Gearing vs turbo

bwest

Drafting, not tailgating
May 18, 2005
502
0
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HippieTown, CA
Something that is being left out of the equation is driving style and conditions. I swapped my 3.91's for a set of 3.73's and the results were both good and bad. General around town and freeway cruising were improved (the revs seemed better matched for the avg road speeds around here). The negative came from spirited driving. Going through the mountains I found there were corners that I needed to downshift an additional gear which put me in the wrong part of the power band for the corner exit, as well as having to shift 2 more times (additional down, additional up). This proved to be more of a problem than the benefit of having an extra 300 rpm (based on mph) in other places.

In reality, ymmv, but that is what I experienced. I miss my 3.91's, but I have a perfectly good 3.73 rear in the car right now (3.91 needs a rebuild) and I already swapped out the drive gear in the tranny to match the 3.73s.

The best of both worlds would be a 6speed, but I can dream...
 

drjonez

Supramania Contributor
Mar 31, 2005
3,061
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18
the motor city
www.4cefed.com
certainly good points....as with most stuff, pick your mods based on YOUR useage.

example b: i'm running a 4.10. while a 3.73 is great on the road, strip and dyno it SUCKS on a short autox course....
 

bwest

Drafting, not tailgating
May 18, 2005
502
0
0
HippieTown, CA
I would love to try a 4.10/ torsen set-up (or anything + torsen for that matter) - but the long runs on the freeway would not work well. I guess that's just more excuse to take the 'scenic' routes...