Anyone put "gears" behind a 3.8?
- Thread starter shotgun
- Start date
So Doober, are you thinkin about these ratios to go with that 427 you're talking about? With that kind of final drive ratio, you're going to need something with a sh*t ton of low end torque. Unless you're building a go kart. . .
Yeah, sort of. With the ratios I listed the car drives just fine. It may be slightly sluggish off the line with the current setup, but I'm focusing a little more on the final drive ratio (trying to make sure lower gears are decent as well), because I want to be able to drive this car across the country and get decent mileage. One of my buddies had an '03 Cobra, somewhere around 500rwhp, had 4.10s, but also had a T-56 and it got 20-22mpg. I'm hoping for a few more, but we'll see how it all turns out.
No matter what trans I go with (except maybe the T-56), final drive will put it around 1500-1700 at 70-75.
No matter what trans I go with (except maybe the T-56), final drive will put it around 1500-1700 at 70-75.
Shotgun, I would find something, put some 3.42's in it like the Buicks, and toss a 2004r in it. My new Wagon has 3.42's n it now. My 9" has 3.50's. My 82 wagon had some gears in it too and it woke up a little, but not very good mileage!
I've got 3.73's in my 85 Regal with the 3.8 (carburated) motor and it is fine for 1/4 mile bracket racing but the motor isn't that happy at highway speeds. If I was going to use the car for highway driving all the time I would at least go down to a 3.42 or 3.23 gear.
Does it have a 350 or 2004R? With the o/d trans it would probably be just right for the expressway.
The first thing I did to the Malibu I have now is swap in my 9"rear when the car had the original v6 in it.
It was like night and day
It was like night and day
