My 97 5speed currently just has a vortech v2 with stock gears. I'm guessing 3.27. I forgot I had purchased 3.73 gears for this car. Should I stick with my stock gears or swap them out for the 3.73?
I would first verify what you actually have. You might find that what you have is so close that a change out won't give you much gain for your efforts.
IMHO, verify what you have and likely, keep what ya have......for every .25 gear ration change (1:1).....there is about a 300 rpm change....that will give you a feel of the difference and with the tq the blower is developing, IMHO, the taller gears (yes taller) will actually be faster.
Do you drag race? If so how is traction now? If it's hard to come by 3.73's will be even worse. I have a '95 w a v3 with 3.73's. It's very hard to get off the line with street tires. With the 3.73's I'm into boost (3k rpm) pretty much as soon as I go wot. The "torque hit" comes on strong and fast and if you don't work the clutch and throttle "just so" it'll either bog or spin through 3rd gear. If you get it just right it's fairly quick. I'm not making gobs of power or anything, 334 ft lbs is all. But with 3.73's and street tires it's hard to lay it down because it comes all at once. I finish the 1/8 mile redlining 3rd (around 6k rpm) at a little over 80 mph. I often wish I would've went with 3.27/3.31's instead of the 3.73's. I think it'd be a little easier to live with and I don't think I'd be that much slower.
Alright according to the tag on the diff I've got 3.27 gears. I don't drag race I mostly just use the car for daily driving, rarely get a roll race in, but definitely plan to use this car for some road racing or autocross. I didn't think 3.73s would make 3rd redline around 80. I've redlined my car in 2ND before up to almost 75 and I liked it
Yeah when it was stock with 2.73 gears it would do 70 in second but it took much longer to get their of course. Now it's 80ish in 3rd, 115-120ish in 4th, top speed is now in 5th but unknown. I've had it up to 130 and it was still pulling and had plenty of rpm left to go. Highway cruising is loud and around 2,500.
The 3.73's might be pretty decent for autocross, you could probably run the whole race in 2nd. What kind of power are you making? Do you start getting "into boost" around 3k?
One more thought. The 3.73's would be beneficial in a "roll race" since it'll get you into the powerband quicker no matter what gear you're in. It comes in handy when up against a car that a has a little more power than you at a higher rpm. For instance, I only make 332 hp and 332 tq, but with the 3.73's I can hang with the 2011+ mustangs as long as the road doesn't get too long.
The cons, you'd just be shifting sooner and crusising at a higher rpm. I'd probably pass if it was a daily driver but I'm a weenie.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Ford Mustang Forum
3.7M posts
229.4K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to Ford Mustang owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, builds, modifications, reviews, engine swaps, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!