66 BADBOY

iTrader: (2)

Hey guys,

After looking around a bit on here, I see some dynos from guys that showed they lost HP when they stepped up to a numerically higher gear ratio.

Anyways, I'm going to go with an El Torro cam (Pred Z's spec'd cam) and was planning on running a 3.73 gear with my 4L60e. But with regards to what I said about the dyno comparisons and gear ratio changes.....would a 3.42 gear be better for the El Torro vs the 3.73?

The car is going to be a 100% street car, family rides, back road throwdowns, etc......but mainly cruising with not much on the expressway. If it ever sees a dragstrip, it'll only be one time "just to see" LOL

Oh yeah, almost forgot it will be a 26" tall tire.

Johns00Z28

iTrader: (6)

3:73s are a great all around gear and what I have in my car. What kind of stall are you going with or do you already have one?

SSmoken

iTrader: (26)

i also have 3.73's

66 BADBOY

iTrader: (2)

I'm not sure on the stall yet. I am waaaay early on in my build. I was going to wait until I decided on getting some new heads before I got a stall specd for me.

If you guys could do it for free....would you swap to a different gear?

Thanks so far!!

supernova1972

Gears will dyno lower but aid in torque multiplication and help acceleration. Always remember, dont shoot for high dynos, shoot for low ET's.

Gatsby

iTrader: (7)

I may be the only one...but i think 3.42s. I think this because you don't intend to beat this car up and eek every last horsepower out of it (or every last tenth). The 3.42's will not launch as hard of course, but will give you better gas mileage and allow you to cruise at lower rpms.

Do you already have gears in it and you want to switch? I ask because i think the difference between these two will ultimately be pretty marginal. 3.23 vs 3.90 would be a bigger noticeable difference, but not much from 3.42 to 3.73.

'91firebirdformula

iTrader: (3)

i love my 3.73's with the el toro. like gatsby said, the difference between the two isn't very much anyways.

nukeemall454

Steel dragon rules that is it I have nothing productive to add

PREDATOR-Z

For 100% street, 3.42 will be better because this cam is stronger below curve than top rpm and it does not need to be reving high to make power.

Ryans99ls1

iTrader: (16)

im running 373s with that cam. i feel like i would barely notice a switch 3.42s but im a 6spd. if i had an auto with a stall id probably get the 3.42s because then it doesnt really matter how gears do down low and the cam makes a very flat tq curve so thats more of a help than anything.

66 BADBOY

iTrader: (2)

HAHA!! "Kim was a guy?"

Thanks man. I was gonna PM you, but I figured you were getting tired of me doing that!! LOL. Would a 3.23 be getting too low?

Thanks again!!

1998LS1SS

iTrader: (8)

go with 342's. You are going to have trouble getting traction regardless

SOMbitch

iTrader: (8)

Yeah really. I have 3.23's/SS3600 and even at 30mph my tires go up in smoke.... hit 2nd gets squirrelly and spin to 55 or so.....

PREDATOR-Z

No, 3.23 would work well as well.

Z28SteveA4

iTrader: (16)

heres my question since everyone say going from 3.42 to 3.73 wouldnt be much of a difference then why go from 3.23's to 3.42?? This almost seems pointless then just like the 3.42 to 3.73 theory everyone gives. It almost seems better to just stick with the 3.23's and save your 300 bucks on the gears if you dont go to 3.73's. I know it all depends on the cam and the stall matching but no one really seems to be completely clear. So far predator z has only made some sense to me with his reply with the the curve but we dont know the stall he's going with either. I wouldnt see a 3.42 geared car workwell with a 4000 stall and this cam. I could see a 3000 stall and 3.42's work well.

66 BADBOY

iTrader: (2)

I am definitely nowhere near as smart as Pred and most guys on here, but after thinking about this for a bit, I would have assumed that the 3.73 would be better......isn't it just based on a torque multiplier (like supernova said), which means the higher the ratio number, the more the torque is multiplied to the tires?

About a year ago, I made up a spreadsheet in excel that allows you to enter your tire size and MPH. It lists your RPM at the selected MPH with each and every trans and rear end gear ratio combo to show you the differences between them all. I'd be totally fine with the RPM I'd see with a 3.73 and a 26 inch tall tire at 70 MPH. A 3.42 would obviously be a bit better, but I don't know if it would be a dog at 50-55 MPH.

But my question wasn't really based on MPH/RPM results, I'm looking more for the gear selection's effect on the cam performance.....in which case my simple mind would have thought the better torque multiplication of the 3.73 would beat out the 3.23 or 3.42, even with a low-end-powered cam like the El Torro. And after reading the posts on here, I'm seeing that I may be incorrect with that thinking?

Johns00Z28

iTrader: (6)

I'd say regardless whether you go w/ 3:42s or 3:73s, the biggest difference in performance is going to be adding the stall. I wouldn't go any lower than a 3600 and it'll be a blast.

PREDATOR-Z

Once your tires get spinning, you go nowhere. So unless this is for drag application, 3.73 are not necessary on street. Situation is, you will not hook on street tires. So 3.23 or 3.42s are plenty and give actualy better traction to go forward instead of just roasting your tires.
The trq curve of El Toro will come on early and allow you to benefit with 3.23 gears. This cam has been as low as 10.6 in the 1/4, cam only with 3.23s. That should give you a picture.
For stall, SS3600 for street or even SS4000 Yank if a bit more track.

66 BADBOY

iTrader: (2)

Well then this is perfect, because I don't have a gear set yet. I am going to buy an 8.5" 10 bolt housing tonight, so I can pick whatever gears I want when I get it put together.

And again, I learned something new. For the sake of explaining my reasoning, I'll use a 2.73 gear and 4.56 gear as an example to give a more extreme difference to help me show what I am thinking:

I was thinking that the numerically lowered gears (2.73) would make your tires break traction more than a numerically higher gear (4.56). The reasoning I had was because with the 2.73, if you jammed the go pedal, they would be forced to turn at a higher rate than the 4.56, and to me that means once they break traction, they would be spinning really really fast and not be likely to stop spinning. As where if the 4.56 broke traction, they'd be spinning slower and more likely to grab traction again.

And also I figured the 2.73 would break traction worse because they would have a harder time of getting the weight of the car to move forward...kinda like starting off on a 10 speed bike in 10th gear, except in this case the engine would have more than enough power to break traction. Since the car's weight is difficult for the 2.73 to move forward, the next weak link would be the tire traction, so the tires would roast. Where the 4.56 would have an easier time moving the weight forward and the traction wouldn't break as easily.

Probably sounds minor when comparing 3.23 to 3.73, but when I think of it on a scale of 2.73 to 4.56, it makes sense to me. But then again, what the heck do I know?? LOL

EDIT: By the way, those are some sick numbers!! Me likey!!

Chente

how would el torro work on a 5.3 with tea 5.3 stage 2 with 4.30 gears truck runs on the track with 28 inch tires and on the street with 29.9 inch tires I would love to try the el torro cam but hope you guys or predetor z could help I'm running a 3800 circle d conveter my current cam is a 223 231 lsr 610 617 111+4 cam is ok but I don't know if it me put it revs to quick Thanks in advace and not trying to high jack this tread thanks gain