Question about upgrading Gears?

[james97gts]

Eldiablo posted on another forum web page
about gears and it seemed really interesting. Any thoughts about this. Is it worth the money. Seemed pretty good to me

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

I like the stock gears. I had 3:55's in a 97GTS and would not do it again for street or open track driving schools. I really like 6th at 60++MPH.

Do a search to see a ton of opinions.

 

[joe117]

If you are going to use your car for mostly street driving, I'd say to go for the 3.55 gears. I did it to my 94 and it's easier to drive around town and you will be able to get into 6th gear at 65mph instead of 80mph. I did it. I like it.
If you are going to road race or drag race, you will probably find most of the experts on this board will tell you to stay with the 3.07 gears. Most of that advice will center around shift points.

I would say that 3.73 gears would be too much. That's just an educated guess.

The web page states that getting 21% more torque from a gear change is the same as getting the extra torque from an engine mod. I don't think that is a very good analogy. It's not really the same even if the rear wheel torque number is the same. If you get 21% more torque out of the engine with a mod, you will see a higher horsepower number. Gears will not give you a higher horsepower reading on the dyno.

 

[joe117]

Fred,
I have 3.55 and I get 6th at 65mph. I could never drive my 94 at 65mph in 6th with the 3.07 gear ratio. How do you do it? What rpm do you see at 65mph with a 3.07 in 6th?

 

[Ron Hickey]

A gear change is one of the most cost-effective "bang-for-the-buck" mods you can do. 3.55 is a good all-around choice, especially if your engine is mostly stock. With an extra 100 HP you could have more wheelspin, and a shorter gear like 3.33 or 3.45 might be a better choice; also, 3.55 could require a shift into 5th at the dragstrip if you're making a lot of extra power and have a high trap speed. On a road course, you might find yourself shifting an awful lot. But if your primary intent is to improve your seat-of-the-pants feel for street driving, the 3.55's are the way to go.

 

[james97gts]

Thanks for all your answers. It most of the seat of the pants feel for street driving then anything else.