Lower rear end gear ratio question??

[Bob Pommer]

Has anyone played around with slightly shorter rear end gearing... Given this beast does 60 in 1st 88 in second 124 in third, and 157 in fourth, I have to believe that the 0-150 times would be improved bigtime. Even if you drop the gears down by a modest 10%, you are still doing roughly 54 in 1st, 80 in second, and 110 in 3rd and 141 in 4th gear.. These are still pretty tall. This would make the car feel like it had additional torque (Like it needs it...) roughly 578ft, lbs. 3rd gear on the highway from 60 to 100 would be improved big time. for cruising in 6th, at 80 you turn around 1200revs, this would jump to aprox 1300. Not big deal on gas mileage or noise and drivability.

I wonder what the net effect of the shorter gears, but extra shift would do to 0-60 and qtr mile???

Inquireing minds want to know...

 

[SRTRICK]

Traditionally, from what I have seen on the old Gen I & II site, lowering the gears have hurt quarter mile times, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be better for certain applications. I have thought about playing around with lower gears for autocrossing to have a better range of torque in second gear. You loose too much punch at lower speeds when shifting to second, and lowering the o/a drivw would help this. At the racetrack, it would depend on the track and what kind of times you were turning - that's why traditional formula car racers often have three to eight sets of gears for various tracks & conditions.

 

[Marv S]

Three sites to check out are:

http://www.socalviper.org/techtips/gears.html


http://www.socalviper.org/techtips/TT10.HTM

http://chuckware.net/viper/gears.asp

 

[Bob Pommer]

Marv S. Thanks for the information on the torque multiplication effects. I never truely understood how that worked. the techtips/gears page is the best explaination I have ever seen. Thanks..

 

[Marv S]

Glad that worked for you, Bob. Dave's article is one of the archive classics. The other is his take on the effect on the NACA duct, but that's another story.....

 

[Twosnakes]

Greetings,
I am new to this forum, so here is my two cents.
I have 3.73s in my 97 GTS and love 'em. Yes it is tricky comming of the line with Streets, but practice makes perfect. Also the accelleration from 40 to 120mph is incredable. (many Highway Kills!)
Also , on the gear sites, there is no 6th gear top speed mentioned with the gear mods. ??? I believe you can, with lower gears (3.55 or 3.73)achieve a higher speed in 6th!

 

[GR8_ASP]

I think for most of us you would require 4.11 gears before sixth would come in as useable for top speed. I believe a 4.54 in sixth is the same as 3.07 in fifth. A 4.54 gear would be radical. I remember having it in a 70 Chevelle and top speed was very low (course top transmision ratio was 1:1).