Bought new gears; what can I expect the car to be like after install?

[1987stangman]

In the last year I held off buying any improvements for my 87' GT but I recently decided to upgrade the stock rear-end so I bought a set of Ford Racing 3:55's. I was wondering what I can expect out of the car after the swap which I will do Saturday. I always heard that it was money well spent.

 

[ryan218]

whats in it now? 2.73's 3.08's ect?

depending on whats in there you will feel a difference.

 

[wythors]

If you don't have the proper experience and tools to do the install, you can expect a lot of noise from the rear end and a very short lifetime of your new gears.

3.55's will give you a nice seat-of-the-pants improvement in accelleration.

 

[Fett]

As mentioned above, it all depends on what ratio you have now. If you have 3.08s, you won't feel as much of a difference by going 3.55s. From my experience, if you go up (actually down) two sizes, that is when you can really feel it.

I went from 2.XX (can't remember what they were) to 3.73 and it was a pretty solid difference. By going to 4.10s (my next step), I don't expect to feel much of a difference...but I should see something small at the track with my new slicks.

 

[mob]

you wont notice much of a difference.

 

[Aliate X]

going from 3.08's to 4.10s i noticed a big difference, not sure how 3.55's will be.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Well, jumping from 3.08's to 3.55's would be a two-step increase, because there's always 3.27's in between. Not as dramatic a jump as going to 3.73's or 4.10's, of course, but still...

Oh, how I long for the day when I can throw some 3.73's on my '86...

 

[1987stangman]

whats in it now? 2.73's 3.08's ect?

depending on whats in there you will feel a difference.

Just the 2:73's. I would have went with 3:73's only this car is going to be my daily driver for at least another year from now and I drive about 28 miles to work abd 28 back so I'm getting raped in gas even now.

An to answer you wythors, My level of expertise on cars is not that limited, but thanks for the advice.

 

[Foxfan88]

i think you will notice some more acceleration in the lower gears. with with the 3.55 ratio it should still drive easy and tame on the highway. i say good choice.

IMO gears are OVERRATED bad, they do help but its not the OMG PLASTERED IN THE SEAT type of mod. it does help some, especially with a stock engine but what you gain in the lower gears is all lost on the top end, usually blasting through the powerband way to fast and not being able to hold out your gears and have to let out of once your going like 120 since the car runs out of steam.

IMO going with LOWER gears like 4.10 for a 5.0 car (unless your car makes power at HIGH HIGH rpm like 6000+ plus) is silly sure it will give that decent SOTP feel in first and second but if you have a stock engine that stops pulling at 5k its pointless the car will have guts from stoplight to stoplight but will get out run on the big end because it puts you out the powerband. not to mention when a car starts actually making good power the situation only multiplies except the stoplight to stoplight sotp feel is replaced with spinning tires and being at the end of 4th gear before you know it.

now if your run a 4.6 its different their rpm band it higher than a 5.0 and they need gears to get their rpms up. also if you run pure drag where you need to dial in your gears to cross the line right when your done making power. thats when you need LOW gears.

gears to me dont really like a POWER gain it feels like changing the gears on the multispeed bicycle. your just moving the power around in a way, but not increasing it. and IMO wont make a stock engine that much better. sure a few tenths in the 1/4 but the engine is still stock and a set of gears wont magically make the car some alive. if you want real POWER gains add a set of heads or a blower or n20 that will give you the real sotp gain.

sorry for the rant but i had to get my 2 cents in lol i always seem to drift on and express my views on stuff.

 

[wythors]

An to answer you wythors, My level of expertise on cars is not that limited, but thanks for the advice.

But have you ever installed gears? Do you know how to set pinion depth and back lash? My level of expertise on cars is quite high, but I know my limitations and leave stuff like gears to people that know what they're doing.

 

[bloopbloob]

i think you will notice some more acceleration in the lower gears. with with the 3.55 ratio it should still drive easy and tame on the highway. i say good choice.

