dork

I"m hoping I can adjust fairly quickly to the flywheel's feel so it isn't as poor a feature at stoplights that everyone's early reports claim. The majority of users seem to think the adjustment period and clutch feel is worth it in the end.

As to SC'ing with a lower gear, I don't think lower gears would interfere with my plans. I've been leery from the outset about supercharging my car only because of the remoteness of service/speed shops. I've been leaning much more towards H/C/I for dependability's sake, and the good thing is, if I do end up playing around with more mods, this change to 3.90 won't hurt there. Thanks, Patches, for that caution.

Forcedvert

Maybe it's just my thinking but if you are going from a roll couldn't you just downshift further and keep the 342s, either way you are going to be at higher rpms, I think a lot of the people doing just gears are in a4 with a really bad 273 rear... the 342 or any rear make a much bigger difference to them! I'm not sure this makes total sense on highway (not from dig) in a car with a manual trans. I would get a few more opinions on that if I was you.
Good luck

Sorry for the sarcasm in post earlier, It was an attempt at humor, I thought maybe your wife read the forum and you were trying to justify why you need a sc on a commuter car.... most people drive a Prius for that.

Again a attempt at humor!

Rob Petyo

1 more vote for the heads / cam car

dork

No worries on the humor, Forced. From the responses in this thread alone, I'm now 90% sure that I won't H/C/I unless I do it for fun. SC isn't a consideration anymore at all. The other 10%... 95rtturbo already suggested that I try downshifting from 6th to 3rd instead of 4th. I've not tried that yet; when I do, that performance will tell me everything. I, too, think it could be enough, but only a couple trials will tell if I'd be satisfied. It just never occurred to me to skip 2 gears to find the torque I want--blind spot to it, I guess. Going 'up' through the gears, I know there's plenty of leeway there; I think I remember winding 3rd out to between 80-90; with that, there should be enough low end in 3rd to "dig me out" of the right lane. I don't even remember 3rd protesting at those speeds. (In that sense, I've never "tested" the car; I don't know what it can do--I should wind it out and shift at redline at least once, but I baby my baby.) Thank you.

Milan

I would do a vararam and headers and a tune if you don't have them yet. That transformed my car compared ri stock. Combined with gears its going to move out. If that's not enough you can always add heads and a cam.

Once that becomes not enough you will be in over your head like the rest of us anyway lol

schpenxel

Or skip the small stuff (which adds up to quite a bit of money per hp) and get a SC and be done with it

reactor2

I vote heads, cam, intake, supercharger, and NOS!!

HP_Addict

I agree start with gears. Best bang for your buck. 3.90s will work well with your Z. Then do the easy stuff intake & headers and tune. This will definitely wake the car up and still be reliable and streetable. In a few years when you get tired of that get a SC or H/C. Drive the car and enjoy.

BTW lightweight flywheels are great for road racing but the heavier steel are preferred for drag racing and street driving. Sale the lightweight one.