Question about shorter gears. Important!!

[Veetec]

Okay, I´ve got a bet with another german Honda owner: He said that if he would make one or two gears of his Civic shorter (3rd and 4th gear) it would accelerate faster and I think that´s logical and true. But he also said that you won´t lose topspeed with shortened gears and I´m pretty sure that you WILL lose topspeed! Who is right?? Please, I need some good help and maybe even a good and short explaination!
Thanx in advance!

[white97ex]

yes...you do lose some of your top speed. i am not sure how to explain it. if you live where i do, and it is hard to reach your top speed, shorter gears would be better because it would enable you to get to higher speeds faster

[CivicEx95]

You will lose top speed, its all about gear ratios. Imagine if your car had one gear, first gear. Sure you can accelerate to top speed in about 4-5 seconds, but thats it, you're going about 40 MPH. Now imagine you have second gear as the only one. It's going to take about 10 seconds but you'll be going 60 MPH at redline. Understand?

[Someguy]

It depends on if top speed of the car is aerodynamically limited or gear limited.

[Rice-Rocketeer]

If he's only shortening 3rd and 4th gears then it'll only reduce the top speed of those specific gears. If he keeps 5th gear and final drive the same then you should still have the same top speed.

[fritz_269]

Originally posted by Rice-Rocketeer
If he's only shortening 3rd and 4th gears then it'll only reduce the top speed of those specific gears. If he keeps 5th gear and final drive the same then you should still have the same top speed.

Yup.

There's a parallel thread in the Prelude forum:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t30742.html

[white97ex]

you will get some major lag in the 4th to 5th change as well, because of the larger difference in the gear ratios.