Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary?
 

Hi Guys,
I have an 03' Coupe and it doesn't have the preformace axle or the Z51 handling package.
I wondering if I should considering upgrading to some stiffer springs and sway bars? Also, what differences are you guys seeing with the upgraded gear ratio? I've been told by the Dealer it's minimal.
Let me know what you think....
Thanks in advnce,
Ron

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (Ron West)
 

It all depends on what you want to do with the car, if you just want to enjoy driving it then leave it stock, but if you want to open it up every once in a while then I'd definitely upgrade the gears, even going with a 3.15 rear gear will give you a big SOTP improvement. :cheers:

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (Ron West)
 

just put my swaybars on.
had base susp. swaybars are a must!

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (Ron West)
 

2.73 gears are turtle gears. A 3.15, or better yet, a 3.42 gear will wake your car up and make it move like a Corvette should move..... :yesnod: :yesnod:

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (BiggieBoy)
 

Personally I like "Turtle gears" ;)

They give me great gas milage, makes it MUCH easier to get off the line on the street when you simply MUST launch on that pesky car reving next to you. And it doesnt seem to have hurt my times much at all. I will never put gears in this car. Someday i will get another converter, but not gears. 2.73s are actually pretty sweet for a daily driver.

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (F8LPONY)
 

Glad you are satisfied w/ the 2.73's. Speaking for myself---I had 2.73's in my '98 for 2 years. Then had 3.42 gears installed. It was like having a totally different car----as I noted above, your car will really wake up w/ lower ratio (higher number) gearing. Good luck. :)

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (Ron West)
 

I purchased my 2001 C5 convertible new and, having owned 3 vettes, decided I was not all that happy with the F45 suspension. So....went to Vette Brakes and Products, purchased an 800# front bowspring, a 560# rear bowspring, went to Ken Fitschner and purchased a 2002 Z06 front/rear sway bar kit with aluminum end links.

Now my C5 corners like it's on rails, competes with the Z06 in autocross (I love to autocross) and the ride quality is just as good as it always was. I retained the F45 kit and it works well with the suspension upgrades.

As for the rear gear. Well, my 2001 C5 is a MN6 so I already have a 3:42 rearend. But, my 1993 40th convertible automatic had a 2:73 rear gear. Great gas mileage - about 30 on the highway, but slow off the line.

My 1989 coupe was strictly a street racer. Automatic with a 3:08 rearend. I changed out to a 3:73 rearend - what a huge difference! Launched off the line like a scalded ape :D

My 2001 does get great mileage with the 3:42 gear. My wife I took one of our longer road trips this summer and travelled 4800 miles. The C5 averaged 29.6 mpg while cruising at 85 mph. Not too shabby :)

Your call, but if you are going to go to the trouble to change out the rearend, go for the 3:42. It'll really makes a difference in acceleration.

Enjoy :seeya

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (F8LPONY)
 

F8LPONY:

2000 C5 Coupe, NBM, A4, 2.73s, BlackWing, Z06 Ti exhaust, X-pipe. 12.73@110.4mph 1.9260'.


Geez... that must be a record! How does your virtually stock A4 (esp. with 2.73's) get into the 12's @ 110mph?!!! That's unbelievable.

Cheers,
Ian.

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (jeanlucpicard)
 

Thank you, Everyone for the feedback.
Where's the best place to buy the gears and sway bars from?

Also, any recomendations for install shops here in Los Angeles is appreciated. Unfourtunely, I don't have a setup to do it myself.
Thanks,
Ron

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (F8LPONY)
 

To each his own. But in my view, sticky tires, 3.73's and hi stall converter will get the ricer disappearing in your rear view mirror running back to Pep Boys for an even bigger fart can for his exhaust!
Most acknowledge gears and converter to be the best bang for the buck mod you can do on an A4. You won't believe how much more you enjoy punching it! The problem is it does become addictive.


[Modified by c5grandsport, 10:41 PM 9/27/2003]

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (i_york)
 

I doubt it is a record but I admit it is a very good time for the mods done. I can't remember what the DA was off the top of my head but I know it wasn't great but not bad either. I will go through my very large stack of timeslips and try to find it and get it scanned if in doubt. If I cen get the slip I can get you the DA for the day but I know it was in the 80s temp wise. Here are a couple links to posts I madse awhile back asking about the fastest "stockish" auto C5s.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=578927

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=587899

Post when I first ran this ET
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=584010

Anyway, I guess Vette must REALLY differe from F-bods in that gears make such a big difference in the 1/4 because when i went from 2.73s to 3.73s in my T/A I couldnt reallly tell a difference in ET, even my 60' wasn't much better. Out of curiousity how many of you have actually ran the car, installed the gears and ran it again, did the DA calculations and measured a marked improvment? or is it all SOTP? Because if there is data to prove you gain more than 2 10ths of a second in ET from a gear swap then I'd be all for it since we all know lower gears do feel much better :) Keep in mind I did have a 00' T/A with 3.73s, H/C, nitrous and a Yank PT-4400 (11.65@116 1.57 60' N/A) so I am very familiar with a gear and TC swap.

*Before some of you get your panties in a bunch keep in mind I am not saying you are wrong, just stating my opinion on the matter* ;)


[Modified by F8LPONY, 8:06 PM 9/27/2003]

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (Ron West)
 

Try Andy at A&A http://www.aandacorvette.com/ He's a supporting vendor and is rapidly becoming the west coast LS1 performance guru. His shop is in Ventura, NW of LA, and he has done gears for many of our members.

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (fdxpilot)
 

Hey Ron,

Andy at A&A just did my A4 AE Coupe. See my post from Saturday. Did the 3.42 Gears, Hotchkis Sway Bars and a lot more. One thing I'm not sure about is the compatability of the F55 suspension--MSRC and the Hotchkis Sway Bars; Z55s ? (Z06-Stock) are a little less stiff and might have been a better way to go. The final LS1 Edit Tune will be tomorrow, but right now, it is what I expected in a Corvette. BTW are you going on SoCal Cruize VIII this Saturday? If so, I'll see you there and we'll share some lies! :thumbs:

mtv

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (Mviola)
 

That's great! Let me know how that setup works out for you. I just ordered my Z06 shocks, and sway bars are next.
Hopefully no computer recalibrating is necessary, I assume?
Send me the details on the cruise.
Thanks

:steering:

Re: Gear ratio & sway bar upgrades... are they necessary? (Ron West)
 

For gear swaps? You bet there is. ;) Dealer can handle it if you opt for 3.15 otherwise you'll need aftermarket help.