gear haters...

[85_Capri_4v]

I know Todd. If I am correct you have the red Capri that blew the hood off at about 160 mph. You found my site last year.

[Evil86lx]

Yeah yeah. I forget about the "other" car sometimes.

kyle

[todd scribner]

yea,that's me.i now have a 78 fairmont wagon with a windsor.

[82HATCH]

I be the preacher of speed & I sayeth prone before the Lord almighty....

Don't fear the gear......

Now.... Can I get an Amen there brother?

Amen!

[85_stangerbanger]

i have 4:10 gears and i love them, they made a big difference over the 3.55 gears (which i have setting in a box) On the and off the bottle the 4:10's are for me.. they put me in my power band faster and that is waht it is all about in drag racing..I don't want to cruise down the hwy at 100 mph so my set up works for me..Also not to start anything but i have raced other cars with close to the same set-up as me but had 3:55 gears and all they seem to do at the track is play catch up but by that time i am across the line..

[Hissing Cobra]

I am also a firm believer in "Don't Fear The Gear". However, you really should see where your car makes it peak power on the dyno and choose a gear that will allow your car to be at peak power rpm while going through the traps at the track (if you're going to build it for drag racing).

When I first raced my car, I had the original rearend in it. The factory upper and lower control arms, as well as the weak 7.5 rearend and 3.45 gears remained. I took it to the track and could only muster a 13.3 @ 102 in that configuration.

We then installed aftermarket upper and lower control arms, drag shocks, rear airbags, Detroit Locker unit, 4.30 gears and ET Streets. I was then able to launch at 5K without any tire spin and regularly run 12.40's-12.80's @ 107-110 mph. I made peak power on the dyno @ 6,400 rpms and cross the line in 4th gear @ 6,200 rpms (close enough).

[v8only]

I cant stand a T5 street driven mustang with anything more than 3.55's unless its got a whole crap ton of mods that have moved the meat of the powerband up a couple thousand RPM.

Its like driving an asthma attack around that does great burnouts.

Well damn if that didn't say it all. that's nearly sig quote material. When I swapped the 3.73 turbocoupe rear into my bone stock 86 gt vert, it was just that, a tire smoking asthma machine. First thing I did was nail the pedal, and within .5 of a second I was at the end of the red zone in the tach, and my motor screaming at me. I did that maybe 3 times in a row b4 I realized 1st gear only lasts 2 seconds.

I'm really hoping with this gt40p setup, it winds up a lot more, as I'm not digging the gear at all without a motor that can rev.

[mmb617]

Another vote for "don't fear the gear". I have 3.73's now, but will probably go with something steeper eventually, but then I don't do any highway driving. I don't know where the peak powerband is in my car, but it pulls hard to 6k, that's as far as I've taken it.

[embler]

that is one drawback to having any thing steeper than 3.55s. 1st becomes a granny gear. I had 3.73s in my 88 and most of the time just started off in second. the tranny went out and I couldn't afford to fix it at the time, I only had 4th and reverse. I drove it around like that for a week before it finished breaking. thing is, if you don't like shifting all the time like you have to do with steeper gears, then get an automatic.

[MHISSTC]

If you want to check different gear ratio combos without actually doing any wrenching or driving, download a copy of the program called "CARTEST". It's free and fun. I used it to check out several gear combos in my as yet unfinished NASA CMC '85 GT. I found some of the results very surprising. It's a lot cheaper than the trial and error method.

My coworker and I entered the specifics on his supercharged SRT10 RAM pickup along with another known truck combo...and dang if we didn't come out right on the money when we drag raced his pickup against the other truck in the software. The results were almost to the tenth of what both trucks ran at Bandimere recently. You can even tweak the program to account for different density altitudes and a multitude of other variables that boggle the mind.

Very cool stuff and a potential money saver.

[AT6svo]

In my 81, I have a regular .68 OD T5 with 3:90's (IRS) and cruisng on the freeways at 70 blows.

Even the 90 w the same trans and 3:55's is not to my taste.

Gimme 3:27's or a T56 and life would be much mo' betta

Or even just a plain ol T5 with a .5 OD would be nice...

[stockhatch]

My old '88 had the lower geared T5, and it was just fine with 4.10s. The 2.95/.63 first T5 I have now is a PITA! WAAAAAY too tall IMHO, though I do have the stock 2.73s in the rear. I cant even use 5th unless Im doing 70, due to the motor lugging so badly. I plan on going with 4.10s again, even with a turbo down the road. If you spin too much in first, get stickier tires is all I can say.

[Schlodes]

I know I am not V8 like the majority, however when I wanted to go from 3.45s in my 84 SVO to the 3.73s everyone had been talking about how they disliked upping the gear ont a turboford due to the 4 cyl T5 gear ratios, but I went with my gvut and intstalled my 3.73s, and boy what a difference!!!! Even with a 3.97 1st gear, and 3.73s out back I still use up first good at the track. It went from leaving off the 6400 limiter w/ 3.45s and 7.5" rear and cutting mid/low 1.80s and pulling the wheels to consistent all day long and running 106.8 MPH/12.90s @ 23 PSI to cutting 1.60s all day, best is 1.67, and with 25 PSI and the 3.73s is in the 12.20-12.30s all day and 110.8 MPH.

Keep in mind the engine in this car is 22 years old, stock, ditto for the turbo stock T3 so this car runs out of steam aroiund 56-5700. And even with the steeper 4cyl T5 ratios the 3.73s on a 26" tire kick arsss.