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3.90 Rear Gear performance enhancement


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since i put a lot of miles on the car, I drove a good distance in 4th at around 80mph to see how it will be to have 3.90s, its definetly not an issue for me.

 

Heefner, even with a 5500rpm limit 4th gear will have plenty of rpms left in it for the 1/4, and for the racers, their engine will have more room to rev so the faster speeds still will not be an issue.

 

launching in 2nd gear??? its not THAT much of a difference between the 3.90 and 3.54. this will also be impossible for the fidanze owners.

anyone who plans on doing that, should also have a bottle of A1 ready for the BBQ party.

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Theres a sticker on the back of the rear end housing that will say what gears are in it .

 

At least out west there still there on most Mitsu rear end ,truck or Quest . In the rust belt states I do not know?

 

If the stickers white its a open diff if it yellow its a LSD.

 

3:90 WILL say 3:909 i "think" 3:45 says 3:545. 4:202 is 4:20. So just drop the last number

 

I'll try to explane this  I do not write that good so here go's

 

To find out what gears are in a rear end (any rear end)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

If its a "open" diff

 

Get "one" wheel off the ground ! LEAVE ONE WHEEL ON THE GROUND!!!! or have some one hold one wheel!!

 

Mark the drive shaft yoke with chok

 

Turn the wheel "TWO" turns .

 

If the driveshaft "turns"  allmost 4   turns thats 3:90

 

If the driveshaft "turns"    3 1/2  turns thats 3:54

 

If the driveshaft "turns"    4  and a little more thats 4:20

 

If the  driveshaft  "turns"   4 1/2 plus a little more thats 4:62

 

________________________________________________________________

 

If you have a LSD like a Quest

 

GET "BOTH" WHEELS OFF THE GROUND

 

AND TURN THE WHEEL "ONLY" ONCE AND DO NOT HOLD THE OTHER WHEEL!!!!

 

And look at the number of turn on the shaft just like a open diff . The count on the driveshaft is the same as above.

 

__________________________________________________________________

 

Doe's anyone under stand what  I've wrote??

 

Car MUST not be in gear at the trans!!!!!!

 

I hope this is OK to post here?

 

 David

 

Hazardous Toys inc

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Interesting post! The 3.90 rear would cruise less rpm's than the 3.54 in 4th gear as the OD with the 3.90 yields a 3.31.

Mike I believe you will have NO trouble running mid 12's except for the street tires, though with practice launching you could do it. Slicks/11's!

Back when I was younger I was a Buick driver, GS models. Skylarks with big blocks. Most had 2.92's or 3.08 rears and a Chevelle rear wit 3.55's made an impressive difference. These cars really need more of a drop from 4th to 5th or an automatic that will hold up.

Gears have been the way to go fast all long. Having them streetable was the problem. New vettes have a .50 drop in 6th gear. That would drop our 4.22's to a 2.11!!! That's how those vettes can make nearly 30mpg cruising.

Shelby has had his share of big block mopars. The Hemi of those days really needed the 4.11's to really move the 4000lb. cars they were in. I rode in a 3.54 equipped R/T Hemi and it was not as impressive as I expected.

Looking foreward to your thoughts UL when you get the 3.9's. Personally due to my 6'2" frame and a multi surguried back I will try to find an automatic that will last. 4.22's would bce just fine with an auto/OD with their big drop in OD, usually just 68% of the rear gears. 4.22's bececome 2.86's!! in OD. The possible drawback at the track would be dropping into OD before the finish!!

Certainly gearing has been overlooked with our cars and UL may get us going in that direction. Mike are you going to 3.90's also?  

