Ok...Stumbled upon this site by pure accident and have been checking it out for the past couple of hours and decided there is a pretty good knowledge base here to hopefully help me figure out a few things about my recently purchased 83 Camaro.Let me start by saying I am by no means a mechanic but also not complete retard.(Somewhere in-beetween)So heres the first delema....

The prvious owner swapped in a 350(4 Barrel Carb)(This is not the dilema)He said it was originally a 4 cyl...So I like the 350 but there seems to be a problem with either the tranny or the rear end gearing. In first gear I have to shift immediately or it winds out really bad...second gear as well. I've actually discovered I can start from a dead stop in 4th Gear (As if it were 1st gear)andI find this real unusual also it seems to be winding out at around 60 to 65 MPH(No Tach just sounds really RPM'y).The previous owner saysit is the stock trannybut is un-sure if rear gears have been changed ....which brings me to my 2nd and 3rd question?
How do I find out what the stock tranny is and what the stock gear ratio is. More Impotrant would be how do I identify which tranny I do have and what gear ratio I should be at now that its a V8.I dont want a race car but dont want a 65 MPH car either!
Sorry for being long winded....
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!...Dan