Alright here's the deal. I have the stock 3.23 gears, and I do alot of highway driving, especially at speeds of 80 mph. The engine is turning at around 2800rpm, which is rather loud for extended trips.

Now my question is, should I go down to 2.73s or is there a way to change the O/D to a M6 spec (0.50)?

Is there any performance loss going from 3.23 to 2.73? Will my car feel slower?

 

Yea it will feel a lot slower. Thats a .5 difference.

 

Yep, I have 2.73's, and hate them with a passion... the gas mileage isn't too much of a difference either, if anything it's 1mpg better, or seems to be compared to my buddy with a 94Z equipped with 3.23's. Your car will be a little slower, and feel much slower. I would keep the 3.23's, don't have much info on changing the OD, but I suppose you could do something.

 

I think perhaps you have another problem besides that. At 80MPH with 3.23's your engine should be turning about 2300RPMs on OD with the converter locked.

Are you sure the gears have never been changed? To me that sounds like 3.73 gears....at 80 MPH with 3.73's you would be at 2700RPM's in OD with the converter locked.

If the gears have not been changed then perhaps you have a problem with your converter not locking up or something...however i am not sure that would drop the RPM's by that much, your factory tach is not the best way to tell your cruising RPM's....as they are usually off by at least a couple hundred RPM's.

 

I have 2.73's, they are stock and I haven't been able to upgade yet. My car is pretty strong but I know guys that dyno about 20 HP less then I do (yes using the same dyno) and are not much lighter (maybe 50lbs) that have 3.73 gears running same or faster then me. Then again I know guys that are almost identical except for gears that are running .3 or so faster at the same track.

Meaning there will be a noticable performance difference. I know I hate/like my gears right now for different reasons.

Likes:

• Philly to Orlando and back with the cutout open the whole way and no real noise issues or fuel concerns (about 3.5 tank fulls for the entire trip) at 75-80 the whole way and in the remote spots well over 140 playing with some guy in a BMW
• Not needing to shift out of second gear until about 100MPH
• Not needing to shift out of third gear until about 160MPH
• Having the car down shift to 2nd gear when getting on it hard on the highway (sounds bad ***, and scares people)

I hate:

• Only being in 3rd gear for the last 100 - 150 ft at the track
• Needing to shift right before the end of the track, as it is starting to actually gage your 1/4 MPH
• $hitty off the line performance
• Need big power to compete with cars that should be slower
• The time it takes the computer to figure out what gear to put it in when playing on the highway, it almost feels like it goes to 3rd for a second then says WTF and finally drops to 2nd

Honestly, I don't see the real benfit in downgrading to 2.73's, your only talking about 366 RPM's difference @ 80 MPH with the converter locked, but that also depends on what you want to do with the car...

 

I agree.

 

Loose converter?

Try doing a tranny flush and refill, and make sure your torque converter is okay.

 

Exactley, I have 3.73 gears in my vehicle, and I am turning 2800 RPM @ 80, in OD, here is a calculator for you to use:

http://www.f-body.org/gears/

Do not downgrade to the 2.73 (truck gears) either, big mistake, it will slow you off the line. I do alot of freeway driving, and only lost 2 miles a gallon going from 3.23 to 3.73, now with the 3000 stall gas mileage is a different story

SteveC

 

I'm assuming automatic transmission - just a suggestion, but may it be possible to use a powerchip or programmer to adjust shift points? I believe any performance difference would not be worth your loss in acceleration power not only in stop and go traffic, but also when attempting to accel on the highway. Sounds like a transmission issue. Get a 6-speed manual and see where you're at in 6th gear at 80mph. I'd be around 1,200rpms.

 

Well, here's a comparison for ya ...

I've had everything from factory 2.73's, to 3.73's and now even 4.10's in my car . I don't know if I'm doing the math wrong or something (converting liters to gallons ..... good 'ol Canada, eh???) but I'm figuring 3.8 litres / US gallon (it's 4.5 L / imperial gallon) and that means when I fill up with 55 L, that's about 14.5 US gallons? SO, based on THAT, the most miles I've ever put on one tank was 310 (with 2.73 gears) ..... that seems to work out to 21.4 mpg?? Now the most I've ever gotten on the highway with 4.10's has been 265 miles, or 18.3 mpg.

OK, so my MPG seems crappy, BUT, I drive like a retard sometimes . But comparing mileage, to say that I only lost ~3 mpg by going from 2.73's to 4.10's isn't so bad.

HOWEVER, let's look at AVERAGE MILEAGE (city/hwy), and it doesn't matter WHICH ratio I've had (2.73/3.73/4.10) I always seem to get around 15 - 16 mpg (because even most of my "highway" mileage seems to be like city because of the damn stop-and-go ).

Basically, I'm saying leave your 3.23's!!!