a question to manual transmission owners.

hi guys..

l got 97 formula automatic.. too bad l couldnt find a good manual transmission one so l got auto..

anyway.. my car runs at the first gear 50 mph. at 50 mph it changes gear to second and it goes on the second gear till 90 mph and at the third gear l dont know it goes to 115 and my car doesnt goes anymore because of that damn governer chip.

as u know l got 4 speed auto and you got 6 speed manual.

so l wonder how fast can u go at the first gear and second gear...

thank you very much..

umm im not sure??? to be honest i never take it over 3 max 3.5 in first. (unless i race.) The fastest i hit in first was just over 6k and the car was screaming. Im guessing somewhere around those digits maybe a few faster. Wait for Mr Luos and ask him. or any1 that races pretty frequently. Hope i helped

Right now with the stock rev limiter on it and 3.42 gears....

1st = 45 (or so)
2nd = 75 (near there)
http://home.comcast.net/~mrluos/speedo1.JPG

3rd = actually 105
http://home.comcast.net/~mrluos/speedo2.JPG

4th = 140 (or so)

man.. if the 4th is 140 or so ( l do believe)

you got 5th and the 6th so how fast would it go at the 5th and then at the 6th?

l heard that automatic's and manual's top speed is the same. no difference. is that correct? l believe it is correct. l believe my car can go 130 or more at the 3rd gear. because when it comes to 115 it is not even screamin very much. at the 4th l have no idea how fast would it go..

by the way thank you so much for the pics. Luos..

6th gear won't pull forward after about 150 MPH.

5th gear tops out (wind resistance, not running out of gear) around 167 MPH. Mine should be higher since there is more power to pull through.

by the way luos..

even my friend was inside the car he is like 150 pound. and l wanted to test 0-60 miles speed. and we counted 3-2-1 and he started the time and l hit the gas even not all the way l slowly floored it ucz it is spinnin otherwise and my car reached to 60 mph and he stopped the time. it was 5.2 second..

but my car is all stock (just flowmaster exhaust system, l just added new muffler) l dont understand why it was faster than normal.

do u have any idea? maybe l got some mods from the previous ovner.. l never open my hood or go under the car cuz l dont know what are they..

Sorry man, but the stopwatch method is VERY inaccurate.
Timing is off .5 seconds and your time is WAY different.

Plus...sometimes the speedo can be off.
The only way to really test it is at the track or on the dyno man.
The LT1 has plenty of low end grunt, I can see a 5.5 second 0-60 for one.

50mph in first gear? That kinda seems high for for a stock 97 LT1. For me, I think first tops out around 35-40ish the 2nd tops 67 or so at most.
I know the SRT-10 Viper and Z06 can kiss 60 in first.

yea man, l guess you re right..

l dont understand cars so much and also l am not a racer or something.. l just got this car for daily. plus l liked how they look. when l got this car l didnt even know how powerful they are.. l went to dealer and got one and after that l found out that this is more powerful than other birds.:) just luck..

as soon as l can l will take the car to dyno. l just wanna know what can she do. thats it..

thank you man..

l appriciate it...

I think the 97 LT1's were rated at 285hp.
But one way you could find out what first gear goes up to is to put it in first gear and redline it and see how fast your going, but I wouldn't recommend it. Just a dumb idea.

man, l am not lying.. why would l?

mine is auto, maybe more than 50 times l did it.. right on 50 mph it changes to second gear and right on 90 mph. it changes to third gear.

again, mine is auto, not manual..

thank you.

doodad, you could actually be feeling a different gear...cuz it upshifts/downshifts depending on how hard you are on the throttle, also, automatic transmissions have the torque converter which sort of acts like a mutiplier. so..it makes sense that a auto car w. 4 gears will go faster in 1st gear. the torque is multiplied in low accel, situations, but when you get higher speeds, the TC locks up and becomes a 1:1 ratio, giving your final drive a boost....

umm i have a th350 in my bird and its only a 3 speed. automatic. and it just goes through the gears fast. get to 3rd gear going like 35mph. its got a shift kit and i dunno if thats why it launches throught the gears that fast but yeah. when im on it it stays in the gears a little longer.

man, l am not lying.. why would l?

mine is auto, maybe more than 50 times l did it.. right on 50 mph it changes to second gear and right on 90 mph. it changes to third gear.

again, mine is auto, not manual..

thank you.

I'm not saying that you are making this stuff up. I have a 94 LT1 with the 4L60E automatic tranny too, and all I'm sayin is that my 1st gear can't reach 50mph and the 93-97 F-Bodies are pretty much all similar from the factory. All the 96-97's have 285hp instead of 275hp because the LT1 is breathing through dual cats, not just one. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not saying that you are making this stuff up. I have a 94 LT1 with the 4L60E automatic tranny too, and all I'm sayin is that my 1st gear can't reach 50mph and the 93-97 F-Bodies are pretty much all similar from the factory. All the 96-97's have 285hp instead of 275hp because the LT1 is breathing through dual cats, not just one. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
so Mr. Lous what do you think your 6th gear tops out at?

6th is drag limited, the car runs out of power before it runs out of revs. figuring no drag, should be around 180ish, and thats damn fast. Luos should get somewhere near 170 (guessing) before he runs out of power. Hold your hand out the window at 50 and again at 80, notice how much different the wind feels? Same thing with your front bumper, its like pushing a wall.

