Gears

[ohiodoc]

What gears come on a Gen 1 viper? How much do a set of 3:55 or 4:10 gears cost? I might go with 4:10 for drag racing.

 

[Daffy Duck Viper]

3.07 gears

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[J DAWG]

What gears come on a Gen 1 viper? How much do a set of 3:55 or 4:10 gears cost? I might go with 4:10 for drag racing.

There's a guy who advertises in the classifieds complete diffs for a very resonable price. No need to worry about swapping gears, just get a complete rear end and you can have both.

IMO I would stick with 3.55's, but as I have read different posts of those with gears there did not seem to be a significant improvement in times at the track. On the street they seemed to make a difference since the cars were usually rolling.

 

[joe117]

You don't want anything bigger than a 3.55 for drags.

 

[Jack B]

Ohiodoc:

Most Corvette speed shop can do the gear set up. The C5 vettes also use the Super 44's. Buy the gears from Unitrax, they are great to deal with. Joe117 is right, 3.55 max for the strip and maybe even better would be 3.33's

 

[Snake Bitten]

Jack B...What is your opinion on 3.45's...and a taller tire??? (345's)

 

[ohiodoc]

What will a stock gen 1 viper run with 3:55 gears in stead of stock?

 

[joe117]

Well, that's a good question. I think the general thought is that a stock gen1 will be easier to launch with 3.55 but the 3.55 will cause you to make one more shift.
The gears don't do anything much for your 1/4 mile times. They just make the car a little better for street driving.
6th becomes useable at about 67 instead of 80, the car has more SOTP power around town.

 

[Jack B]

The gears can mean something for ET's if you improve your 60' time. That means that you must have absolute traction and that typically only comes with a bias ply tire like a Mickey Thompson ET.

I put in 3.33's in because I wanted to finish the quarter in 4th. I also had a little bog (with MT ET's)when launching under 4000, so I thought the 3.33's would help. Much to my surprise the difference was very noticeable and it is only 8 1/2% difference. In either the NA or NOS mode the 3.33's have made 4th gear a perfect street gear at highway speeds. I don't like the spacing up to 5th gear and personally feel that any higher gear is somewhat of a hindrance if it forces me to use 5th gear while racing whether on the street or strip.

Take a look at some of the posts by "pauls". Paul runs consistent 1.4 sec, 60' times (in the low 11's)with bolt-ons and 3.55's, of course with MT ET's. He even did a 1.3 sec at Beechbend. It is true, I saw the run.

As far as a Gen 1, it is harder to launch because of the suspension and in many cases more torque than a Gen 2.

Here are some interesting numbers. I measured three different rear tires, all with good rubber depth:

Mickey Thompson ET's: 26.6"
Pilots: 25.5
Kumho Ecsta's: 25.75

Because of the one inch plus difference the ET's effectively reduce the overall ratio by about 4%. In other words 3.07's become 2.95's, or 3.55's become 3.40's.

 

[joe117]

Jack, what rpm are you turning at "highway speeds", say 65mph, in 4th?
Seems like it would be quite a bit more than I would want to turn for just driving down the highway.

 

[V10 MOJO]

paul s also "loads" his drivetrain via line loc by pushing into the second staging light via lineloc. i cannot figure out how to do this but im sure thats a big reason for his incredible low 60' times.

 

[ohiodoc]

Well I don't plan on doing lots of modifications. I just want to increase my time as cheap as possible with out NOS.

 

[Jack B]

Joe117:

the 3'33's increase your rpm's by about 200 at 65 mph. Approximately 2650 to 2850.

 

[RedGTS]

I'm running 345/30/19 tires with stock gears. What does that convert my overall gear ratio to? (I think the tires are 1.7" taller than stock). 2.80 or something? I have the Roe blower, but don't really have serious traction problems from a roll, even in 1st and 2nd, which may be a result of the taller tires. I'm considering going to 3.55's, which in my case would work more like 3.33's I suppose. Any thoughts?

 

[Snake Bitten]

Well I don't plan on doing lots of modifications. I just want to increase my time as cheap as possible with out NOS.

Just get on the spray already...even a 100 shot will feel like a brand new g/f...cheap, safe, effective hp...

 

[joe117]

Jack,
I didn't think there would be much difference between the 3.33 and stock, I was just wondering if you really go down the highway at 2650 to 2850 RPM?

Do you?

 

[Jack B]

RedGTS:

If the 3.45's are 1.7 inches taller than the pilots (25.4 approx))that equate to a 6.7 % gearing decrease, which turns the 3.55's into 3.31's. Another example, at 6000 rpm's in fourth, the speed will change from 148 to 158 with a tire 1.7" over the Pilot norm of 25.4. That number comes from the Chuckware viper speed calculator.

Joe117:

I don't know the reason, however. they is a marked difference in the 3.33's over the stock gears. The car physically seems more alive. I don't have to look at the tach to know there was a change, you can feel it. Maybe if Toofast sees this post he can chime in, he is running 3.33's.

 

[RedGTS]

Thanks Jack. BTW, am I correct that my indicated speed is now also off ~6.7%? So if my speedometer says 100, I'm actually doing closer to 107? How does the speedometer calculate speed on a Viper, anyway, from the tranny or what?

 

[Jack B]

Yes - you are indicating lower than actual

 

[joe117]

Jack,
You have my question mixed up with someone else, I was just wondering if you really go down the highway at 2650 to 2850 RPM in 4t gear?

Also, are the 3.45's really 1.7 inches taller than the pilots?

 

[RedGTS]

Joe, according to the Pilot specs on Tirerack's website, the 335/30/18 is 25.7" tall, and the 345/30/19 is 27.4" tall. Which makes sense because you're running a 1" larger wheel and a slightly wider tire, within the same series (30), so you've got the 1" increase in height from the wheel and slightly wider sidewalls to increase the height as well.