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I just went out and purchased a 3.50 differential for my Galaxie and it is all your fault. I know what you are thinking "what, I never mentioned a new differential how could this be my fault?" well let me tell you 
When you questioned me about the 302 I put in the old Gal I wanted to make a complete post so of course I added pictures. Well when I was looking at the two dyno pictures side by side I got to thinking...
My new setup (specifically cam and heads) produces a lot more torque and horse power over all than the old one. BUT it produces less torque and horse power at RPMS less than 3500, so instead of being better off the line it will be slightly worse. The only way to compensate for that is to add mechanical advantage in other words lower gears so I found a complete 3.50:1 carrier to replace the 3.00:1 unit in the car. This should give me much better off the line performance and allow me to more quickly get in to the "butter zone" of power. Best part is with the 5 speed I will still have great cruise-ability on the highway. So the real answer to your question is if you hadn't asked about how I liked my 302 I would not have looked at the dyno graphs side by side and not gone out and purchased the new diff. Of course once I started driving the car I am sure I would have realized all on my own that I needed different rear gears but we will pretend I did not mention that. 
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Ok, I'll take the blame! However, YOU get the blame for me coming down with a bad case of restoration fever. I doubt it can be cured. I have a Saint for a wife, otherwise I'd probably be living in the shed, or worse. This "fever" has cost me waaaaaaay more money than you spent on the differential.
On another note, most of the old Chevy truck guys are replacing their inline 6 with column 3 speed MT with a 350 and AT with overdrive. My truck has the 230ci inline 6 with 88K miles and seems to run good enough to keep in service, so I'm not gonna go the V8 route for now. It would be easier to install AC and PS if I did go V8, but it'd be more work and money too. It has a 3.73 rear and by using online calculators, with 235/75-15 tires I'd be doing 70mph @ 3000 RPMs and 60 mph @ 2600 RPMs.
I've thought about swapping rears but if I do that, well then it'd probably be easier to just go V8 and go all the way and get a Tremec MT with OD and have some fun!
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