6th is drag limited, the car runs out of power before it runs out of revs. figuring no drag, should be around 180ish, and thats damn fast. Luos should get somewhere near 170 (guessing) before he runs out of power. Hold your hand out the window at 50 and again at 80, notice how much different the wind feels? Same thing with your front bumper, its like pushing a wall.
Theroretically if you could run 6th gear to redline you would be going 260+ MPH. Too lazy to do the math right now.
5th gear is drag limited. You cannot redline the car in 5th. Top speed of 5th gear is around 180 MPH if I remember right. I should have the power to pull through to that with the swap. Not that I ever will though. Whatever it traps in the 1/4 mile is more than fast enough for me.

I'm not saying that you are making this stuff up. I have a 94 LT1 with the 4L60E automatic tranny too, and all I'm sayin is that my 1st gear can't reach 50mph and the 93-97 F-Bodies are pretty much all similar from the factory. All the 96-97's have 285hp instead of 275hp because the LT1 is breathing through dual cats, not just one. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.


telling u guys again.. l have goy 97 formula auto which has LT1 engine. and at the first gear when l floor it right away, it goes till the 50 mph. right on 50 mph, the car changes to second gear. l dont know about your cars but at my car when it changes gear, you can feel it like manual transmission, it jumps. and it continious to speeding up and right on 90 mph, it changes to third gear and it continious to speeding up it goes to 115 and the cars starts to jump. because of that damn governor chip. so l dont know how fast it goes on the third gear.

l live in atlanta dunwoody, if anybody doesnt believe that it goes 50 mph at the first gear, come and see in real. even when 3 people in the car it still goes to 50 mph at the first gear.

ok l dont understand that much about cars maybe, but l know how to drive well and l know when car changes gear and l know which gear l am in.

thank you.

Must have the 2.73 gear.

what is 2.73 gear Luos?? is it better or worse?

and which gear normal LT1's has??

thank you.

It is a better gear for gas mileage. Means your RPM's will be lower on the highway.

Although it does hurt performance. Takes longer to reach the peak RPM's, and when it shifts it falls further outta the peak.
Gears would probably be a good mod for you. But not on the tires you have. :lol:
Would be even harder to keep them from spinning.

Excatly:))

so Luos,

which gear stock LT1's has? and stock LS1's??

you told me that probably l got 2.73 gear.. which other cars has 2.73 gear??

thank you.

Most auto LT1's and some auto LS1's.

3.23 gears were an option for the auto cars.

l am so sorry Luos, l know l am asking too many questions but it makes me feel so good to know something about the thing which l own.

so, you say that 2.73 gear is better than stock LT1''s and stock LS1's gear?

also, which other cars has 2.73 gear?

thank you man..

p.s. (l hope you re not getting mad cuz l am asking too many similar questions:) )

Not getting mad at all. I have no problem answering questions for people.


Not that the gear is better than any other one.
Not sure what other cars have the 2.73 gear.
What gear ratios do is determine when your car shifts. How fast it goes through each gear.
The higher the number the faster you go through a gear.
For example...you say your car goes to 50 MPH in first gear. IF you have the 2.73 gear it makes sense.
Say you had the 3.23 gear, it would shift out of first gear closer to 45 MPH.
The 2.73 gear is better for gas mileage but does lower performance some.
Gears can also change the top speed of the car. This can only happen though if the car has enough power to pull through the wind resistance.

Not sure if these RPO's are the same for the LT1 cars, but you should be able to check the door sticker for these codes to determine your stock gears.
A4 GU2 2.73 Standard
A4 GU5 3.23 Optional

l just checked it man..

l didnt see any numbers like A4 but l saw in the middle of all those numbers and letter there was GU2...

so l got the stock 2.73 gear..

and this is making my car slower.. man, l am always unlucky..:)

anyway.. thank u man..

I found gear ratios for the 4L60E tranny for f-bods. Here's the site:
http://www.funkz.net/firebird/firebirdcalcs.htm
Here are the posted gear ratios:
4L60 / 4L60E
3.06
1.62
1.00
0.70

And for the M6:
1994+
2.66
1.78
1.30
1.00
0.74
0.50

Looking at the ratios, it looks like the M6 would be able to hold out longer in 1st than the A4 because the gear reduction is greater in the A4. I don't know, maybe I have my thinking cap on backwards.

How long you can hold a gear depends on BOTH the tranny ratios and the rear end differential ratios.
You have the tranny ratios listed. The tranny ratios should be fairly close to each other (when comparing shift points) to each other.

It comes down to rear gear ratio on the F-Body.

DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

l put 93 premium gas into my car and l added octane booster ''LUCAS''

now l cant get it 50 mph at the first gear.. what the hell is this?? it is reaching 45 mph or 46 mph. at the first gear.. l tried maybe 5-6 times but no.. l couldnt get it reach to 50 mph at the first gear..

somebody make a comment about this please.. what do u think is the reasion? did l lose power with that premium gas and lucas octane booster and thats why l cant reach the 50 mph at the first gear? or did l gain power with them, thats why l cant reach 50 mph?

why do u think?

Your fuel (bad or not) should not affect your shift points.
Using premium and an octane booster could actually slow your car down a little. Too much isn't always good.

l think they are slowing me down man.. imagine, afternoon l proved that to my wife even she drove it and made 50 mph. at the first gear and then at night l tried no... she is not going more then 45-46 mph at the first gear.. actually l dont care, l dont do it always.. but l just wonder why not now..

octane booster just first time l tried and l wanted to see if l am gonna go faster and premium, l just wanted to add pprimum cuz l was gonna add octane booster so l thought that would be better, man, now l am goin and getting 87.. that is the best..

thank you..