CBus 06 GT
Active Member
Not shifting out of 3rd isn't really a good thing. Gears are a torque multiplier, they get you to the sweet spot faster. Only using 3 gears seems like a lazy sorta run and your not getting the full potential of your engine. If your pounding 6,200 rpm's through 4 gears in the 1/4, your humping. I maybe looking at this all wrong, but with my 4:30's, it screams, the power stays on tap. It pulls hard through 4 gears. It's a lot quicker than it was with the 3:31's. Like I say, I might be looking at this all wrong, but with 3:55's your scrubing off some speed it seems to me.
It will really depend on the spread of power. If an engine has a narrow powerband where it makes good torque/HP over a narrow range of RPM, then you want to gear it so you shift 3 times (i.e. use 1st-4th). If you have a broader power curve like with a positive displacement blower, then a 2 shift run may be the way to go. Obviously, there are lots more variables than just that, you have to consider vehicle weight, how hard you can launch/available traction, and how quick you are with your shifts. With an N/A S197 running on DR's, changing the rear to 4.30 and getting a 3rd shift and carrying 6000+RPMs in 4th through the traps is probably the way to get the quickest E.T.