How do I know what gear ratio my car has?
02-08-2005, 12:43 AM
#1
Staging Lane
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Nebraska
Posts: 61
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
How do I know what gear ratio my car has? Just wondering what gear ratio I have in my car and if anyone would have any suggestions on getting a different gear ratio.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
02-08-2005, 01:44 AM
#2
Teching In
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Bethany, OK
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If you have a 6-speed, you have 3.42s.
If you have a 4-speed Auto, then you supposedly have (according to manual) 2.73s. 3.23s for a WS6 4-spd.
See this post for gear ratio identification...
https://ls1tech.com/forums/gears-axles/272885-help-how-can-i-find-out-what-stock-gears-my-02-z-28-automatic.html
It looks like youll have a six speed. What gears you get depends on what you want from your car.
Most die-hards say go straight for the 4.10s. Why not? You have a good overdrive for highway cruising! Off the line, the torque will be multiplied to the ground in a spectaular way, and will be the quickest accelerating solution. With 4.10s, you will trade some top-end speed for low to mid-range acceleration. A downside in daily driving / highway cruising is that 4.10 gears keep the rpms up on your engine a little higher than you may want them to be (particularly if you are gas mileage-minded for daily driving). For the 1320-minded, with some powertrain combinations(?) it is possible to 'run out of gear' before you reach the traps.. meaning you HAVE to shift to 4th cause you aint got no mo'!
The next-best solution is the happy-medium: 3.73 ratio gears. These are steep enough to light a fire under your car's a** when accelerating, however you still get good top end speed. Certainly not NASCAR, but climbing to 6500 in 5th gear with these gears is much more fun than stock (aahh deep in the triple digits)!! This is the ratio I chose for gas mileage concerns, quicker acceleration than stock, plus I enjoy going really freakin fast (top speed)!
If you have a 4-speed Auto, then you supposedly have (according to manual) 2.73s. 3.23s for a WS6 4-spd.
See this post for gear ratio identification...
https://ls1tech.com/forums/gears-axles/272885-help-how-can-i-find-out-what-stock-gears-my-02-z-28-automatic.html
It looks like youll have a six speed. What gears you get depends on what you want from your car.
Most die-hards say go straight for the 4.10s. Why not? You have a good overdrive for highway cruising! Off the line, the torque will be multiplied to the ground in a spectaular way, and will be the quickest accelerating solution. With 4.10s, you will trade some top-end speed for low to mid-range acceleration. A downside in daily driving / highway cruising is that 4.10 gears keep the rpms up on your engine a little higher than you may want them to be (particularly if you are gas mileage-minded for daily driving). For the 1320-minded, with some powertrain combinations(?) it is possible to 'run out of gear' before you reach the traps.. meaning you HAVE to shift to 4th cause you aint got no mo'!
The next-best solution is the happy-medium: 3.73 ratio gears. These are steep enough to light a fire under your car's a** when accelerating, however you still get good top end speed. Certainly not NASCAR, but climbing to 6500 in 5th gear with these gears is much more fun than stock (aahh deep in the triple digits)!! This is the ratio I chose for gas mileage concerns, quicker acceleration than stock, plus I enjoy going really freakin fast (top speed)!
02-08-2005, 02:52 AM
#3
TECH Apprentice
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 396
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Like said above if your car has a 6-speed you have factory 3.42's. If it's an automatic pop the driver's door and look at the RPO codes in the drivers door jam. If you see GU2 you have the standard 2.73's, if you see GU5 you have the optional 3.23's. You could get 3.23's in Z28 or Formula/TA but they were an option. WS6's, SS's, and Firehawks with an auto all had 3.23's. If you think you might have aftermarket gears in your car from a previous owner just up the rear of the car and rotate the the rear tires exactly one rotation and count the rotations of the driveshaft. If the driveshaft spins more then 3.5 times but less then 4 it's 3.73's (3.73:1 ratio). If it's a tad over 4 rotations you likely have 4.10's.
