I run 3.73's and I think they are a nice gear for all around driving. It does not kill the mileage on the freeway and I can launch at the track quite nicely. My buddy runs 4.10's in his 12.9 second XR and first gear is pretty much useless cause you have to shift instantly off the line. I would say if you drive on the highway much I would probably stay away from the 4.10's..
What is the intention for the car? How much power are you going to make, and how are you going to drive it? I don't see any real reason to swap from the stock 3.45's, especially if you are going to be turboed soon.
I don't think this particular car will be turbo-ed. I don't really race it or anything either, I'm just looking for ways to get a little more speed from it. Could be a future-mod so I thought I'd gather some information. If there isn't really a huge amount to be gained from swapping in 3.73's then I won't bother, just thought it might be a good mod to make. AOD 2.3 Mustangs come with 3.73's correct?
One more note, I have done a little more research throughout the day and I don't really think that swapping in 4:10's would be a good idea. At this point I'm just wondering what kind of gain swapping in 3:73's would give me.
go with the 4.10's. Especially since you have overdrive. The change in rpms is about 500rpms at cruising speed i belive. Its a common mis-conception that they will "kill" you gas mileage and burnout your motor. If anything moving the cruising rpms up, will benifit a 4cyl because its putting you into the powerband more often. The car will seem alittle more torquey, But if your not going to turbo the car eventually, your kinda wasting money, because the power your making isn't enough to go all that fast anyways.
I like my 3.73's. They're stock, since my car used to be an automatic, but it's a good gear ratio. I can chirp the tires and first lasts up to about 25mph, so it's pretty good for off-the-line power (which we desperately need with these n/a motors ).
Sounds good, thanks for the help so far. Maybe one day I will go with some 3:73 as a bit of a performance upgrade, we'll just have to wait and see what happens when that time comes.
I have whatever the stock gears are on an '88 N/A 5spd, whats that 3.45's or somethin? and acctually now that its turbo i go through the gears pretty darn fast. can't imagine what 3.73's would be like.