Jim,
I had the experience of owning a Muncie M22 4 speed ("Rockcrusher", as it's commonly known) in a 64 fleetside with a 350. The 2.20 ratio first gear makes for a real short transition between shifts. If you wound out 1st gear, then second was almost done. You'd be in second gear only for a few seconds before going to third; and the same from third to fourth. In fact, when winding up first to near max rpms, you'd do much better (from a getting up to speed standpoint) to just go to third then fourth. Then again this tranny was built for stoplight-to-stoplight streetrods and drag racing.
The tranny I now run has almost the exact opposite problem - too much gearing between shifts. 3.09 first gear; 1.67 second gear; 1.00 third, and 0.73 fourth. So the "rockcrusher" had a 2.20 ratio difference between first and fourth and the new tranny has a 3.36 ratio difference. For street driving the wide ratio is much, much more desirable.
-magic mike-
