What gear ratio?
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 3,725
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From: Rochester NY
What gear ratio?
Hi All,
Yet another question. 80 L-82 Auto that will be a cruiser only. A car the wife and I can take on a few hour trip and enjoy our selves. With that said what gear ratio would be the best. I currently have 3.08's. What should I switch to if at all?
Thanks in advance
Joe
Yet another question. 80 L-82 Auto that will be a cruiser only. A car the wife and I can take on a few hour trip and enjoy our selves. With that said what gear ratio would be the best. I currently have 3.08's. What should I switch to if at all?
Thanks in advance
Joe
Pro
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 608
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Re: What gear ratio? (Xracer)
Do you have overdrive??
Do you want to beat that mustang/ ricer in the lane next to you??
Do you just want crusing comfort and gas mileage??
W/ overdrive, I would say go with a 3.70 or 3.93.
To beat the ricer/ 'stang, I would go with a 4.11.
For comfort/ mileage, stay with your current setup.
Now, if you want to see air between the front tires and the ground...
I've heard (rumor) that 450hp with a 4.56 gear and removing the front sway bar is all you'll need.
To me, though, it sounds like you're better off sticking with your current setup.
[Modified by '75 383 ElkGrove, 6:29 PM 11/3/2001]
Do you want to beat that mustang/ ricer in the lane next to you??
Do you just want crusing comfort and gas mileage??
W/ overdrive, I would say go with a 3.70 or 3.93.
To beat the ricer/ 'stang, I would go with a 4.11.
For comfort/ mileage, stay with your current setup.
Now, if you want to see air between the front tires and the ground...
I've heard (rumor) that 450hp with a 4.56 gear and removing the front sway bar is all you'll need.
To me, though, it sounds like you're better off sticking with your current setup.
[Modified by '75 383 ElkGrove, 6:29 PM 11/3/2001]
Safety Car
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 3,631
Likes: 14
From: Fountain Hills AZ
Re: What gear ratio? (Xracer)
Unless you plan engine mods that will result in less low end torque, I wouldn't change them. While lower gears will give more off the line snap, you'll be increasing cruise rpms and those "few hour trips" might not be as pleasant. A higher stall converter can help your low speed performance without hurting highway performance. If your budget allows, a 4spd auto with it's lower 1st and overdrive would improve off the line performance and give lower highway rpms.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,043
Likes: 1
From: Elkhorn WI
Re: What gear ratio? (Red73)
Joe, Put in a 700R4 and 3:73 gears. You'll love it. Rod
http://www.bowtieoverdrives.com/68-81Corvette700R4.htm
http://www.bowtieoverdrives.com/faqs1.htm
Question--I’ve heard that the first gear ratio is much lower then either the TH-350 or TH-400. Is this true, and if so, what effects will this have on my car?
Answer--The first gear ratio of a TH-700R4 is 3.06 to 1. This is 21% lower than the first gear ratio in a TH-350 ( 2.52 to 1). First gear ratio of the TH-700-R-4 is 23% lower than a TH-400 ( 2.48 to 1 ). Maybe the following example will help you make sense of this. These examples don't take into account any torque multiplication may be occurring through the torque converter, they are just to illustrate the numerical gear multiplication
http://www.bowtieoverdrives.com/ratios.htm
[Modified by ylose, 12:15 PM 11/6/2001]
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 2,581
Likes: 14
From: Tolar Texas
Re: What gear ratio? (Xracer)
Go to this calculator at smokemup.com and evaluate some combinations.
http://www.smokemup.com/utilities/calc/mph_range.cfm
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 3,725
Likes: 0
From: Rochester NY
Re: What gear ratio? (Xracer)
Hey Guys and Gals,
Looks like I am going to stay with the 3.08's. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve for some more grunt. But until I am ready to unleash the dogs of horsepower on the car I think that I will keep it as mild as possible. That way I will enjoy the car more. I went the route of 4.56's, 8-inch converter and race gas in my Camaro. I am sure I will never have a car that reacted like that again. 9.41@ 143 with a 60 foot time of 1.29. That is a 0 - 63 mph in just 1.29 seconds according to http://prestage.com/. Besides the wife still needs to take this thing out on the town as well.
Thanks
Joe
Looks like I am going to stay with the 3.08's. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve for some more grunt. But until I am ready to unleash the dogs of horsepower on the car I think that I will keep it as mild as possible. That way I will enjoy the car more. I went the route of 4.56's, 8-inch converter and race gas in my Camaro. I am sure I will never have a car that reacted like that again. 9.41@ 143 with a 60 foot time of 1.29. That is a 0 - 63 mph in just 1.29 seconds according to http://prestage.com/. Besides the wife still needs to take this thing out on the town as well.
Thanks
Joe
Safety Car
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 4,977
Likes: 38
From: Massachusetts , USA,
Re: What gear ratio? (Xracer)
MY 66 big/block has 308 rear gears 2700 RPM = 70 MPH , nice cruisin rear gears , my 427 has tons of tourque ......turned 13.7 @ 102mph with 2.7 60 foot times & no traction.............spend your money on modifications that get you tourque as you drive & feel tourque.......just my 2 cents. :chevy :flag :) :cheers:
