Ok, gears are in. Mine is a base/6spd. The 3.90s end up putting you at pretty much the same place as the Z51 in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th. 4th is approx 15 percent lower and 5th 11 percent lower. IMO its perfect. As I have said I was seriously considering Z51 to get the gears but decided to go this way because I felt it, overall, was better gearing. I am very pleased. Pulls noticeably better in 4th and 5th and the whole thing feels to my mind, just right. Neither too high nor too low. Reccomended break in procedure from the manufacturer was to keep the speed below 65 mph max, very speed, maintain low load and low rpms for 20 miles or 30 minutes and then to stop and allow a 45 minute cooling cycle. Repeat the same again and then not to apply heavy throttle for 300 miles. One can argue as to overkill or not on the break in but considering the cost of the parts and labor I followed it exactly as written. The installation was done by Malby Motorsports. Good guys. They got the paint pattern during setup perfect, just like the picture. Takes a little screwing around to get them setup just right and watching the process I became really glad that I had gone to a reputable shop with a lot of experiance at this. So thats about it guys. I'll be glad when I get the 300 miles on so I can properly flog it.

 

That sounds awesome
Let us know how the 3.90's work out. The *** dyno should notice a little better performance after you do you break in.

Fred

 

I put 4.10 gears in my C5, and loved them, even my wife loved the change. New gears are definitely the best mod you can do for any car with the standard 6-speed ratios. I'm thinking about a 3.77 rear for my Z51 C6, it would get me close to the 4.10 ratio in the C5.

 

Have you had the chance to run the quarter mile with the factory gears? I would just like to see a good before/after with a gear swap.

Also, if you wouldn't mind, would you PM me with the price you paid for the gears and install?

Thanks

 

Alright, sounds awesome! Glad all went well...btw, the headers are on order and plan to have those guys do the install as well. Always good to hear positive comments about the caliber of their work.

 

I found gears from 350 to a bit over 600. I got the expensive ones that were shot peened, etc. Labor was 6 hrs at the shop rate of 75 bucks per. A couple hours of that was used up in setup on the gears. Also time consuming was getting the exhaust lined up again, that was about a half hour. Then there was the test drive, go back and look for leaks and recheck the level. Its a bit of a process and I would think most any shop would need 5 hours or so minimum unless they were very experianced at the job. I had never seen it done and now having done so I would highly reccomend that you go to a shop with both substantial corvette and gear experiance. Good ol WA state sales tax added 8. some odd percent. The paperwork guy was on a run and he couldnt figure out how to charge me for fluids so he tossed them in gratis. I didnt quarter my car. A forum member did run the numbers and said it should be about the same ET as the Z51 and 1 mph higher trap. My purpose was to get the best feel out on the road (IMO, others of course might like more or less gear) rather than the best gear for the quarter. And Kreuzen, even Julie knew you were going to get the headers when I told her about the GP. Maltbys is a pretty interesting shop. Hes got a half dozen vipers in various states of dissasemble that he is working on for customers from around the country. Stuff everywhere because were talking one frame off restoration, one complete rewire etc. Not what I would call a neat and clean shop and I was a little alarmed till they got to work at which point I could see that they really knew what they were doing.

 

Sounds like you just bought the ring and pinion set instead of an entire diff. Where did you end up buying them from?

 

Maltbys got em, they were able to get a better price than I was. I dont know who they used. I asked around on getting a new diff versus just the gears. Since my car is only going to get headers/intake and tune and I have no intention of ever mounting drag radials the smart people told me I would be fine with just the gears.