I have 2.73s now and it seems to pull pretty hard with mods in sig. at around 120mph. My friend has a 98 TA with 3.23s and doesnt pull as much as my car with 2.73s. Is this because I have a little more power than he does or do gears just not pull as hard at higher speeds.

I was under the impression that gears pull harder untill you are pretty much topped out. Is this true?

 

That's what I would say. The numerically higher ratios multiply your torque more--until they run out of room.

 

well it also depends where in the gear you are, like for example i started with the 2.73 and it pulled hard from top of 1st, 40 mph and top of 2nd like 75mph now i have 3.73 which pull really hard all the way through the gear it just shortens the time for which you spread your power so it just depends on what you want, to go 175 and just stay there or get to 100 as fast as possible. btw getting 3.73s has to be one of my favorit mods in how it changed my car.

-Josh

 

so i guess to answer your question it depends like on my 2.73s i out ran every one of my friends with 3.23s on a 65 punch its the fact that like you said at 120 you are in 3rd gear with is really strong and they are in 4th which is a crusing gear.

-Josh

 

Here's some thoughts from a guy who has had 2.73's, 3.73's, 4.10's, and now 3.23's in the same '02 Z28 A4 . Oh, and now a T56!

While the 2.73's have crappy pull off the line, I liked them pretty much everywhere else. ESPECIALLY on the highway. Anything from a ~60 - 80 mph roll, punch it and you get 2nd gear. 2nd pulls all the way past ~100 mph, and then you're into 3rd, and that takes you to the end of the line (~165 mph or wherever the governor speed is).

Now with 3.73's/4.10's, yeah, they're great off the line, AND from a roll AS LONG AS you know when/where to pull back the shifter manually, OTHERWISE they won't downshift when you think they should, so the tranny might stay in 3rd or 4th where you may actually need 2nd or 3rd. BUT, on the highway, again, upto an ~80 mph roll, I could pull back into 3rd (w/4.10's) and accelerate like a scalded cat!

At the very end of my 4L60E's life, I had 3.23's in the car (busted the 4.10's ) and while they were a very "pleasant" gear to drive around with, they seemed to have really crappy "dead spots"? On the highway, it would downshift to 3rd on its own, but it was pulling from too low to get any real acceleration. But 2nd was too far to downshift to. In town they weren't so bad (come off a corner, punch it, you might get lucky and get 1st gear, which would then launch you pretty good).

My point??? IMO 2.73's are a far superior gear for highway/high speed running. Besides, it's much better for the tranny to run in 3rd gear (1:1) up to top speed than it is to race in 4th (overdrive). Figure with 4.10's I was hitting 4th by ~112 mph, but to race with 3.23's, while you're good to ~140 mph in 3rd, if you race from a roll (anything over 60) it's pulling from so low in 3rd gear that the acceleration just won't be all that great.

...maybe I just didn't give them enough of a chance though?? And now the car has a T56 anyways, and a set of 3.90's going in eventually.