a good rear end for my nova

[nova freak 74]

I am 16 and just bought a 74 nova with a strong 350 small block. it has a stock rear end in it. I want something a little more agressive but i dont whant to get too crazy. what is a good rear end ratio for me?

[a1supersport]

It depends on what you want to do...daily driver, 1/4 mile, 1/8 mile. What size tires (in height) are you going to use? Your rearend most likely has 3.08 gears. Upgrading to a 3.73 gear is the common thing to do. But the first question is always, "How much do you want to spend?"

[CivicSlayr]

Yeah, I'm with 1supersport, it depends on what you want to do, for daily driver i would say 3.73's, and for strip i would say 4.11's are tthe hookup

[74novaman]

or if you have the 8.5 like my 74 you can put 3.90 which on the freeway is not to good but your normal driving is awesome and your not spinning 3000 rpm while doing 35 mph.

[Villain281H]

good rearends:
10 bolt 8.5 with 3.08-3.42 gears for everyday driver that may see highway use.
12 bolt with 3.55-3.90 gears for street/strip with minimal highway use.

I have a 12 bolt with 3.73 gears that sees about 4,000-5,000 miles a year and plenty of track use. The gear allows me to cruise the highway at 3500 rpm at 70 mph while still allowing good off-the-line acceleration.

Derek

[76455Firebird]

It all depends on what you need the car to do. Do you drive on the freeway often? Do you want to haul down the quarter? Are you going to be putting any sort of an overdrive transmission in? It just depends.