Need Gear Advise

[dancorrell]

I'm eventually putting in a new rear end and I'm not sure what the best gears would be for auto-x. Kinda leaning toward 3.55, but maybe 3.73. I still want to drive it on the street and to events out of town (and not blow it up driving around the Arrowhead parking lot). If I remember correctly, Jim put in 3.73's and thought it was too much - or is that a feel thing? Maybe he simply broke his steering wheel to gas pedal string. Any help would be great.
:thx:

[dtheo]

Dan,

I'd go with the 3.55's. I have 3.73's and its a bit much for any interstate driving I do. At 70mph, i am at 2500rpm but I don't do much interstate and I don't drive it daily. For a some what daily driver, 3.55's worked best for me in my old cobra, but for any long lasting track car I'd go with the 3.73's or higher. Either case, its just gas money you are paying for and more work for your engine to endure.

Dave

[cobraaph]

Hey Dan,

You may remember that I am running 3.73's and I like them a lot. I have always heard that the 5.0's need to run 1 or 2 gearing steps below (i.e. 3.55 or 3.27) the mod motors to get similar results (I think it has to do with where the power comes on in the rev range as well as the redline).

Sounds like you are slowly building that car up. I got a nice box today from Maximum Motorsports with control arms and coil-overs for the rear. This weekend should be fun.

Al H

[KS 82 GT]

Yeah, that 4-banger rear I put in last summer had 3.73's and with the 14" wheels and not being traction-lok and that combination made those off camber slolums really interesting. :gnarly: I'm sure the new shocks coupled with the original 1982 struts helped matters as well.

I'm putting 3.73's in the rear that I'm building, but I'm also taking into consideration that I'm going to be running 17" wheels and tires that are about 3" taller than what I had. I picked up the 3.73's with the axle, otherwise I more than likely would've gone with the 3.55's. Hopefully I'll have traction-lok this time around.

[MFE]

With 3.55's I almost never have to leave 2nd gear, and I like that. There's only a few times a season where I have to even consider going to 3rd, then I usually don't because it'll just upset the car. Perfect. 3.73's would force that issue much more often. We don't have the luxury of sky-high powerbands and redlines like the DOHC guys do.

[99cobra2881]

We don't have the luxury of sky-high powerbands and redlines like the DOHC guys do.

:woot: 4.30s r fun :woot: