I can honestly say the two best upgrades done to my 1953 1/2 ton are the 261 swap for the 216, and the 4-speed swap for the 3-speed. Hands down, the floor shift wins, but the compound low 1st gear is useless for road use. I use 2-3-4 for road driving. I've run mine up to about 55, that's the fastest I want to push this driveline and don't feel the truck would be at all safe above that speed. I too have considered the 3.55 rear end conversion, but seeing that mine is not a daily driver nor am I needing to go 65 mph+ in it, so the stock 4.11's work just fine for me.
