V6 Rear end Gears. 3.73 or 4.10 - Page 3

ooterman · 12-02-2008, 01:16 PM

Whats the price diffrence and level of skill needed to do either one?
To my understand the 96-98 7.5 to 8.8 swap is a direct bolt on but I just read that you need the following:

1/2" wheel spacers,
enlarged LCA mounts from 12-14mm
and gears as some come with a 2.73 set.

I thought the gt's in my gen have a 3.37 or 3.27 or something with a posi, not a 2.73. What gears do I have stock on my 97 v6? I was planing on snagging a gt rear end and tossing it in there and then haveing only to get the speedcal to adjust the speedo.

mustangman02232 · 12-02-2008, 02:02 PM

2.73s or 3.08s, cobras had 3.27s

jthorn9 · 12-02-2008, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mustangman02232

2.73s or 3.08s, cobras had 3.27s

To to clear up a common misconseption, steeper gears do not always lower top speed, they can actually raise top speed depending on the trasnmission. Reason being, they can allow the engine to climb higher into the powerband achieving a higher top speed. This is generally effected with 6 speed transmissions, but can also effect 5 speed depending on the conditions. Now, as far as a stang goes, there is no reason to be worrying about top speed, if you're not building an autocrossing car that's going to be used for the track, top speed, and variable accelleration during different gears, turns, etc, should be the last of your worries. You should be worring about how gears are going to affect your daily driving and your wallet. Steeper gears will burn more gas during normal driving than stock or lower gears, only way it will not and get better or offset the difference is if the gears sit within the "sweet spot", or the RPM point where your gas performs at optimal level. Other factors you need to consider is going to be driving on snow/ice, both of which have an affect on steeper gears, the steeper the gear, the harder the car is to control when accellerating from a stop, or into a turn.

There are a lot of factors you need to consider, also the difference in the 1/4 mile between 3.73s and 4.10s is extremely minute with a good driver, so get what best suits you, not what sounds cool or the common crowd goes with. Personally I wouldn't go any higher than 3.73s in a daily driver, and would prefer 3.55s (but sixers do not have this option with a 7.5" rear), now for a track car I'd be looking into 4.2X or whatever the number is, however, we're talking about a car made for two different set ups.

TurtleSLow · 12-02-2008, 03:13 PM

you should really get it installed by a shop if you havent done it before. you really need to have a feel for it like said above, its easy to mess up

also on the highway you will feel a huge increase in acceleration when it drops a gear, ex. passing someone

mustangman02232 · 12-02-2008, 03:18 PM

[quote=jthorn9;5709356]To to clear up a common misconseption, ..................................[quote]

its been covered, for the first 3 years/10,000 posts that i was here

jthorn9 · 12-02-2008, 06:09 PM

[quote=mustangman02232;5709553][quote=jthorn9;5709356]To to clear up a common misconseption, ..................................

Quote:

its been covered, for the first 3 years/10,000 posts that i was here

Touche', and my hard headed ass was too stubburn to listen. I'm glad I finally grew up lol.

ooterman · 12-02-2008, 06:21 PM

I am not looking to toss in 99.99 gears sets and put a massive sticker on the side of the stang proclaiming so. A diffrent gear set is a plus to upgradeing rear ends to me. I wont lose sleep if I dont have the magical 3.73 gear set. I just want somthing better then the stock one in the V6 if I can. I am not even sure what the stock gears are in the v6.

I have read about the top end being affected with a higher gear set, but since I have a limiter on my car and my tires are not rated (or trusted) to go that fast I am am not heart broken about it.

Changing gear sets will be done by a shop but swapping the entire rear end which is more power tools then the fine tinkering required by the gears can easly be done by myself.

89LX Coupe · 12-02-2008, 06:56 PM

My friends 98 V6 auto had 2.73's in it. He went to a factory tlock as well and has been doing fine in the process. He also picked up 2 tenths in the 1/8 mile and almost 2mph in the 1/8 as well.

8.8 from your year most had 2.73's and some w/ 3.08's and the cobra had 3.27's. If you can get a 8.8 from your body style for cheap I would just go with that and put gears in it and just call it a day.

ooterman · 12-02-2008, 07:18 PM

But back to my earlyer question, is it a direct bolt on or do I need the spacer and whatever the other thing is?

89LX Coupe · 12-02-2008, 07:30 PM

If you were to get an 8.8 from 96-98 gt then I would think it would be a direct bolt in but don't hold me to that. I know when I did the 8.8 swap in my little coupe I have the break lines were in a different spot and all and that came out my 87 GT I had. I would think the control arms and all should bolt right up.