gear explanation
Thread Starter
TECH Regular
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 481
Likes: 0
From: Arlington TX
gear explanation I was wondering if gears increased the RWHP of your car. I've heard that it doesn't and that doesn't make sense to me.
Take this example: You have a 1ft. torque wrench and you exert 100ft.-lbs. on the handle then it will read 100 ft. lbs at the bolt. If you have a 2 ft. torque wrench and exert 100ft.-lbs. on it then it will register 200ft.-lbs. on the bolt. Input force remains the same but the output increases due too a higher mechanical advantage of the longer torque wrench. I would think higher ratio gears would work in the same principle.
Take this example: You have a 1ft. torque wrench and you exert 100ft.-lbs. on the handle then it will read 100 ft. lbs at the bolt. If you have a 2 ft. torque wrench and exert 100ft.-lbs. on it then it will register 200ft.-lbs. on the bolt. Input force remains the same but the output increases due too a higher mechanical advantage of the longer torque wrench. I would think higher ratio gears would work in the same principle.
Actually if you go from say 3.23s to 4.10s you will lose a little horsepower. The best way I have ever heard it explained it was compared to riding an old 10 speed bike. In first gear the pedals are easy to turn. It takes almost no effort. Shift into higher gears and they are harder to turn, thus using up hp.
Your not really losing HP, it just doesn't show as high on the dyno because the stock 3.42 ratio in 4th gear is as close to a 1-1 ratio as you can get. When you get steeper gears, it's similar to dynoing in say 3rd, you didn't lose any power, it just reads lower than it did in 4th, the optimum gear. So anytime you deviate from that ratio, your gonna sway the final numbers at the wheels, but the power is there, and you will actually FEEL more of it now than before.
