mthreat

I just bought a 1996 trans am that is stock. I was planning on upgrading to a 3.73 ratio. Its a Gu5 car. What kind of gains should I expect? It's not a daily driver just a weekend cruiser but if I decide to go for a weekend getaway I don't want to make a 200 mile trip with it turning 3500 rpm the whole time. Also what brand gears have ya'll used? Really want an American made product that is quiet. I was told the richmonds were a little noisy. Thanks

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

3.23 to 3.73 won't be very much gain, maybe a couple of tenths with a stock torque converter, or less than one tenth if you have an optimized stall speed. You will notice some crisper throttle response, traction will be more difficult from a dead stop launch, and you'll lose some MPG on the highway.

Personally, I would opt for a torque converter upgrade instead/first.

mthreat

thanks for response! what stall speed do you recommend and how will this help with overall performance? I'm learning Thanks

FirstYrLS1Z

iTrader: (4)

First,yes,stall(with an additional aftermarket tranny fluid cooler) before gears. In the LS1 realm,Yank and CircleD in the 3600-4000 range are very popular. In the LT1 realm,I don't know what the general consensus is,but probably in the same range. With a lock-up stall,your cruising rpm won't change as it would with a gear swap.
Second,gear swap. 3.23s' to 3.73s' will only give you a 15% increase in torque to the rear wheels. you would not be 3500rpm for a trip. I ran 4.56s for 4 years with 4 Ohio to Florida trips with them. With the 4.56s',60mph was 2500rpm,72mph was 3000rpm. 3.73s' would put you nowhere close to that kind of rpm. 3.73s' are the most popular with automatics and some are even going to 4.10s more recently.

why a convertor is a better 1st mod compared to gears. The convertor allows you to jump immediately into a higher part of the powerband instead of having to climb up thru the rpm to get to that better part of the powerband.

IronThomas

I would recommend getting the ring and pinion from the shop that is going to be doing the swap for you. A ring and pinion swap is one of the more complicated installs and if you don't get it just right you will have gear whine that will ultimately end in the gears failing. If you get the shop to order the ring and pinion / bearing kit for you, they would not be able to fall on the "it's the product that is bad, not our labor", if that makes sense. Get them to guarantee the product and the installation.

just my 2 cents.

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

never seen this brought up before but it sure does make sense

IronThomas

Unfortunately, speaking from personal experience haha

THEY GOT ME! lol

dailydriver

Hopefully, he can find a shop that actually will give him a warranty like the above.

I've had Chevy stealerships tell me that I should use their 3x the cost GM fuel pump instead of my 1/3rd the cost Rock Auto Delphi (which might be what's in the GM box anyway) because they will warranty it for life.

Then I asked IF that lifetime warranty included labor as well, NO SIR was the answer, ONLY the pump itself, so in went the Delphi.

With gears, I can see most shops being reluctant, unless they are SURE they can set them up perfectly the FIRST time, since if you even put like 10 miles on them, and they are whining, the pattern is already set, and you need a new set of $300.00+ AAM factory gears to start over with.