WhatsaMatterYou (I nickname everybody...
)
As our dearly departed President Reagan used to say: "Well...there you go again."
Actually, many of us are quite happy with 3.31 gearsets with the wide ratio toploader for overall goodness...on the street. A 3.54 tends to necessitate the close ratio, which is not really necessary given the torque. We're not running big cubed loafers...our stroked Shelbys (4.250) are at 484 cubes with very lumpy camming and 10.5 to 1 compressions (suitable for pump gas). BTW, my motor was built by Boghosian, and was built up next to Smith's own original FE to very nearly the same specs...he having more compression most notably.
I do have a bit of experience with something akin to your prefered combination. For several years, I ran a Butler (an old marque based on the older Arntz) with a high winding 351C and a Tremec 5 spd, jag rear and revised MG frontend. As you may know, the drivetrain in the Arntz/Butlers are significantly set back, with the front of the engine dead even with the side exhaust openings. An extremely good handling car that felt at home in tight autocrosses as well as mountain roads and tight tracks.
Comparing it to the Shelby motored Kirkham, without any non-"stock" setback, may be somewhat surprizing to others. I find the Kirkham handles every bit as well, if not better due to better shocks and tires, in every venue I have used it in. Now, while I will allow that the Cleveland motor is certainly heavier than the 289-302-351W family, the setback brought the f-r balance to darn near dead even (something on the order of 51/49%). I did not expect these results. I imagined I would be giving up something in the handling. I was extremely surprized to find that I did not.
The "lust" you imagine we unwashed have for the BB is not, by any means, a dizzying thing that blinds us. I must say that taking the Cleveland to 7K on a regular basis and having more gears to play with was a wonderful thing, but not any more so than taking the BB to 6K when necessary while being pressed back into the seat while maintaining the ability to cruize along at 2K without fault (a bit low for the Cleveland).
We are products of our past, and having been raised with big motors and torque certainly is different than being nurtured by revs and shifts. Then again, I would imagine that many thought the 289 to be a ponderous thing compared to the Bristol or even Ford six.
Trevor
Dick is a hero to many of us, mainly due to the uncanny knack he and others who drove these beasts in anger have for being just darn nice folk. Smitty was a contract pilot for one of my corporate farming clients back when the saddle leather on my briefcase was unblemished, and as a Chevy lover at that time, I was not overly impressed with his Cobra stories, especially since I never particularly liked that ugly front bumper of his. I knew the man before I knew his Cobra.
The roads you drove here are wonderful things. That was 395 you took up the back wall of the Sierra (Hollywood's standin for the Himalayas). I'm pretty sure the hillclimb must've been the Mt. Rose road or even the Kingsbury Grade, somewhat near where the Fliptop Cobra now resides. Then again, I'm sure the old man taking my toll on the one lane levee on the way to Portmeiron still wonders why I smiled so broadly after spending several hours driving from Cardiff.
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