What gear???

This is shot at Joey becasue he's dealing with the same issues as I am. He may have it figured out. I am open to listen to anyone though that may enlighten me. 3300 pound car with big block Chevy. I have 456's in it now but that is way too much gear. The engine is not pushing any where the HP that Joe is but I may buy some heads this summer to try to upgrade it some. What gear would you run? It is a toss up to me between 373's and a set of 390's I think the set up I have would be best with 373 but I'm going to run 29" tall slicks and those are pretty tall for most cars. I'll also shoot some juice through it to. The car DOES NOT have any problem hooking up. The car could handle a 500 HP dump off the line without traction problems. I could get the front wheels up with the 355 in it a few years ago. So It plants the wheels good. Problem is not red lighting through the traps and giving me enough off the line gear that it doesn't struggle with the launch. I hope this make sence. .
So what I;m feeling is a set of 373 if I run 26- 27' slick and 390 gears if I go with a 28 or 29" slick. What do you think?

I would go for some 3.55s with a 29" or 3.42s with a 28".......its funny how the taller gear really works better.....back in the day when we all wanted 4.11 or 4.56 behind the high revin small blocks but that 454 with the long 4 inch stroke has the torque to get the car going without the steap gears and once its out of the hole the tall gear just lets it keep drawing......i figured that out with the 3.30s and a 28" slick

Do you think the 3.55 would give it enough out of the hole? 3500 stall. I was a little worried about it lugging with that low(hi) of a gear. Not sure I'm getting my words out right. Like it's not in the power band and it being below it and having to pull 1k below the power band and not be able to take full advantage of the power band if it was right at the start of it.
I know this is not making sence to most. Before with the bird with the small block it was a holeshot car. I liked it that way. I don't think too many cars came out of the hole that hard on the street. I only raced a few cars and busted them but I never got a go at anything real fast. Dumping the 454 in there the car is set up wrong for sure. I feel the cars power but it's not letting it use it with all that gear.
The GTO ran pretty good with the slicks on it. But it had a 3.55 in it and it was a catch up car. I blew the rearend and put a 3.23 back in it. The car was a dog out of the hole but man it would pull very hard after it was doing 40 MPH. It always cought them on top end. I don't want the Bird to be a catch em at half track car. So getting as much gear to let it holeshoot but not so much that it gives it a problem pulling.
What converter are you using Joe? Above a 35?
I guess in a nut shell... Do you think a 3.73 would not let it draw compared to a 3.55?

I think the 3.73 would be fine for ya but i wouldnt go any lower than that. I had 4.56s in the nova for a long time back when i had the hi reving small block and with the 454 for quite awhile.It worked but what i reallized was i was just running the big block alot harder than i needed at no gain.The motor in the car now jumps on 8000 rpm right now so i thought i would try the steap gears again but it ran about the same time ....i put 3.55s in there and short shift it around 6500 and it ran just as good as the low gears but had a faster mph...we ran outta time this summer but im gonna play around with the combo some more next year....I was more aggravated with crank preasure and blowing oil out the valve cover draft tubes ......i may pull it back apart and put in a set of gapless rings to address the problem.....

http://www.wallaceracing.com/Calculators.htm

There are several gear related calculators here. Plug in some numbers and see what you can come up with.

cool link. Thanks Kevin...