Gears: 3.27 vs. 3.55 vs. 3.73

[Mendari]

Good Afternoon Friends,

If NASCAR had stoplights, it would be just like driving in southern California.
In Los Angeles, it is almost impossible to drive one city block without a sticker infested economy car trying to cut you off. Currently, I am driving a Ford Explorer and its cumbersome handling makes it all to easy for them. However, I will be trading it in for a Mustang GT within a few months.
My question is this; what type of gears would be best for manuvering around congested traffic? To paint a better picture of my situation, my first set of upgrades will be Brembo brakes and chassis stiffening. Since the traffic is so congested, braking, handling, and quick 0-30 mph acceleration is imperative.

[boosted331]

4.10's or higher.

[90Stangjc]

Yeah, 4.10's would be pretty good, as long as you dont run over 70 often. Just my 2 cents, the mustang already has good 0-30, it's just high end it lacks.

[stang_racer20]

manual - 3:73's
auto - 4:10's

[Los]

If you don't care about gas, go for 3.73s. If you want great gas mileage, 3.27s or lower.

[GTStang]

I would never ever put 4.10's on a daily driver unless it was a rev-happy 4V Cobra. I put 4.10's on my 83 GT 5-speed because it wasn't my daily driver and all I cared about was pure 1/4 mile times. 4.10's are great for 1/4 mile and around town stopping from light to light. But I hated them on the highway and my already bad gas mileage became even worse.

[Mendari]

Hello GTStang,

Sorry for being a jerk in the Wheel Offset forum. I sincerely apologize.
Regarding the 4.10 gears, I drive alot of stop and go traffic. How were the shift points for 4.10's? I prefer shifting alot as long as it keeps me in a strong point of the powerband. It really is like the starting grid at NASCAR. Very, very congested bumber to bumper driving. How is your commute?

[HaggardRacer]

I have 3.55's on my K code. Works just fine for daily driver and good 1/4. If you want to go just for 1/4 I'd say get 4.11's. But don't drive it on the high way much.

[atssystemsusa]

the stock comp wont recognize anything over 373, 410s are a leap, and youll notice the top end drop off

[GTStang]

Originally Posted by atssystemsusa

the stock comp wont recognize anything over 373, 410s are a leap, and youll notice the top end drop off

What are you talking about?

[HiFlow5 0]

Originally Posted by GTStang

What are you talking about?

I believe this only occurs on the newer cars with automatics and steep gears. Something about the shift points, because they are electronicly controlled.

[GTStang]

The newer 99+ GT's auto only have this issue. Because they actually use a slower computer in the auto than the sticks and with it being shifted electronically you have this issue. But first you can use 4.10's stock and be ok. You will just notice the shift points coming later.
Second if you have gears and then try to add a S/C or Nitrous you will have big problems because it won't shift and will hit the fuel cut-off before it does, also the taction control needs to be taken care of through a chip also.. Diablo has chips for all these combinations to fix the problem along with fixing ya speedo without a speedcal.

[Los]

That's why you manually shift it.

[SkylineUSA]

The gears depends on your power band, and the purpose of the vehical. I have 3.55 and I am very pleased with then for all around perfomance, and drivability.

[GTStang]

Originally Posted by Los

That's why you manually shift it.

Manual shift as far as going 1-2-etc.., on an auto will do nothing. All manual shifting will let you do with an AOD-E equipped car is hold the shift points longer than the computer would until fuel shut-off. If you go from 1-2 before the computer thinks it should shift, it still won't shift so this does not fix the problem at all!