www.86garage.com

Why do people switch out to the 4.77 ring & pinions?! I have a 4.30 in mine.. and I want a 3.90 or something in that range. The gear ratios are crazy to begin with. I also drive the piss out of my car highway/town. on the highway with the 195/50/15 tires at 65 mph I'm at around 4300 rpms... I can only imagine what it would be with a 4.77 Does this allow for 5th gear drifts? lol not sure why people jump up to it and there's a lot of people that do, and it seems as if they run the T50 trans. I would feel as if I couldn't drive my car anywhere, and I also shift like crazy to begin with even with a stock 4age. Now I could see if swapping out to another trans and it has some insane "top speed" gearing, but other wise what is the real purpose of that rear end gearing?

Improved acceleration but poorer gas mileage. Top speed is reduced.

that's what I'm still confused by... I was drifting my 86 with the factory gear ratio, and factory engine etc. I could see doing the 4.77 if you didn't want to do anything to the engine to get a little more power out of it.... That's about the only thing I could see in any reason for doing that. I want to drop to a 3.80-3.90, and try that. I keep finding myself being stuck between 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd while drifting. I was really hoping the trans I had was a w58, but it is not so the gear ratios are about the same as the t50.... so I won't notice much difference to that trans. I keep having people tell me I need to do the 4.77, but I don't see any reason why I should. To me I should be going the other way for longer gears/top speed vs acceleration.

3.9 final drive should be 3300 rpms at 65 MPH. With as much travelling as I do with the car that would be a hell of a lot better than what's in it now. Also for drifting. I would stay in second for semi long corners and have more of the power band to play with than between 6500-8000ish

I would like some opinions from people that run different gear ratios, and their thoughs on the performance of the car.

Modifications should be performed based on your driving/performance requirements. If you believe going "down" to a 3.8/3.9 and it's beneficial then you've "upgraded".

that's one thing is this will be the first time of me playing around with different gear ratios to improve a car. maybe I'm posting about this the wrong way lol

86boy wrote:that's one thing is this will be the first time of me playing around with different gear ratios to improve a car. maybe I'm posting about this the wrong way lol

no your not what Doc said is correct you have to adjust and build your car according to ur driving , about 4.77 doc is correct again , in my opinion i love it havent had issues wit it its a bit annoyin on highway drives but i only track my car nothing more so its all the more reason why i did it

do you have the stock 4age? Also can you drift in 3rd/4th gear with that ratio?! thats just straight up insane to me. lol

Big thing about the 4.7* is powerband. It's great for the stock 4age powerband. Curious though, 4300rpm on 195/50's. Thats my new setup, if that's the case then I'm stoked! lol.

you have a ze, so you dont need a 4.x gear ratio as seriously as i do with my whopping 80 horsepower. i may as well jump out and run ahead of my car with 3.x ratios

Manifesto wrote:you have a ze, so you dont need a 4.x gear ratio as seriously as i do with my whopping 80 horsepower. i may as well jump out and run ahead of my car with 3.x ratios

LOL!

OT: I just noticed that your location is Helms Estate. Would that happen to be the Tidwell & 45 area of Houston, TX?

/\ HAHAHA!!! ya Manifesto I know that feeling. the final drive with the stock 4age was ok. I could see the 4.77 being benifitical with that setup. There's a guy with a 20v that swears by the 4.77.... he keeps telling me to get a 4.77 even with the GZE setup. I'm not exactly sure why he likes that ratio but whatev. To each their own I guess.

Ya before the GZE I never though about getting a 3.8/3.9, but now things are a little different. Seemed to have more than enough power yesterday even for tight turns lugging 2nd then opening to a bigger turn did a little clutch kick and away we went again. So i'm fairly certain giving the car little longer legs wouldn't hurt too much with drifting. Even then.... just add a little more boost. to make up for it if it does cause hardcore bogging. I don't something I'll have to play with.

I wouldnt go with 4.77 personally you drive your car a lot it seems so far...The 4.30 are almost to agressive

bt20v wrote:I wouldnt go with 4.77 personally you drive your car a lot it seems so far...The 4.30 are almost to agressive

Agree if u daily or drive ur car more the just to track an back don't bother wit 4.77

Ya that's what Im saying. There's quite a few that keep trying to talk me into a 4.77...... I face palm them every time. I'm really thinking 3.90 final drive. Then again.... idk how much that will affect the power to the ground. I guess more boost? Lol the most I can get out of the sc12 from what I've read is 14-15 pounds. I'm already pushing 9-10 pounds with deleting the VSVs etc. I'm going to get adjust timing gears and get that squared away. After those I'm ordering the pulleys. But I haven't decided if I want to order pulleys or the final drive yet.... decisions decisions. I also still need to get another clutch and a drive shaft made :/

I wish I could go with a 3.70 or similar back end without fear of it breaking. Having a turbo car is useless in first with the stock 4.30 already, I can't even imagine 4.77's.