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Gears OR Stall?
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,458
Likes: 14
From: Vinton, Louisiana
Gears OR Stall? Kicking a few mods around and wanted some input.
My car is mostly driven on street and 2-3 track trips per year on street tires... Car has lid, filter, no cats and QTEC. Which should I do first? 4.10s or 3200 Stall??
TIA!
My car is mostly driven on street and 2-3 track trips per year on street tires... Car has lid, filter, no cats and QTEC. Which should I do first? 4.10s or 3200 Stall??
TIA!
I would go with the converter first and foremost. That way you can keep your gas mileage when the TCC locks, yet put a hurting on cars that currently either keep up or just barely edge you out. The gear will need programming and will seriously affect your mileage. Plus it will turn higher rpms, which could be come annoying while cruising for you and/or passengers.
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Launching!
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 252
Likes: 0
From: Kansas
because your converter has the opertunitony(sp) to drop the most et out of anything you can do. I have heard some guys even say they got more bang out of there converter then they did a cam..now granted they went with a pretty big cam, becuase of the the size of the converter...so put 2 and 2 together, your one happy dude....remeber if you plan on getting a cam on down the road, depending on the size, your going to need the right converter
Launching!
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 252
Likes: 0
From: Kansas
Originally Posted by KraZy
I dropped .5 in the quarter with a 3500 stall. On stock tires, if I put better tires on there it would have been more
See, See what I tell ya?? huh? go witha converter..youll be happier....
If you get most of your driving enjoyment from full throttle acceleration, then a converter will be the better choice. If you get most of your enjoyment from part throttle acceleration, then gears will be better.
4.10 gears are steep to run with a 4l60e & 26" tires. 1st gear will come & go very quickly. You might run out of gear before you hit the 1/4 mi traps and have to upshift into 4th depending on your shift points etc. 3.73s are better matched to the 4l60e & 26" tire for the strip. 3.42s are a nice street/strip compromise. I roll thru the 1/4 traps at ~5500 with the 3.42s. Also, the 3.42s improved my around town gas mileage vs. the 2.73s that I had originally.
4.10 gears are steep to run with a 4l60e & 26" tires. 1st gear will come & go very quickly. You might run out of gear before you hit the 1/4 mi traps and have to upshift into 4th depending on your shift points etc. 3.73s are better matched to the 4l60e & 26" tire for the strip. 3.42s are a nice street/strip compromise. I roll thru the 1/4 traps at ~5500 with the 3.42s. Also, the 3.42s improved my around town gas mileage vs. the 2.73s that I had originally.
Originally Posted by blue2000Z28
because your converter has the opertunitony(sp) to drop the most et out of anything you can do. I have heard some guys even say they got more bang out of there converter then they did a cam..now granted they went with a pretty big cam, becuase of the the size of the converter...so put 2 and 2 together, your one happy dude....remeber if you plan on getting a cam on down the road, depending on the size, your going to need the right converter
Originally Posted by KraZy
I dropped .5 in the quarter with a 3500 stall. On stock tires, if I put better tires on there it would have been more
The bare minimum that I've heard in terms of gains is .4. Even that is an amazing gain, but the average seems to be about half a second.
Originally Posted by nuzee
Also, the 3.42s improved my around town gas mileage vs. the 2.73s that I had originally.
Originally Posted by nuzee
If you get most of your driving enjoyment from full throttle acceleration, then a converter will be the better choice. If you get most of your enjoyment from part throttle acceleration, then gears will be better.
4.10 gears are steep to run with a 4l60e & 26" tires. 1st gear will come & go very quickly. You might run out of gear before you hit the 1/4 mi traps and have to upshift into 4th depending on your shift points etc. 3.73s are better matched to the 4l60e & 26" tire for the strip. 3.42s are a nice street/strip compromise. I roll thru the 1/4 traps at ~5500 with the 3.42s. Also, the 3.42s improved my around town gas mileage vs. the 2.73s that I had originally.
4.10 gears are steep to run with a 4l60e & 26" tires. 1st gear will come & go very quickly. You might run out of gear before you hit the 1/4 mi traps and have to upshift into 4th depending on your shift points etc. 3.73s are better matched to the 4l60e & 26" tire for the strip. 3.42s are a nice street/strip compromise. I roll thru the 1/4 traps at ~5500 with the 3.42s. Also, the 3.42s improved my around town gas mileage vs. the 2.73s that I had originally.
Get converter first.
Originally Posted by Scotty-Z
As untrue as that first sounds, I think I can believe it. Lower gears like the 3.42s would normally decrease mileage, but since they'd be tightening up the feel of a converter and therefore making it not take as much throttle to get going, I can believe it.
If yo've got 2.73s I'd do gears first (gasp). My converter did help the car alot as I did it first (3200 stall), but the car still sucked because of the 2.73 gears. Not really an issue on the street but it just annoyed me at the track shifting a few hundred feet before the traps and having the car fall on it's face (even with the converter). My 3.42 swap made a heck of a difference and while its not as SOTP as the converter is, it made the car more peppy and responsive, and it's a good "base mod" in that once you get the gears you can see how the car feels, and choose your converter after that (I wouldn't go with the 3200 unless you had 2.73s and planned on keeping them).
Maybe I just say that because I did a converter first and gears later, and dont know how much of a difference a gear swap can make by itself. I know from stock-> converter and then later on doing converter->gears, the gears made more of a difference IMO.
If you've got 3.23s it's a no-brainer, converter all the way (3500 minimum). I just HATE 2.73 gears.
Maybe I just say that because I did a converter first and gears later, and dont know how much of a difference a gear swap can make by itself. I know from stock-> converter and then later on doing converter->gears, the gears made more of a difference IMO.
If you've got 3.23s it's a no-brainer, converter all the way (3500 minimum). I just HATE 2.73 gears.
Originally Posted by The Sad
I disagree with your first statement a little. I guess it depends on how much part throttle you use. I love my converter, changes the whole feel of the car. WOT it is a blast, but even part throttle gradual acceleration, the RPMs stay up higher, not the huge drop when it shifts (some people can't even tell mine shifts if they aren't paying attention), and is fun.
Get converter first.
Get converter first.
IIRC, gears initially improved my ETs ~0.15, then after finding traction it gave me a solid 0.25 improvement. My 3500 TC gave me an initial ~0.35 improvement. I'm thinking I can get another 0.1 when I find more traction.
No dispute about the performance gains from the TC being better than gears. But for some people, who do not go to the track and just want an overall driveabilty/responsiveness improvement at all throttle openings, gears can be a better choice.