Alright well now that i have my SES light out of the way... kinda
its time for me to look at gears and that mumbo jumbo that i know nothing about.
when in doubt ask LS1tech.com!

Gears...
i have a 98 T/A im looking at getting gears for two reasons
1. i feel dog slow off the line now
2. i have a really strange noise coming from my rear end that i hope will be fixed by replacing gears.( kinda like you can hear the gears engaging each other)
Moving on to my reason for posting.
i have 2.73s now and im debating between 3.73s and 3.43s honestly dont know what to do!!
from what ive found 3.73s will raise my rpms to about 2700rpm at 70mph(give or take)
which since i do drive alot im thinking 3.43s would probably be better for me.
is there going to be a substantial difference in the to? whats recommended?
whats a good brand to look for?
and should i save the money and do them myself or should i have it done?

Stalls...
honestly i dont even know how they work. i mean i know that say a 3500 stall wont allow you to move untill 3500 rpms.
but if i were to get a 3500 would i be chirping my tires at every light in town? or if you slowly raise your rpms can you take off with out layin rubber.
not that i have a problem with that. just the cops in my town already know me by name i dont want to make it worse or get a ticket just cause i needed to go to the corner store..

whats a good brand and size stall since this is a DD
or should i bother with a stall at all?

 

Gears depends on what you want..alot of highway, get a 3.42

Stall will depend on how tight the Convertor is..I have a 4500 Stall that drives like stock, till you lay into it.

 

You can install a 3500 stall, shift the car into drive, and it will still idle forward under it's own power - just not as quickly as it does now. And the car will still move and accelerate under 3500rpm. During normal acceleration off a stop light you'll probably not have to rev higher than 2000-2500rpm, depending on driving style.

The best advice I can give you is forget about gears for now (unless your rear really is on the way out anyway), and focus on the stall. The gains with a 3500+ stall will probably be double of what you'd get going from a 2.73 to a 3.73. And, you can always do gears later if you still want to drop another tenth or two (additional gains from a gear swap to 3.42 or 3.73 won't be much once you have the stall). Great thing about a stall is, once you reach lock-up speeds (45mph or so) your cruising rpms will be exactly the same as stock, so highway MPG will remain unchanged.

Here is an excellent place to learn about what a stall is, what it does, and what you can expect: www.converter.cc

In addition, you can find a ton of info on this topic by simply searching the site.

 

3.73s and a Yank SS3600 and your car will eat gasoline and **** rubber at will

 

so basically if i do the stall i will be able to drive it 'normally' if my lead foot allows it
with out getting stop after every red light. that was my biggest fear. i know i can put a stall in myself gears... eh scary business.
so next question is what size stall would be recommended?
ive been trying to go through the sponsors and see if i can find one of them that has some.

 

as fun as this sounds id like to stay away from eating to much gas.
thats why im leaning away from the 3.73s since it is a DD and i do get highway time.

 

I had a 3600 and it was very street friendly... Yank SS3600 is a good one..drives like stock too.

 

3.73s aren't bad unless you wanna drive 90 mph all the time

 

Loved my 3.73s/3600 combo in my LT1. This go around Im doing 3.73s and a 4000 stall

 

Yes.

3500 or higher. If you intend to do other more serious engine mods in the near term, then you may want to consider what these modifications will do to your powerband and up the stall speed accordingly.

Check out the link I posted above. Great FAQ section, and great products.

A stall will leave your MPG unchanged on the highway at lock-up speeds; gears, however, will increase cruising rpms and have a negative impact on MPG (just how negative will depend on cruising speed and gear selection). In city traffic, both gears and a stall will reduce mileage to some degree.

 

I think with all of that being said RPM i will look further into the strange noise coming from the rear end. and see if i can possibly adress that issue in a costly manner. if gears be the issues i think ill go with 3.42 since i do tend to do 90 on the high way quite often lol

 

Piece of advice, if you do decide to go with 3.42's, and your shy about swapping gears, or from the sound of it, you may have problems in the rear a simple gear swap won't fix...I suggest finding a decent low mileage 6speed rear end that someone swapped out for a 9 inch. Much simpler than swapping gears and finding out your carrier or differential is taking a ****.

Just make sure before you buy it, pop the cover off and do a quick inspection for problems, Or if your not sure what to look for, take someone with you who does.

 

^^^agree,less costly to pick up a good 3.42 rearend,and then your original rearend becomes a spare to work on and learn.
just gotta make sure you acquire a compaible rearend to match what's currently in the car,3 channel ABS or 4 channel ABS & traction control.

 

I have a 98 ta with a 12 bolt moser with 373 gears and a precision ind "vigilante" 3200 stall conv. Around the city its very much like stock. (unless ur right foot is heavy) then the tires will smoke 1st and 2nd with no prob. On the highway I still get around 16-18 mpg. I also have a few bolt on's and a mild cam. Good luck with ur choice regardless.

 

LMAO!!

i have 3.73 and a circle d 3800 stall. mpg did suffer some but it takes off like a bat out of hell. its a whole new beast

 

Yank SS3600 and 3:42's !!!!

 

I had the same question not too long ago. I went with 3.73s first. I really wanted a stall but I absoutley hate a 2.73 geared ls1 (GMs pitch for a gas friendly ls1). Sluggish off the line and the 3rd gear lag was ridiculous. It truly "feels" slow comparably to 3.73s. If your going with gears get 3.73s, I drive 20-35 miles a day in the summer and it's not too bad on gas. The sotp is worth the sacrafice. If you get 3.42s I bet you kick yourself.
If I would've had any other gear ratio I would've stalled first though. Remember if you stall first, your driving around town/city will be noticably "loose" with 2.73s

 

2.73s' to 3.23s' = 18% increase in torque to pavement
2.73s' to 3.42s' = 25% increase in torque to pavement
2.73s' to 3.73s' = 37% increase in torque to pavement

2.73s' with 3600 stall = OK/good combination,stall will feel VERY loose
3.23s' with 3600 stall = good/better combination,stall will feel loose
3.42s' with 3600 stall = good/better yet combination,stall will begin to feel tighter
3.73s' with 3600 stall = generally preferred combination,stall will feel only slightly looser than factory stall - probably the best performance combo yet retain good street manners

real world highway mpg for a stock engine
2.73s' - 25.9
3.23s' - 24.5
3.42s' - 23.8
3.73s' - 23.0

my Yank SS3600 with 4.56s' gets 21.5 mpg at freeway legal speeds

 

Assuming equal traction, a 2.73 car with a 3600 stall will run better ETs than the exact same car with 3.73s and a stock stall. You'll get a better launch with the stall alone than with the gears alone, and the increased shift extension of the stall more than makes up for the better mechanical advantage of the 3.73s with a stock stall.

If you want to do both and have the money to do them together, great. If you can't afford both but want the biggest gains first, get the stall.

IMO, 3.23s + 3600 stall feels like stock after a week of driving (high quality converter). 2.73 + 3600 stall feels only a bit looser. It's all just a matter of perception though.

 

When my car was stone stock, I ran against a very good friend of mines stone stock A4 '99 T/A with 3.73's and I was literally right on his door the entire run. I will say his car feels much more violent off the line than mines does, but I think that is all the car has going for it in terms of any real performance advantage.

A good stall should be enough, IMO at least.