Dallas Fort Worth 5.0 Mustang Club - View Single Post

**46Tbird** · 03-19-2014, 09:31 AM

The higher your goal HP, the less gear you need.

I have 3.73s, but the secret is getting a tall tire on the car. Yes the larger diameter will kill off some gear, but importantly the contact patch grows front to rear. My stock, untuned 3.73 M6 GT traps 114.5 without hitting the factory rev limiter in fourth gear. Tires are 28.5" tall 305/35-20 Nitto DRs. Compared to the stock 27" tall 255/40-19s, the effective gear ratio is reduced by 5.55%, making the car "geared" like it has stock tires and a 3.53 gear ratio. I think it works well in my case. Some people freak the F out when they find out what a cast 20x10 wheel weighs with a drag radial mounted on it, but this is my daily driver and I just don't care.

PS, I think gear ratio is the most overrated metric on these cars. The engines have good power at nearly all RPMs, so you don't need a lot of gear to get them into a powerband. The cars don't really seem to gain or lose a lot of ET with gear swaps so just stick with whatever it already has and save the money for more effective mods. my .02

03-19-2014, 09:31 AM	#15
46Tbird Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 697	The higher your goal HP, the less gear you need. I have 3.73s, but the secret is getting a tall tire on the car. Yes the larger diameter will kill off some gear, but importantly the contact patch grows front to rear. My stock, untuned 3.73 M6 GT traps 114.5 without hitting the factory rev limiter in fourth gear. Tires are 28.5" tall 305/35-20 Nitto DRs. Compared to the stock 27" tall 255/40-19s, the effective gear ratio is reduced by 5.55%, making the car "geared" like it has stock tires and a 3.53 gear ratio. I think it works well in my case. Some people freak the F out when they find out what a cast 20x10 wheel weighs with a drag radial mounted on it, but this is my daily driver and I just don't care. PS, I think gear ratio is the most overrated metric on these cars. The engines have good power at nearly all RPMs, so you don't need a lot of gear to get them into a powerband. The cars don't really seem to gain or lose a lot of ET with gear swaps so just stick with whatever it already has and save the money for more effective mods. my .02 __________________ "If this was like, a thousand years ago, I'd be a Picasso. I'd be one of those dudes that cut his damned ear off."