Put a PI 3600 stall in that pony and you won't need lower gearing. No gear will give you the performance gain that a properly sized converter will. I have a PI 3600 in my 98 Camaro with 3.23 gearing. Run 10s with 1.4 60' times. A friend tried 3.73 gearing with the 3600 in his Formula and actually lost a little et. He went back to the 3.23 and gain it back. Figure that one out. Your fuel mileage will be unchanged on the highway and slightly worse in stop and start driving. You will need programming but you will also with gears. Don't get less than that 3600 for our engines or you will be leaving gains on the table. Our engine needs a true 4000 stall for optimum et.
I've been out of the game for a while, but why would a stall converter by itself give better performance gains than gears? Stall converters were something I always had a hard time wrapping my head around though.
Check out the new MM&FF...I believe its that one, I just happened to thumb through it at the store.... They put a Torque Conv. on their auto and took an instant .4 off the 1/4...
A loose converter acts somewhat like a gear. Have you seen dyno numbers with stalls. My 88 Mustang that ran 10s (see signature) dynoed only 360hp but with 530 pounds of torque. Now that's getting the torque to the ground. Can't do that with a gear! Nearly all real racers run automatics with high stalls. I'm not saying gearing is not important. It is particularly with high rpm engines and cars running faster than 11s or 10s. But for a street car gearing is not near as important as a converter. We have a good low first gear in our trannys. With our 3.218 first gear and 3.31 differential gearing that 10.65 ratio is good. That is why a properly sized converter will give you all the et available. Gearing could help some but I'm sure only minor gains if any. Gearing with the factory converter will give you approximately .3-.4 tenths gain. A converter with our factory gearing I would estimate .6-.7. Sure did on my Camaro with almost same gearing.
Great info, thanks guys! I might have to grab the latest MM&FF. I used to buy it religously but try not to as often now as it makes these final few months before I get back into a Mustang a bit more painful.
I cant remember for sure if it was mm&ff but I know it has a red gt500 on the cover and its this months, and I believe it mentions about the 05 auto mods... def. a good article....unfortunately I have to stand in the store and read it when i'm with my GF, she gets all if i spend $$ on my car or mags, but she buys 10$ bridal mags Oh well..........
Yikes, well at least you can buy gear for your ride. I buy a wack of magazines every month, I just make sure to pick up the wife's US magazine every week and it's all kosher.
I have 4.10 in my 05 Automatic and I get better gas milage in city stop and go driving, below 40 mph, 40-80 yea a little drop but not much. I am looking into a stall converter as well, but a custom converter will cost a good chunk of money.
Managed to find the 5.0 mag this week, the new one came out and thankfully they hadn't removed the old one yet like they usually do. They said 8 hours for the install though eh? I figure maybe 6 if they aren't stopping and taking shots and what not, that's more than I figured it would be, but I then again I thought they installed these with the tranny still in the car.
