are the 4.3 gear ratios that we can get for our FC's quicker in acceleration aspects compared to the 3.73 gears that a lot of people throw into their mustangs. cuz ive been in my friends mustang with those gears in and it is quick. but i was under the impression the higher you go the quicker the accel. so 4.3 is a lot higher 3.73 so whats the deal!?

 

To be fair, you can't do a fair comparison of the two.
The two engines are very different, and so is the transmission.
Everything works together, and just isolating just the rear end gear ratio is just something that really can't be debated on...


-Ted

 

i just wanna beat his damn V8 ill just have to wait til next summer when im spooling.

 

putting in shorter gears means that the engine will run (in all gears numerically taller than 1) in higher rpms. Theyre used when the car is being set up for a peaker powerband, generally.

Also, a lot of the Camaros/Mustangs have ratios that were simply way too tall for stock form the factory and going shorter helped to set it up for acceleration - ideally you want to be just at redline when you cross the traps in a 1:1 gear when you dragrace, so you want to set your tire diameter and the rear end up for that. BTW, the 1:1 or closest to 1:1 gear is usually 4th with a manual and 3rd with an auto. Any gear taller than that is 'overdrive'.

4.30s are WAY too short for most builds on v8s - if you had a powerband that peaky in a v8 with that displacement youd have 500+ hp. Pretty insane, and most guys would rather keep it streetable (if they want that much hp theyd add displacement or forced induction). But for a RX-7 with a rotary, especially one that revs high, theyre very good - if youve built it with a peaky powerband. Oh and uh... for cars that use GIANT drag slicks, Ive seen up to 5.something rear gears. Jeeze.

Anyway, back to rotaries, if you go with high NA revs and porting that shoves up the meat of the VE Bellcurve to high rpms, you might need a 4.30. OTOH, you can have gears that are too short for your torque curve.. but I dont see that as being a likely problem.

 

Street racing?
It's all about the NOS...hide it.


-Ted

 

Your prob is the whole "us" vs "them" mentality. Its a case of differences in what the engine and the cars is good at and was intended for, and what the capabilities are.

If you wanna beat him stock or with basic boltons a turbo would do nicely. But shorter gears arent necessary unless the powerband is shorter than the shiftpoints if you shift at redline... and youd need one hell of a giant turbo to have that problem.

Also... uh... you DO realize if he wanted that badly to beat you in dragraces he could, and then some, and likely not spend as much, right? It IS a heavier car, but he has much more displacement and the aftermarket for dragracing suspension on mustangs is massive. Adding forced induction, N/A tuning and/or more displacement has been done over and over for years.