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I think the 4.22 rear and an auto would be great. Kevincar1 is working on a stronger auto for his quest and he will post results. The stock auto is just not strong enough even for a stock quest. I bought my quest from the 2nd owner, both females. The auto had to be rebuilt at 61K I bought it at 71k and burned it up in 5k. Admittedly I ran it hard. I will foreward Kevins email to anyone who wants to see his plans and contact him if you like. A strong auto with 4.22s would be very quick not lose boost between shifts and still cruise at less rpms than a 5speed with 3.54s. Mark
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for the auto tranny cars theres two things i'd recomend, first the  oil cooler has a  tmp  control valve on it , this can stick and  not alow the fluid to  flow thru the  cooler,,not  good , i'd sugest a  swap or  switch over to an after market   tranny cooler  with a larger   capasity , this  has alway been a requirement for  auto's when  toweing, so  the same applys to   drag raceing , and may explain  many of the  auto tranny failure over the yr's ,esp  some of the multi  failures

 

another thing i can say from personal experiance that  installing  3:90's in an auto   makes the  OD gear  ratio the same as the  5 spd  cars in 5th  gear at road  speed,

doing so in a 5 spd tranny car will  increase the 5th gear  rpm  by  500 rpms at any  given speed so the 5spd  would see more of a gain  then the  auto  cars ,but the drop in top  mph will be no problem  for the guys with  biger then  oem   cams , cause of the extra  top end  rpms  gain'd from the use of the cam

this will  cause the  1-2 shift  with  any cam to be a little earlier , but  if you have  500 to  900 more rpms on the top end , you may end up  shifting at the  same point  in the  frist part of the launch meaning if you are past the  60ft mark with the  3:54 gears  you should also be with  the 3:90 gears  with the extra rpms  avaiable , the  lower tourqe load put on the  engien will alow  a little more rpms  unless you get into vave float

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Shelby a quest with an automatic could go to the 4.22's and once in OD it would still turn LESS rpm's at a given cruising speed than the 5-speed with the stock 3.54's. Too bad the stick in OD(5th) runs at 85% of the rear gears while the automatic is only at 68% of the rear gears.

The stick in 5th has in effect dropped to a 3.00 ratio (with a 3.54 rear) while the automatic car with 4.22's drops to 2.87.

A strong enough auto tranny would be a blast with 4.22's and some boost! Remember how some of those Road Runners and GTX's with autos and a shift kit would leap forward a car length when they shifted from 1st to 2nd? It would be wild with 18psi from even a Big 16G plus the 4.22's. There is a SQ member working on a auto that he feels will hold up. He told me that 87-92 Montero's with V6's had a Toyota A44D tranny. And with a 4 cylinder bellhousing could bolt to our G54B and still have a lock-up converter. The part about a proper tailshaft is the next to be solved as these tranny's were not rear wheel drive tranny's? We'll see what he comes up with!

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>Remember how some of those Road Runners and GTX's with autos and a shift kit would leap forward a car length when they shifted from 1st to 2nd? It would be wild with 18psi from even a Big 16G <<  

 

 

yep sure do  i had an  11sec road runner with the  383 engine

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Jeff I aqgree. Unless your car is spending most of it's time on the track I do not believe the expense is worth the results. 3.54's aren't slouch gears and the money spent to go to 3.90's would reap greater benefits if applied elsewhere on the car. Just my opinion. Mark
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guys if  you  have never personaly   try'd swaping  gear ratio's  while drag  raceing please   say so  so  we can tell if your speaking from personal experiance or   hear -say

that said if you have  no more  rpms to work with other then the stock  valve train ,   lower gears  may not help you , but if you  have  the  upper  rpm range to  be able to get to  6.5 and 7 k  then your  going to  need them

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Yeah thats a bunch of bull. Its all about your head and how it can make power. If you got a cam that makes power between 3k and 7k then you can shift at 6k or higher but if your stock then you start to run out of power at 5k but with MINER mods like helping the engine breathe then you can make power up to 6k, things like 3in exhaust, more boost, 1g mass, and things like that. So when you say MPI guys there's kinda a lot, some have head work and some don't, I personally think that our cars with the right head work and intake and exhaust on a stock turbo with 15PSI would move like HELL then throw on a 3.90 gear and DAMN talk about MOVING.

 

    Kurt

 

P.S. I would like to talk to some guys that have actually done the swap and whats there 2 cents on the subject, worth it or not?

