Considering a TC and gear swap for my 97 coupe. I want to keep reasonable street manners but I'd like to light up the tires when I stomp on it. What effect would adding a higher stall TC to a new rear end have on street manners?

a) Where do you guys get your new gears?
b) how much is a reaonable price for new gears (parts only)
c) What TC/Gear ratio combo has worked for you?

 

RPM!!!

I'm running 3:73's w/3600 stall. Makes the car a Lot more fun to drive. I started with the 2:73's which sucked!!! Do you have the 2:73's?

Here is there pricing/stages: http://www.rpmtransmissions.com/differentials.html

 

Put intake, exhaust, a 3.42 diff, a Yank 3200 TC, tranny cooler, AR headers and an Elite tunnel plate in the wif's C5 and it totally transformed the car to where even I like driving it. She has no trouble controlling it and she's still on runflats. I can, of course, spin the tires at will with this combo.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...tml?highlight=

 

3.73s, Yank SS3200, cooler (and a few other thing-see sig) here and loving it all! The Yank SS series of converters are great.
Ed

 

some info here:
http://mikemercury.home.att.net/342.htm

and here:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...-da-floor.html

 

I really like the TC you posted. I will probably go with that one sincei have much of the same preferences you did.

How much did the 3.42 from LAPD set you back?

 

Radio
3.42s are one of the best all around gears (great performance, great hwy rpms and gas mileage)I got both my wife's and my gears here on the forum for great prices. I bought my TC here used (barely) and my wife's from a vendor.
There are some great prices here on gears, just make sure you are buying from someone with good feedback.

 

$980 shipped for the non Z06 version (but that was 7 years ago). I've read that the Z06 3.42 (with hardened gears) can be bought new for about $1100.

 

I've heard the overdrive gear ratio remains the same regardless of what rear end you're using. This means I should be able to keep the same highway milage i have now with the new gears.

Is this correct?

 

"I've heard"

You don't need to talk to him/her anymore.

 

Absolutely incorrect.

A diff has a fixed ratio. Assuming you're going 3.42 or 3.73 (most popular options). Transmissions have different gears, so in overdrive, the ratio is .7:1 (overdrive is any gear less than 1). 3rd gear is 1:1. Take the transmission gear your in and multiply by the differential gear ratio.

Or even easier, just take the old/new gear ratios. For example, going from a 2.73 to a 3.42 is a 3.42/2.73=1.25 or 25% change.

This means you'll have 25% more torque applied at the wheels (exactly what you want for more punch) but it comes at the cost of 25% more RPM's for the same speed. Since an engine and car in general are very non-linear, it is very hard to extrapolate exactly what that means to gas milage, but one thing is certain, you WILL lose gas milage. It won't be much, but you may notice it. You're driving style and conditions will determine how much. Torque converters exacerbate that effect and hurt fuel economy even more. Since they allow more slipping, you'll have to run higher revs on average. I don't want to alarm you, you may loose 1-3mpg.

With that said.....DO IT!!!!! It's worth every penny. I went with a new Z06 3.42's and a Yank SS3200 stall for the C5. Perfect combo for everyday driving and with that, it can be hard to even hook up (granted my tires are shot). For the TransAm, I put 3.73's and Yank SS3600 stall, but that was also more to match my cam selection. Both are completely streetable (ok, maybe the 23x/23x 112lsa cam is a bit much for the street ).

 

He was the one who asked the question in the first place.

 

Most places I've seen are charging $1300+ now. And shipping is a pretty penny to be tacked on as well.

 

no; not even close.

 

I'm almost certain 3.73 wold get me in trouble....

3.42 sounds like a good upgrade from what i'm certain is the base gearing (not sure what that ratio is)

How much more effort would it be to do a gear swap at the same time as the TC swap? I know they're in the same general area, but I'd like to get an idea of how much work is involved. I will NOT be doing this install myself (transmissions hate me ) Thankfully Tyler (of stealthvettes/pavlock performance) has family in the transmission business.

 

The link I posted above shows you it's virtually no extra work to pop in a TC at the same time as a gear swap. No need to pull the whole torque tube as I did though - you can tilt it down and pull the diff and tranny out to swap in the new TC and diff pretty easily. You should install a tranny cooler while you're at it and you'll need a tune to adjust shift points and possibly pressures as well as disabling a couple of codes.

Btw, your A4 came with either a 2.73 or 3.15 diff ratio from the factory. Check your options sticker to determine which.

 

I have 3.42 gears and Vigilante 2800 stall. Probably pretty comparable to the 3.42s with Yank 3200 stall that Patches described above. Very good street manners and quick. A bit louder than before the TC install as it is at higher RPM before the TC locks up.

 

I believe mine was a base model with the 2.73 gears. Where is the options sticker and what is the code difference between 2.73 and 3.15?

If i did go with the new TC, It would be the one Mike Mercury reccomended. No external cooler needed.

 

http://mikemercury.home.att.net/ratio.htm

 

I went with the converter Mike Mercury suggested after I had already installed a 3.42 rearend and I couldn't be happier, thanks mike. I did have to get rid of the Ti exhaust and go to Corsa Touring to quiet down the hiway cruise after the gear change. At 2500 rpm the Ti get a little loud for my taste.