Going to change to 4.10 ratio...

[Skant]

I've figured out enough about the RPMs and various speeds and all that. I want the 4.10's.

The question now is specifically how...

I talked with Corvette Connection in Campbell... seems to be a real good place. They told me they've done a lot of 4.10 swaps. But he did say that they normally do make some noise. They usually use Richmond gears (which I think are known to be strong but noisy). They seemed to say it wasn't too bad though.

I mentioned to them the suggestion about using Viper 4.10 gears so that it would be quiet, and they said they'd never tried that before, so they couldn't tell me.

I guess what I'm worried about is that I'll dump a bunch of money into this... be pleased with the new ratio... but be too annoyed by continual high pitched whining.

One person I know told me the sound they make is more like a neat sounding howl that isn't very loud at all. He described it as sounding like the Airwolf from that old super helicopter show. If that's really the case then I guess I'm not too concerned. I'm afraid of having an annoying/bad variety of noise.

The ZF6 tranny already makes all sorts of whirrs and whines, and that doesn't really bother me. I guess if the richmond gears sound like that or less, I maybe wouldn't be bothered. As long as it's not high pitched, you know? I mean, the vette is just not a whisper quiet car at all... but the sounds it makes are not annoying ones.

But then maybe having the differential make noise at all is avoidable. It sounds like getting the Viper gears may be the answer. But has this really been done or just talked about? Can someone tell me that they really did this (or had it done) and it worked out?

I need a good solid and specific solution here that I can tell Corvette Connection to do for me.

Thanks in advance for any advice! This forum has been a wonderful boon for owning this vette!

- Skant

 

[Speedy]

I have gone through several sets of 3.73's in my '99 F-body (similar to your car). The stock ratio was 3.23. I have had Strange and GM Motive gears. As long as the gear swap is done by any decent shop, the whine will be very minimal and, in my opinion, sounds pretty cool. My friend had 4.10's in his '00 TA and they didn't whine too bad. I actually like a little gear whine, it gives your car caracter. I haven't done the gears in my Vette yet, so I don't really have any experience with the Dana set up right now...just trying to help out. The gears shouldn't annoy you if the car is already remotely noisy.

Jeff

 

[sothpaw]

Jeff,
Why did you go though several gear sets? Did you break them?

 

[Speedy]

Yeah, the F-body has a pretty small rear end gear. It's pretty inadequate for the power that the car is making.

 

[JT ZR-Won]

When I had my '85, I had Richmond 3.75's installed in my DANA 36. You're right about the howling noise. It only happened when making a sharp turn or aroung 40-45mph going in a straight line. It wasn't all the time at all and it never bothered me. I've looked into 4.10's for my ZR-1 and I know a bunch of other guys running Dana Super 44 gears. I heard these were really good gears.

Jay

 

[Speedy]

I know that it's off the subject, but that's a beautiful car JT.