well maybe if you had mods in your sig i'd know that. right?

 

yea, it'll be better than series 3 but i just don't see the point of dumping $500 into a 10-bolt. i mean jesus, if you're that damn set on taking a lousy 1-2 tenths off your quarter, put that $500 into a 12-bolt and have 3.73's put in. that's nearly 25% of the cost covered right there. there's just no point in a 10-bolt. if a tenth is THAT IMPORTANT, you must be really serious, and if you're really serious, the 10-bolt will not hold long. i can think of plenty of other things to net you more than 1-2 tenths while spending less money.

 

i'm reading where gears and stall kill mpg? i have a 4k stall, 373 gears, headers, lid, ls6 intake - untuned engine, and i get 24 mpg on the highway (2800 rpm @ 80 mph) and ~20 mixed city/highway (this included 7 passes at the track). with a tune my mileage will increase, as well as performance. i came from 273s and i hated them. i got .25 and 1 mph with only a gear change (when the car was stock). after the tune and some real tires i will have a high 11/low 12 sec bolt-on car that gets 24+ mpg on the highway. i say GO FOR IT, i did and i couldn't be happier.

 

What??? A stall AND gears, you must not know what you're talking about.

 

I just swapped from 3.50 gears to 2.75 gears and couldn't be happier. Car feels faster with the 2.75's, probably because it spools faster. Mys tall is also very tight, probably 2800 n/a. I get shift extention over 5000 though shifting at 6500.

Car is much much nicer to drive with the 2.75's.

 

fwiw, 24mpg highway isn't too good. i get 22 stop-and-go city. without the tune, i'm sure your mpg would be pretty bad. again, i just don't see gears as necessary with a stall. for the money there are far better options. i'm not anti-gears nor anti-stall, there are just far better things you can put money into. LT's and a catback is a winning combo. gears and a stall aren't. you're better off just doing one unless you're a serious dragster.

my rpm's are ~2000 @ 80mph. so nice

 

yeah umm i don't have a tune yet. so basically i will have the same if not better mileage than you in town and on the highway, and my car will be...i would guess 1.5 - 2 seconds quicker in the 1/4 mile, also. so - taking mileage and racing into consideration, my stalled and geared car is one up on yours. funny how that works, eh.

i have yet to see you post factual information, everything you've posted thus far is opinion.

 

Those gears and a SS4000 really helped my brother' s car.

 

so $550 for headers plus Y-pipe and $450 for catback puts you at $1000 for around 25hp gain and prolly 2 tenths. What makes this worthwhile while a gear swap is not? The tune you recommended up in the post nets ~10hp for $300 on a stockish car, that's not much for your money either.

choco I think everyone knows what your thoughts are on gears, but you can't justify the mods you like over that mod.

The thicker ring gear won't help the strength much btw, the fewer number of pinion teeth in contact with the ring gear is the problem.

 

I think most people here plan on headers,catback and full bolt ons but gears plus stall is the next thing you should do after shocks befor internals like choco said most of the people here have daily drivers so MPG is important but dude If you care that much about gas why did you buy a 5.7 V8 and also I like the whole experiance of owning a muscle car and the gear change to 3.73s adds to that muscle car feeling does it not?
I also I read on Ls1 tech some people saying gears plus stall made their car feel like a slingshot and that sounds like fun to me.As for my MPG when I got this car I got my wife a 1600 so weekly now I am spending less than befor for the 2 of us.Its just how you think of things isnt it.

 

I got a BEST of 23.75 mpg with the AC off on a long trip down I-5, not hot rodding, not racing, steady 70 mph. (mods in sig) How is your mileage so much better than mine?

 

2.73s are absolute garbage! I can't believe people are saying to keep them. No other performance car has gears that shitty. The only reason they were put in by GM was because of gas mileage in the auto.

Unless you have 600+ hp and want them just to tame it a little bit, step up to at LEAST 3.42.

 

because mine is city driving with zero highway runs.

 

that's why you get a stall. the difference between gears is nearly imperceptable at the track. you'll see one to two tenths if you manage to grab traction. for the hundreds and hundreds of dollars, i'd recommend a different mod.

 

If you do more city driving the 3.73's may actually improve motor life due to the fact that you will be in overdrive faster and the rpms will be lower. On the highway - differant story.

 

3.08's are actually the best gear for fuel economy. 3.73's will benefit the transmission more than anything else. i don't drive in a city like philadelphia or detriot. i go red-light to red light and the lights are half a mile to a mile apart. i hit about a dozen of them on the way home from work and sometimes it takes a few light changes to get through. it's a highway that i travel, it's just a business district that's incredibly jammed bumper to bumper.

2.73's are staying in my car. i like being able to cruise at 2000rpm's at 80mph. i like having a car with over 350hp that gets 22 mpg. i like the low engine wear. i like the low drivetrain wear. if i was so interested in raw performance, i'd get a stall. if i was interested in throwing money away over a tenth off my quarter, i'd get gears with it. the point is, there are far more negatives than there are positives. better mods can be had for the money. stop trying to point out the one or two positive things that gear swaps in a stalled car have. the negatives far outnumber it, especially for a street car. if you want to throw your money away, be my guest. i have better things to do to spend $500+ on (plus hundreds more for fuel economy loss over time) than to use it to net a lousy tenth in the quarter mile. if everyone else wants to blow their money, please do so. please justify the hundreds of dollars with your almighty tenth off your timeslip, i'm sure it's worth it. truth is, most people praise the gearswap just to defend themselves. they defend themselves because they need a reason to justify blowing all their money for something that did almost nothing to their timeslip because they were too hasty in their modding and didn't research before clicking "BUY". whatever floats your boat, i don't care.

 

I dont get that, your city milage is better than freeway? Like I said, I get ~24 freeway with no AC, and about 14 city. How do you get SO much better mileage?

 

huh? i have no idea what my freeway mileage is. i've only had this car for 2 months. i've never taken a single freeway trip. i get 21-22mpg in my stop and go commute and 23mpg when i drive at home on the weekends and one single stop and go commute on monday. the most i've gotten is ~23.5mpg and that was on a 50/50 mix. i've never taken this car on a highway trip, i have no idea what it gets. i imagine it would pull over 25mpg, at least i hope so.

btw, with this mileage, it's with either the AC on or the windows down. i've only had this car in the summer and i've never cruised with the windows up and no AC on yet. there's always something running. i either have the AC blasting or both windows down all the way. i'm a chronic "arm-out-the-window" driver.

 

You miss one of the biggest reasons for getting gears: driveability. My car felt completely sluggish in town with 2.73's and stock stall. Going to 3.42's made a world of difference! The benefit of having gears with a stall is a tight feel. Having a stall pull against those sluggish 2.73's will make for a lot of looseness. Some people don't mind that feeling and that's fine for them; I don't like it. For me, the gear/stall combo makes for great everyday driveability; it's not about a tenth at the track. Plus I still get 23-24mpg @80mph on the freeway.

 

Im going to have to agree with Rev on this one.
I think anything above 3.42's for the A4 is for serious speed guys.
I think 3.73's would be ok, but stall is def needed.
Not as true for 3.42.
I would however, recommend 3.42's for an Auto because you get a whole new animal, and you dont lose hardly any MPG.

3.42's and a nice stall should equal a .4-.8 tenths difference, and that is a damn good improvement.