Gear Ratio Tutorial
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 93
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From: Brandon FL
Gear Ratio Tutorial
Help. are my 3.07 gears sufficient? Like many others I want my '80 to be as high performance as reasonably possible. That being said, I'm in desperate need of a new rear spring. I'll definitely go fiberglass. Which one I get is dependent upon my differential. Will I be happy with 3.07s once I go high performance? All I know about gearing is at 3.07s I get better gas mileage. Is that the only advantage? Thanks
Racer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 369
Likes: 0
From: Millington TN
Re: Gear Ratio Tutorial (Tonwoo28)
3.07 will give the car a high top speed and will cruise at 60-75 at a low RPM.
This is fine if you like the current acceleration.
If you want faster acceleration, you need a bigger gear such as a 3.5, 3.9, 4.11. This will increase you off line performace, however, you will lose a little top end and you will cruise at the 60-75 area around 3000 RPMs.
Your gear selection will be baised on several things. Weight of car, HP of engine, type/size tires(How much traction you will have) and most of all, what aspect of the cars performace you wish to increase.
a 3.36 i beleive is the best all purpose gear. It a middle of the road sorta gear. With mild engine it will have nice acceleration and you will be able to cruise at highway speeds with a descent RPM.
This is fine if you like the current acceleration.
If you want faster acceleration, you need a bigger gear such as a 3.5, 3.9, 4.11. This will increase you off line performace, however, you will lose a little top end and you will cruise at the 60-75 area around 3000 RPMs.
Your gear selection will be baised on several things. Weight of car, HP of engine, type/size tires(How much traction you will have) and most of all, what aspect of the cars performace you wish to increase.
a 3.36 i beleive is the best all purpose gear. It a middle of the road sorta gear. With mild engine it will have nice acceleration and you will be able to cruise at highway speeds with a descent RPM.
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 43,136
Likes: 155
From: Thomson Georgia
Re: Gear Ratio Tutorial (honaker)
I went from a 3:08 to a 3:73 and could not be happier.....I have a reasonable amount of mods to the car and wanted it to stay in the power band....before the car was sluggish off the line and now it really launches ..I do not do a lot of top end driving though
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,003
Likes: 0
From: toledo oh
Re: Gear Ratio Tutorial (Tonwoo28)
i have a spread sheet that allows you to do some comparisons based on transmission gearing, rear gear, tire size and tire size. Basically it will give you the speed for a particular setup at a particular RPM. You can then compare the different performances. Bear in mind, HP and torque are not factored into the equation.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 19,610
Likes: 778
From: Forked River NJ
Re: Gear Ratio Tutorial (DaddyO)
Yes and no. If you have dial indicators and access to a press and some patience it can be done. They have to have the correct backlash and the gear pattern has to be set right. If these are not done correctly the rear will howl and you will have a noisy rear. While your in there you might as well replace thebearings and the clutch pack to freshen everything up.
