I have a 350 in my camaro with a stock rear end. I am trying to get a little more punch out of it and was wondering if 356's would need any rear end work or if I would have to tighten the suspension down at all to handle the 350 for now?

The plan is to drop a 427 with 500-550 horses in it sometime next year, and I was wondering if the 356's would be also able to handle the hp coming from the 427?

 

The gear ratio has very little to do with whether the rear end will handle the horsepower. The ratio of 356:1 is a pretty decent ratio for either engine, and a nice range for both street and highway. The 427 can handle a lot higher geared rearend (lower number) than the 350, as it's extra torquedoesn't need a low range rear gears.
What you need to handle any engine with lots of HP is a rearend in good condition, and positraction, or a locker.

 

I didn't think they made 3.56 gears for a 1971 - 1981 8.5 but for a 1967 - 1970 8.2 rear they made a 3.55 IIRC. Is this a Ford 9 you're putting it in?

 

no its my 79 camaro...a friend told me that 356 was what i would want to maintain the highway miles instead of a 4.11..it has 2.92's right now and I am trying to figure out how to give it a little more power off the line...so i was told to get a set of 3.56's

 

If it's the stock rear end it's a 10 bolt (8.5"). As far as I know they don't make 3.55 gears for it. They make 3.42 then go to 3.70 and 3.73. You can get 3.55 gears for a 12 bolt (8.875").

 

Yeah, I've always seen it jump from 3.42 (what I have) to 3.73 gears. I really wanted a set of 3.55 or 3.6 gears but those only come in 8.2 ten bolts IIRC.

 

Ok so what would you recommend if it is a stock rear-end... I kind of want to be able to keep some highway driveability, but i also want to get it to jump off the line...is there a medium ratio that would offer both? From the sounds of things I should shoot for the 3.55 or the 3.73?

 

If you want highway driveability I'd go with the 3.42 with a small block, or 3.31 with a big block. I'm running 3.31 in mine with the 427 and it cruises at around 2,000 at 55-60 mph.

 

I have a 308 and want to convert it to posi. How is this done and where can I get the parts for it. I want good tracktion and good city/highway cruising. It seems from what Ive read above the 3.42 is the way to go. Please help

 

If you haven't ever done it before then I would suggest reading up on it before event thinking about the parts. A lot of the tolerances for setting up a rear end are within the thousandsth of and inch (.001 of an inch) and requires a certain set of tools. Even after reading up on it and watching any DVD's you can buy I would suggest doing it with someone who has done it before. It's definantly something that requires a lot of attention to detail.