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I'm seeing this reply a little late...lol, but I can tell you that my car (with 3" exhaust, 1G MAS+K&N, and EVC set to 15 psi) didn't make power after 5,000 rpm, and I've got the dyno sheet to prove it.  Making power after 5,000 is all about the cam & head, not the bolt-ons.
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I put on a lot of freeway miles over the weekend with the 3.90s

its defintely not the biggest sacrific in comfort i have had to make. its actaully quieter in the car too becuase the rpm is a little off than where it used to resonate a bit.

very nice overall.

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UL is that your car in your post? I thought you had a red one. Very nice car either way but better if it's yours. Quests can make power to 6000 rpmwith work. Mine did it easily even with my 16G. Ran a 19C for a short time and then a 20G. I liked the 19C the best. UL you have the best dyno run that I've seen with a 12A. Congrats! Even the guys with MPI and other big mods start to drop off at 5800 or so. First gear 6k easily. and close to that, probably 5800, then 55oo for the rest was the best for me.

Unfortunatly most cannot afford to make the internals strong, which should be done first. Even TEP says that. Build and run what you can afford STARTING WITH A STRONG BASE ANd TOP NOTCH TUNING. Then chose the turbo you will run even though that does nor necessarily need to be the next purchase. 1G mas, 3" exhaust, fuel pump, clean all filters. Basic tune up of course. Don't get fixed on a HP goal or top speed. Those wll take care of themselves. Those 3.90's will be complimented with all of your other motor work. gears are usually the best bang for the buck except with one of ours!! Mark

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3.54's to 3.90's  is aprox 500 rpm drop this will show up in a 5spd  much  more then an auto tranny car , in the auto it'l make  the car much   more  driveable at  normal road cruise speeds ,because your  more into the  peek  tourqe  rpm range , just  droping  out of OD at  60 mph  is  like  hiting  passing  gear

 

and  a stock  quest  with only  exh  mods will  pull better at top end because of the lower'd  tourqe stress on the engine , it takes less  hp to  actualy  move the car  due to the  gearing , even if your  peak  power range is  droping off

 

3.90s  is not a steep gear at all , maybe  not the best  for  $2.50 a gal gas  prices  but  thats  not the gears fault , an  1.5  diff in tire heigth  will make up for all but a couple mph 3-4

 

4.56  ,  4.88's now that geting into  steep gears  , i've even  ran  5.33's but you better have an  8k rpm + engine for  them

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Mr Artinst

 

Could I get the" what" for on what you think of  the 3:90 gear change now that you have had a little time to "play"?

 

Hows your MPG?

 

How do you think it would work at the drags?

 

Was it a good move or ?????????

 

Thanks

 

Captain Gear Box

 

Hazardous Toys inc

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I have not noticed a change in the fuel mileage and after a while, its hard to tell the car has different gears without having a stock one to compare it to.

I havent taken the car to the track yet but I definetly recommend it.

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3.90s  is not a steep gear at all , maybe  not the best  for  $2.50 a gal gas  prices  but  thats  not the gears fault , an  1.5  diff in tire heigth  will make up for all but a couple mph 3-4

 

So making the circumference of the tire bigger will almost make up the difference you see on the speedo.  But what about the loss in torque?  I imagine a 10" tire (with infinite tracktion) will accelerate A LOT faster than a 20" tire.  By changing the gearing in the LSD, we gave it more torque, but by increasing the tire size, we lose torque.  If we make the tire big enough so that the speedo is totally accurate, would we lose all the torque we've gained from the 3.90 gearing?  Or the gain of the gearing outweighs the tire size eventhough the final rpm vs. speed is the same.

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if you made the tires tall enough to make the speedo correct then it would be as if the gears never changed.

 

it would take some really tall tires to make up the difference. maybe 30"

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if you made the tires tall enough to make the speedo correct then it would be as if the gears never changed.

 

it would take some really tall tires to make up the difference. maybe 30"

 

That is what I figured.  If the final speed is the same, the difference in the gearing must have been nullified.  So tire trick doesn't really help, you're losing torque for the sake of the speedo.  Changing the gears for the speedo should be the way to go.

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