IMO gears are OVERRATED bad, they do help but its not the OMG PLASTERED IN THE SEAT type of mod. it does help some, especially with a stock engine but what you gain in the lower gears is all lost on the top end, usually blasting through the powerband way to fast and not being able to hold out your gears and have to let out of once your going like 120 since the car runs out of steam.

IMO going with LOWER gears like 4.10 for a 5.0 car (unless your car makes power at HIGH HIGH rpm like 6000+ plus) is silly sure it will give that decent SOTP feel in first and second but if you have a stock engine that stops pulling at 5k its pointless the car will have guts from stoplight to stoplight but will get out run on the big end because it puts you out the powerband. not to mention when a car starts actually making good power the situation only multiplies except the stoplight to stoplight sotp feel is replaced with spinning tires and being at the end of 4th gear before you know it.

+1
my 2:73 to 3:73 wasn't what i expected at all. i think it's hyped way too much. glad i did it, but i agree with almost everything you stated.

 

[redneck15431]

I went from 3.08's to 3.73's last year on my car, and it was probably one of the best things I have ever done to my car. I think you made a good choice by going 3.55's since you will have more low end grunt and still be fairly calm on the highway. I did a H/C/I last year also before I done the gears and I lost a little bit of low end, and by going with 3.73's I got it back. I'm not really concerned about economy on my car..it's just my weekend ride so using extra gas didn't bother me a bit. 3.55's was a good choice for you though in my opinion.

 

[Strippt88]

Stangman, I went from the 3.08 to the 3.55 with mine back in 89, loved the new, yet managable, kick it gave me at the bottom end. Winds up lots faster than the smaller gear, but you can use o/d if your cruising on the big road. I liked it, and yes, you'll feel it. It'll keep you guessing, til you're used to it, where the power is at on your tach, but you'll like it. I have 3.73's now, about as big as I would ever go for a driver. I couldn't imagine trying to keep 4.10's from smoking up every time I left a light, and would dread any precipitation, but my 5.0 is retired to fun duty- I did my time trying to be fast, now its for fun. Good choice!

 

[ryan218]

first gear is about 50-55mph in my vert with an aod and 2.73's at WOT...then it hits second for about 2 seconds then shifts to third and then bogggggggggggggg lol....i cant wait to get my 3.73 rear end in!

 

[5.0Droptop]

I like 3.73 gears. In my stock vert the 3.73 gave it a nick sotp feeling.

I have stock 2.73 in my 93 hatch and if i do gears it will be 3.73

 

[ttop88]

On a bone stock 93 coupe with a aod went from a 3.27 to a 4.10. That one mod dropped the quarter time from 15.08 to 14.28. I don't think that they are as over rated as others do.

 

[Fett]

On a bone stock 93 coupe with a aod went from a 3.27 to a 4.10. That one mod dropped the quarter time from 15.08 to 14.28. I don't think that they are as over rated as others do.

Yea, that is a decent jump though. Close to a full revolution of the of the motor, you should see a nice jump. The common belief is that if you make a slight jump, say from 3.73s to 4.10s you won't see or feel much, but jumping from 3.27 to 4.10 or from the 2.XX range to 3.73, you will see/feel a big difference.

 

[mob]

I went from 3.08 to 3.73 and I didnt notice a performance difference, just a little rpm difference. Helped at the track for sure though.

 

[1987stangman]

Wow, I did not expect this amount of input from everyone. Thanks!! I guess I will know for myself tomorrow. I plan to get up early and start on the install. I may be in luck too as a friend of mine has got caught up in a divorce and wants to sell me his never before used set of ARF 185's for 900.00. so I may get them too.

 

[5.0Droptop]

Wow, I did not expect this amount of input from everyone. Thanks!! I guess I will know for myself tomorrow. I plan to get up early and start on the install. I may be in luck too as a friend of mine has got caught up in a divorce and wants to sell me his never before used set of ARF 185's for 900.00. so I may get them too.

Nice score on the heads.

Keep us informed on your SOTP feeling on the gears.