[Will]

The 3.23s in my Formula are pretty nice on the freeway.

Just thinking out loud ...

[JSchmitz]

Absolutely beautiful!

[gtospieg]

Maybe leave the rear gears and throw in a new TKX...now that would make for a great driver or occasional weekend warrior at the track. Nice either way.

[71GP76TA]

If you want driveability on the freeway and be able to cruise 75-80.. I'd find a cheap 10 bolt posi with 3.08's and put your low geared 12 bolt on the shelf. That's be the cheapest easist way. My '70 had 3.55's and it sucked on the freeway. My '73 and '75 both have 3.08's and are tolerable at freeway speeds.

[jhein]

3.23 would probably be OK, but I don't think that's available for a 12 bolt and I don't want to change whole rear end. I'm leaning towards the 3.08. If I go to a BFG Radial TA tire that's 26.6" tall, that would give me 2528 rpm @ 65 mph. That seems reasonable to me. I don't think I'll be doing much, if any, interstate driving so 65 mph is about the fastest cruising speed I'll see with any regularity.

[unruhjonny]

I am going to quote myself for a reason that should seem clear in a moment:

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

Congratulations on a great looking (and sounding) car!!

...

I like spartan interior (no console), with what appears to be the correct non-console shifter arm, and correct black ball shifter handle!!

Then you recently wrote this elsewhere:

Originally Posted by jhein

Like what I've read about 70 TAs having the short, straight shifter when ordered without the center console. I read that they were spec'd for the short shifter but supply problems caused them to use whatever they had as the cars came down the line. The car I just got has the short shifter. Is that correct? Maybe. I don't know jack compared to all of you guys. But, I do like the shifter.

It's not a short shifter.

But I need to pause for a moment;
I never know if I should call it a handle, or an arm, or a stick, but for the sake of clarity, I will in the following bit call it a stick, and what I am describing is the chrome plated part that is inserted in the the Hurst shifter mechanism, and has the handle attached to it.

Ok, back on course now;
The shorter factory shifter stick was first used on 1979 model year cars, otherwise the factory used shifter sticks designated by the car and the options;
In the case of 1970 Firebirds:

1) cars with consoles were supposed to receive shifter stick #7244;
This same shifter stick was used on ALL 1972-1978 Firebirds with a Muncie transmission.

2) cars without a console were supposed to receive shifter stick #7945;
This is a straighter stick, that may create the appearance of a shorter shifter.

3) some Firebirds without a console were apparently built with the Camaro shifter stick #7433;
Again, this wasn't a shorter stick per say, but was a more straight unit.

4) the 1979-1981 shifter stick for all four speed Firebirds was #0800;
Some sources say that no 1980 manual transmission Firebirds were made, but those writers forgot about RPO Z49 cars which were destined to Canada, and had some different drivetrains available to them.



In this image, left to right are:
0800, 7945, 7244

I can now see that the 0800 is set a little bit higher in relation to the other two, but hopefully you can see that the 7945 & 7244 put the shifter ball/handle at about the same height off the floor, while the 0800 does indeed move is down closer to the floor.

I believe that my brother has a 7433 in his four speed swapped 1973 Formula, and he quite likes it.

I hope this helps to clarify this for you.