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Low/High Gears - Yes I read the forum archives!

F

Fiddler's Gold

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On my new 86 highly modified SCCA Solo-II car, I have a question to ask the Vettegods. The PO for some reason kept 2.59 or possibly slightly lower gearing when he spent $$$$ upgrading everything else on the car. With the L98 bored over, polished, ported with all of the mods that are on this car, I would have expected him to lower the gear ratios as well. (6 speed BW, Ripper Shifter to Dana 44) Any advantage for high gears except top-end and less shifting on the lower end?

He mentioned that he kept the high gearing for the following reason, "The high gearing in the rear end allowed me to take off without having to spin out, go much faster without having to shift gears and have better vehicle control while doing power slides."
Does this sound right to you guys and what is your take on this?
This car in its current form has an incredible top-end capability pushing 190MPH. I guess I would sacrifice some of that for lower gears but I don't want to be driving anywhere near top-end and I probably won't be using the car for SCCA racing anytime soon. It primarily will be used on occasion at a local track and as a Friday night date car with my wife and on the weekends sometime. (of course this may change! hehe)

I am bringing it down to a dynojet shop in Baton Rouge so I have a more accurate picture. He says that in its current form, it redlines at ~7000RPMs. (hope this helps) - I will post my results ASAP thereafter.

Thanks for any and all input.
Andy
-=The Fiddler=-
 
Many of the SCCA guys like to not shift... It is really hard to concentrate on driving if you are constantly shifting... Another problem is the launch... if you have low-end gears, and can't get the tires hooked up, they are pretty worthless... see how the car dynos and drives before a gear swap
 
my .02

The 3.73 gears in my car ended the acceleration show very early withthe stock L83; out of power at about 4600rpm. I was very sorry to have changed from the stock 3.07. The stock engines are very torquey down low; hence the gearing changes (CAFE) from earlier years.

Luckily, #7 bearing spun and I had to build a 406. The 6500 limit makes the gears more useful (pleasure driven), but the launch is tricky as I can spin the 315s ANY time in first. This was much more desireable when I was a teen.

For my situation, I'd much rather have 3.36 or 3.5x, even with the O/D.

:w
 

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