What gear for 9"?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
From: TN
What gear for 9"? I will be ordering a MWC 9" in a couple of weeks and wanted to get opinions on what gear I should run. Just a cam only car right now with some heads maybe next year or two. Will be running 295/55/15 in the rears all the time. I was thinking maye 4.56s? Car is just a cruiser most of the time with some track time after everything is broken in properly. Any suggestions would be appreciated?
For a street cruiser, if you run 4.56's, you can kiss 1st gear traction goodbye when you hammer on it. The lowest ratio I would go would be 4.11.
I have 4.11's in mine and my 1st gear is borderline useless when I hammer on it and I have good 285's on the rear. I am thinking about going 3.90s.
I have 4.11's in mine and my 1st gear is borderline useless when I hammer on it and I have good 285's on the rear. I am thinking about going 3.90s.
When it comes to gearing it depends on what you want out of the vehicle. If you are building a cruiser type build you want to get a more cruising friendly gear, but if you are building for a drag racing application you are going to want to choose a gear best suited for your combination to utilize everything in a 1/4 mile pass. You can also go in between and try to get the best of both worlds.
As far as traction issues based off of gear choice, those can be handled with some suspension tweaking for sure. Building HP, a bullet proof rear end, a solid working transmission, and your suspension components all go hand in hand. A set of good adjustable shocks will take you a long way. We recommend Strange or Afco shocks because their quality to price is second to none. An of course we would recommend the LCA, PHB, ARB, and front end items we build in house if you want to go a little further in your build.
As far as traction issues based off of gear choice, those can be handled with some suspension tweaking for sure. Building HP, a bullet proof rear end, a solid working transmission, and your suspension components all go hand in hand. A set of good adjustable shocks will take you a long way. We recommend Strange or Afco shocks because their quality to price is second to none. An of course we would recommend the LCA, PHB, ARB, and front end items we build in house if you want to go a little further in your build.
Last edited by MidwestChassis; Dec 17, 2010 at 10:32 AM.
If you don't plan on staying N/A then don't get anything over a 4:10. I went 4:56s and ran a 28" tall tire because I was going to try and go 10s cam only. My local track shut down so I'm going with a 3.75 gear that will be a good streetable gear that I could easily throw nitrous and a procharged setup at. You can't do that with 4:56s.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
From: TN
Well, I plan on staying N/A for a long time. I plan on doing heads, but that might be 2011 or 2012. I am just trying to get the rear end situation taken care of and gradually working my way up. Thanks for your time.
I stayed NA for about two years and ran a 410 with a 26 inch tire, if i had it to do over NA I would have ran 456 with a 28 inch tall tire. Now on the spray I run a 375 with a 28 inch tire.
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if you got a 2nd dropout then you wouldnt have to compromise anything you have your street gear and a race gear. I went from 4.10s in my 10 bolt to 3.50s in the 9 and i really dont notice much difference besides better gas mileage.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 321
Likes: 1
From: Schertz, Tx
For a street cruiser, if you run 4.56's, you can kiss 1st gear traction goodbye when you hammer on it. The lowest ratio I would go would be 4.11.
I have 4.11's in mine and my 1st gear is borderline useless when I hammer on it and I have good 285's on the rear. I am thinking about going 3.90s.
I have 4.11's in mine and my 1st gear is borderline useless when I hammer on it and I have good 285's on the rear. I am thinking about going 3.90s.
For a street cruiser, if you run 4.56's, you can kiss 1st gear traction goodbye when you hammer on it. The lowest ratio I would go would be 4.11.
I have 4.11's in mine and my 1st gear is borderline useless when I hammer on it and I have good 285's on the rear. I am thinking about going 3.90s.
I have 4.11's in mine and my 1st gear is borderline useless when I hammer on it and I have good 285's on the rear. I am thinking about going 3.90s.
Really?
what tire do you have on it?My cam only (ms4) car hooked just fine running the 4.56s with a 295/45/17 any gear, any street any rpm. **** i was hooking from 3K clutch dumps off the 2 step on the street.
OP 4.56s really arent that bad if your running a 28" tire. I ran the 4.10/26" setup and now the 4.56/28" setup and the later combo is so much nicer! not to mention it wakes your car up that much more
I ran 4.11's in my 9" when I was cam only. On regular street tires I blew the tires off in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Once I upgraded rims and added 315/35/17 Nitto 555R's I loved it on the street and hooked all day.
I added the spray afterwards and was glad I didn't have 4.56's b/c I def wold have run out of gear in the 1/4.
I added the spray afterwards and was glad I didn't have 4.56's b/c I def wold have run out of gear in the 1/4.
I am also running 3.89 gears. If I am racing though, 1st gear will just boil the tires. 2nd gear boost hits at 3500 and the tires get annihilated. 3rd gear isnt too bad. Keep in mind I am running 325/50/15 drag radials though. When I am not racing and just cruising, the 3.89 gears are great, 1st through 6th. When I had my head/cam engine, the 4:10 gears were the best thing I did to it at the time. Each gear I slammed put me right in my sweet spot all the way to redline. Gas mileage did suffer about 4mpg with the 4:10s. My mileage now is about 8-10mpg but I am far from stock.
RPM you will be shifting?
Stick or auto?
What cam?
If auto, and shifting around 6500-6800 I'd probably go no more than 4.30's.
I ran a few combos over the years but basically you would gear the setup for the power band. If you ran a 240/244 cam like I did in an 11:1 346 cid engine you'd need to run some rpm. I shifted at 7000, could have shifted higher, and ran a 4.11 gear and 28x10.5 slicks but I also had nitrous. On nitrous I went 10.008@134 mph 1.38, and on motor I went 10.92@123 on a 1.48. It was a compromise setup.
Stick or auto?
What cam?
If auto, and shifting around 6500-6800 I'd probably go no more than 4.30's.
I ran a few combos over the years but basically you would gear the setup for the power band. If you ran a 240/244 cam like I did in an 11:1 346 cid engine you'd need to run some rpm. I shifted at 7000, could have shifted higher, and ran a 4.11 gear and 28x10.5 slicks but I also had nitrous. On nitrous I went 10.008@134 mph 1.38, and on motor I went 10.92@123 on a 1.48. It was a compromise setup.