One Reason I Chose 3:55's

[Kenneth Krieger]

Weekend before last we had the Route 66 Fun Run from Seligman, AZ to Kingman, AZ on old Route 66. This was my 4th year, and we organized to have the AZ Region Viper Club use this as an event for May. We had 10 Vipers in all (The 3 previous years I had the only viper on the cruise!), and there were 822 registered cars for the "run". The weather was perfect and we then stopped in Kingman where they close off the downtown area and have the cars park for a "Show "n" Shine".

For the most part I took it easy as far as speed with the exception of one passing of 8 cars on a straight away that I could see for a few miles ahead. Passed the cars and looked down and was bumping 160 mph and my wife said, "aren't you going a little fast?" That was a blast to say the least.

I said all that to say this.....we went from 1,100 ft in altitude in Phoenix, to over 7,200 ft altitude in Flagstaff, then back to about 3,500ft in Kingman, then back to Phoenix for an overall trip of 480 miles. I used 6th gear most of the time, and cruised at about 1,700 rpm at 80 mph. My car has the Paxton S/C, and 3:55's and I ran "up the hill" with no down shifting what so ever. I kept records of the milage, and when I got back to Phoenix I averaged 22.4 mpg for the entire trip! I was obviously pleased with a car that has 700 rwhp getting that kind of milage! It actually does as well as my high output Turbo'd PT Cruiser on the highway for milage!

Who says Viper's can't get great gas milage with the big V-10?

 

[Dom426h]

wow, assuming your calculation method is legit, that is awesome!

i still havnt seen over 15 with stock gears NA. but then again i havnt had her on a long road trip yet. i got a 24mile commute to work but always get stuck behind people on rt1 keeping me in 5th @ around 60mph. or i leave an hour early to make the trip at 80-90mph.

i'd like to drive someones with 3:55's or whatever comes between that and the stock 3.07's to see if it would be benificial to me.

 

[TorQ Junkie]

The last time mileage was discussed with respect to 3.55's, it seemed that only the speedometer is corrected by the little black box. If you check the mile markers with your odometer, you'll see the mileage clicking by faster than the markers.
It might be an issue when you try to the sell the car later.

 

[ROCKET62]

Ken,

Thanks for the input. I finally have my SRT on the road and it is amazing. That being said, I have thought more than once that a set of gears would really wake it up. I had 3:73's in my '93 Viper which I thought was just a bit steep.

I'm torn on changing out the gears just yet as I'm a little unsure of future power adders like a Paxton. Many seem to think stock gearing works well with the Paxton, and a few like yourself have no issues with 3:55's and the paxton. Been thinking that 3:33 might be just right - although I just want to drive the heck out of it now - so this could be a winter project.

Thanks again for the filters!

TorQ - it's my understanding that the "little black box" in only required on the Gen 1/2 as the Gen 3 grabs the speed from the wheels.