Re: Could be simple question on gear ratios..

[Cheapass Ron <rapieper@yahoo.com>]

This is the ratio between input shaft (or engine crankshaft) to the
pinion shaft.  A lower number will mean that your engine will rotate
fewer RPM for a given road speed.  

Another ratio that matters much is the final drive ratio, which is the
ratio of the gearbox output (pinion shaft) to the diff flanges.  It's
also known as R&P, for Ring & Pinion (the pinion gear drives the ring
gear  - it's part of the pinion shaft - the ring gear drives the diff
flanges).   Again, a lower number means the engine rotates fewer times
per mph.

Take for example the popular 4K tranny.  It's 5th gear is 0.89.  It's
final drive is 3.94.  Those ratios couple to require a pretty high
engine rpm at highway speed.  While the 3.94 is great for launching
your car around town and the autox course, that 5th makes your car a
buzzy PITA on the highway, so a lot of guys put in higher 5th gears
(lower number), like 0.80 (which I used), or 0.75, or 0.71.  These
considerably lower highway engine rpm but don't affect the rest of the
gearbox ratios or other performance.

HTH, 

Ron

--- Cory Langford <cory.langford@icbc.com> wrote:
> 
> I have been looking at the chart for gear ratios on the Org site and
> I
> am now completely confused :)
> 
> So someone want to explain all the basics to me..
> 
> 5th gear ranges from 1.26 to .71 <- what is this ratio to?  Is this a
> percentage of travel or something (ie: one turn on the fly wheel =
> .71
> turns on the dif flange?)  Simple question: Is bigger better in this
> ratio or is smaller better?
> 
> TIA
> 
> -- 
> Cory Langford
> '86 2L Oettinger Turbo Project
> '82 beater driver
> 
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