3:73's vs 4:10's.......documented

Before I cammed mine it would spin like crazy. Now it doesn't. But it still spins some. Can't believe you guys aren't spinning any. My car runs well above 2500 but down low I have nothing. I need those 4.10's soon.

The best all around performance gear is the 3.73. Gas mileage isn't really affected, in fact we've had customers report better gas mileage when going to this gear from a 2.73 or 3.08. The 3.73 gives an excellent increase in acceleration and top speed isn't decreased because you are able to wind out overdrive further. With a 3.73 your rpm in 5th gear at 60 mph will only be 2005, not at all what you would call "too high". As we said, your top speed will not decrease when putting lower (numerically higher) gears in a car with overdrive. You will simply wind out 5th gear further than you could with the higher gears (numerically lower).

The 3.55 is also a good choice for a daily driver but does not offer the acceleration potential of a 3.73. With a 3.55 your rpm in 5th gear at 60 mph should be right around 1908. To sum it up, for a 5 speed car we feel the 3.73 is the best all around performance choice but either gear will make your car feel 1000 lbs. lighter and a whole lot quicker.

Now, if your pony car has the 4 speed AOD it's a whole different ball game. The AOD is not the most responsive transmission Ford has ever made and it needs all the help it can get. For the AOD, 3.55's are simply not enough. 3.73's are a good choice for automatic cars and again, they don't hurt gas mileage very much and the car remains as streetable as it was from the factory, only it accelerates much better. 4.10's are also a good choice for automatic cars, and we prefer them. A 4.10 may sound extremely steep, but because the AOD's 1st gear is so high (numerically low) and 4th gear (overdrive) is steeper than the T-5 it's a very good choice for the driver interested in making their car perform better.

As for the 4.10 in a stick car, we really don't recommend them for stock engines, but if you've had other work done like an intake and heads they're an excellent choice. At 60 mph in 5th gear 4.10's will bring cruising rpm up to 2204. 2204 rpm still isn't bad on the expressway but in the city you'll be doing a lot of shifting, but if that's not a problem, 4.10's offer a hellatious launch and rate of acceleration.

http://www.alternativeauto.com/techtips/techtips_50.html#q1

95Vert said:

This topic has been beat to death and back, but I will say that I disagree with you. I drive my car every single day, and the 4.10s are perfect. At 70mph, i'm at 24-25k rpms. My dad's sport trac and my wife's taurus, runs the same rpms at that speed.

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I'm so in favor of 4.10s for this reason! I think people are somewhat spoiled with havin 2.73s and looking at 1700 RPMS while highway cruisin. Get in almost any other car and look at the tach when you're driving 75MPH. You're gonna see 2500-3000. The only other normal (read: not 6 speed V8s) cars that run real low RPMs on the highway, in my experience, are pickup trucks.

Adam

My "unstreetable race only" 4.30 gears have me taching at an "ungodly" 2300-2700 on the hwy. Gear your car for the combo and powerband, this ain't rocket science.

trav_19 said:

well its been so long since i put my gears in...but i believe my 93 gt vert with t5 had 3.27's i could be wrong???? maybe someone else knows the specs...but im sure verts had the steepest gear ratios

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my 94 aod-e vert had 2.73's... not steep at all, lol.

Wow since I have my 3.73s my car is even more of a gas guzzler, I can't imagine with 4.10... 100$ per week of gas FTL

I only get 180ish miles per tank SWEET. At this point I don't even care anymore.

95five-oh said:

Who in here has 3.27's stock in their car? I was under the impression that we either had 2.73's or 3.08's. I've got a t-5 and im revving about 1700-1750 while cruising at 70mph, which is perfect, but it seems like it takes forever to get up to those speeds with stock gears.

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I'm pretty sure 3.27's were only available with an auto trans in the 94-95 cars.

Low-5.0 said:

I'm pretty sure 3.27's were only available with an auto trans in the 94-95 cars.

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Nope. I have 2.73.

my car had 3:27's in it before swithching to 3:73's and soon to be 4:10's mine is a 5 speed 94 5.0 gt... 3:73's my gas milage wasn't hurt at all in fact i get 22 on the highway i checked it when i went on a trip .... 4:10's im expecting a diffrent story

i have 2.73's and I really do need new gears but I don't know if I'm going to build a n/a or turbo car so I'm waiting till I figure out the combo first before I waste money on gears/installation and then just have to change them again.

QCStang said:

Nope. I have 2.73.

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You missed my point...3.27 was an option for automatic cars. You could not get 3.27 gears with a manual trans in 94-95. I'm not 100% sure of this, but I do know some cars had 3.27's stock, and all of them that I've seen have been automatics.

If your going to post rpm's post the SPEED you were running not the type of road it is (ex: highway). That tells nothing.

If you are looking for gains from 3.73's to 4.10's...make sure (as killercanary alluded too) that there wasn't much time between swaps from track time to track time...

If I want the engine in it's powerband I downshift.

Good luck with this... 4.10s would have been too much in the 1/4 on the bottle with the stock engine. I'll be interested to see what you cross the line at.

TheDamned said:

Wow since I have my 3.73s my car is even more of a gas guzzler, I can't imagine with 4.10... 100$ per week of gas FTL

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I believe A LOT of this has to do with lead foot disease

With my current setup I can get between 18-23mpg. It all depends on how I drive it for that tank full of gas. I drive 50/50 street/hwy, mostly to work and back.

87 coupe I had 3.55s and went 8.36@85 in the 1/8th still in third gear. I put 4.30s in it and went 8.26 at 80 in third bouncing off the rev limiter. My 60' was 1/10th quicker.