Theoretical gear question (lets get some real tech in here)

I didn't read through all these posts, so some of this might have been mentioned.

I beleive that lower gears play a bigger role in top end acceleration. I think gears like 3.73's and 4.10's and higher offer great acceleration from a stop, but are poor for highway races.

I have several friends with steep gears in their cars. One is a '97 CObra with 4.30's, A '01 Bullitt with 4.10s and the other is a '99 GT also with 4.30's. From a dead stop all these cars absolutely rape my car. My car is a stock GT with 3.27's. They all run mid to low 13's in their geared cars (with a few other mods) while my best is a 14.1.

However, line up on the freeway at 70MPH and drop a gear and go and i'm door to door with them every time even though they have the gears and mods. WHile i'm only in 3rd they are just winding out 4th and shifting into 5th.

I just think the higher gears get you into the powerband quickly in the lower gears, but in the taller gears (3, 4th and 5th) they wind through too quickly while lower gears (3.08's 3.27's) stay in the powerband longer allowing you to keep up.

SInce I do a lot of highway driving, i chose to keep my 3.27's while all my friends upgraded to 4.10's and 4.30's.

ANyway to make a long story short, i think steeper gears are more suited for drag racing and taller gears are better for road racing

Guero said:

I know this is old, but im kinda in the same boat right now. Im wanna run with my bros top end(ws6 ls1), but im planning on going with the t-56. Would that help me out top end? Like the tranny gear ratios, i belive my 5th gear is his 6th, and little less. So as soon as i go into 5th, i now he will put a spanking on me. but if i get a 6-speed fourth gear is the almost the same as mine, but 5th is 80, which would get me pull still right??? im lost!!!

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Basically a T-56 is a 5-spd with an extra gear tossed in between 4th and 5th gear. It's not a 5-spd with another gear to shift into after 5th.

For example, the 2003 Cobra has a 1:1 4th gear and a 0.63 6th gear.

A 2003 Mach 1 has a 1:1 4th gear and a 0.63 5th gear.

5th in the Cobra is 0.80 which would put it between 4th and 5th on the Mach 1. It's not as big of a step which means you won't lose as much acceleration as you do when you shift your 5spd to 5th gear.

Depends which version of the 6-spd you get and what gear ratios is comes with.

It could even make you slower due to the taller 1st and 2nd gears

5spd GT said:

I wouldn't be looking for a tranny to solve your issues of not beating the ls1's.

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I agree. I would focus more on increasing HP rather than adding another gear to your car. If a 6-spd was the answer to keeping up with LS1's everyone would be doing it. You need HP plain and simple.