Hi all. I apologize in advance for the ignorance. I purchased a 69 camaro ss with a procharged 502 4 speed manual. It's not a show piece by any means but is a beautiful car with some great assets. I've noticed a few hack installations that the builder did and am trying to get everything straightened out so I can cruise with the wife and dogs with peace of mind that I won't break down and also be able to have some fun beating on the car without the dogs inside flying around lol. One of my issues is the gear ratios. I can break the tires loose without the clutch in gears 1-3 and still in 4th with the clutch. I top out at about 75 or 80 before it sounds like my motor(502 bb at around 3500rpms or so) and the procharger are just screaming. I'd like to be able to take some low end torque out and add some high end speed. No idea what the guy put in for a transmission or gears and was wondering how I can figure it out myself or a recommendation for rear end gears to install. I looked at a few threads but nothing definite to help me figure out what I have and what a good route to go is. Thanks in advance! Got one of my dream cars and some the gear ratio and fuel pump problems are 2 nightmares I need to fix😁🤙

 

Sounds like you have some pretty low butt gears.
If it were mine I'd be looking at something like 3.55s.
You can find what gears you have by counting the ring and pinion teeth and dividing the pinion number into the ring number.
That's a lot of motor, if it doesn't already have them I'd recommend installing subframe connectors.

 

Thanks for the recommendation! It doesn't have sub frame connectors as far as I know. It does have what I believe are traction bars at the rear end that span a few feet that connect the frame and rear differential. I'll have to pop that rear end cover off when the snow stops slamming us lol. I think it's the factory 12 bolt drum brake probably different gears. Limited slip.

12 bolt diff cover

255/50/15 tires

This is one of the traction bars i believe.

 

Traction bars are even more reason for adding subframe connectors since you are putting more power to the ground, their purpose is to limit body flex which can cause real damage to your cars body.
These cars were not made for the kind of torque you have there.

 

That's a subframe connector. What Procharger are you running? I've got an F2 on my '69 Camaro.

 

Love it! What rear gears you run and do you do highway driving? I have a procharger P600B

 

My car has a 30" tall tire with a 3.50 gear so it cruises on the freeway just fine. Your exhaust looks like 2.5" with muffler shop bends in it. That's a bit small for a 502 without a Procharger. I would change that if you want more power. Here's a pic that a friend snapped on the freeway. I had driven out of town and happened to drive by a friend at about 70. Thanks

 

I'm new to the muscle car scene and had a local shop do a leak down check and swap plugs/oil. They never swapped my supercharger oil but because my fuel pump was mounted incorrectly and has been overheating on drives more than an hr or so he recommends taking that procharger off(offered me a grand for it) and quoted me 4-5k to do a factory sending unit with a new mechanical carburetor. I don't have that extra cash to blow right now so I was gonna roll with the current setup for a year and just do the new rear end gears. The dude who built it mounted it in the trunk with the factory tank and supposedly had to bend a pick up or something to get it in and the fuel guage doesn't read correctly. The shop said the 502 crate motors aren't great and the procharger is just adding wear and tear to my motor. Still trying to get some more opinions on setups. Do you have custom frame/axle support brackets for your hp?

 

I'm new to the muscle car scene and had a local shop do a leak down check and swap plugs/oil. They never swapped my supercharger oil but because my fuel pump was mounted incorrectly and has been overheating on drives more than an hr or so he recommends taking that procharger off(offered me a grand for it) and quoted me 4-5k to do a factory sending unit with a new mechanical carburetor. I don't have that extra cash to blow right now so I was gonna roll with the current setup for a year and just do the new rear end gears. The dude who built it mounted it in the trunk with the factory tank and supposedly had to bend a pick up or something to get it in and the fuel guage doesn't read correctly. The shop said the 502 crate motors aren't great and the procharger is just adding wear and tear to my motor. Still trying to get some more opinions on setups. Do you have custom frame/axle support brackets for your hp?

 

Your fuel pump is heating up? Are you getting vapor lock? Is the pump electric and does it circulate fuel back to the tank? Procharger has a drain hose that you can install in place of the drain plug that will make changing oil in it easier. I don't have any experience with the 502 but I would run it and make improvements as you can. A Procharger is not going to add that much wear and tear unless you are running full throttle all the time. My car has a 427SBC in it and ran mid 9's with this engine before adding the Procharger. It's had the Procharger for almost 7 years. The car has a 10 point cage, weld in subframe connectors, a 9" rear with back brace and gussets around the perches along with a Strange ProHD center and 40 spline axles. It's NHRA legal to run 8.50.

With the tires you have on it now your car is not going to hook. You have subframe connectors which is good since you have a convertible.