[OneBadTransAm]

i have a 79 pontiac 301 in my trans am with the factory th350 3 speed in it.. i was wondering what would be the best transmission/rear end gear for it? i also have the factory rearend gears as well

[AutoGear]

Well what do you want to do with the car? 'Best' depends on the application. a TH350 and some 3.55:1 rear gears makes a good all around driver.

For a little more money, a quality built and adjusted 700-r4 with some 3.73:1s makes a great all around car.

Or a brand new muncie 4speed and whatever gears you want; there are gearsets to accomodate everything from 3.08s to 4.88s

[joshp83]

the th 350 is good are u sure its not a th200 though some 301 tas had them but i think it was 1980 like the last post stated 3.55 is probley the lowest u want to go with a 3 speed a 200r4 or 700 would be a nice swap though

[joe_padavano]

The best trans to use? Any one that comes with a 455 Pontiac bolted to it already.

OK, seriously, given the wimpy 301, I would suggest a 200-4R. It's nearly a bolt-in (you need to adapt a TH400 crossmember from an early 2nd gen F-body, but otherwise your existing driveshaft works fine). The 200-4R has a 2.74:1 first gear vs. 2.52:1 for the TH350. This alone will help off the line acceleration with your stock gears. Even better, the 0.67:1 fourth gear will let you run steeper rear gears while still lower freeway RPMs. Most 200-4Rs came with the dual bolt pattern bellhousing, so it bolts directly to your 301.