Close vs. Wide

[FElony]

Anyone have an A<-->B comparison in ET going from a close ratio C6 to a wide ratio? No other changes.

[babybolt]

There are variables like the weight of the vehicle and horsepower.  A heavy car will benefit more from the wide ratio.  A light quick car could possible do better with the close ratio.

[Tommy-T]

In a word, no I can't tell you an ET difference with just the trans mod. I changed a few other things in my combo at the same time the wide ratio kit was put in. Mine was done at the advise of my trans guy. He said the planetary had 6 gears and was done for a strength upgrade. My Mustang had a normally aspirated 454 and ran around 11 flat at the time.

At first I hated it because of the pretty large "drop-off" when I shifted into high. At the time I was running 4.11 gears.

When I put the blower on it made a different problem. It made first gear pretty useless but second and third were ok.

I eventually put 3.70 gears in. With the increase in power of the blower, the very high third gear just made it go faster and first and second gear just right.

I guess I'm say'n if you don't have a bunch of power, you might like the lower first and second gear...but will hate the drop into third. If you're running a bunch of gear on a higher powered drag racing car, you might find first too low. If you're running pretty good power in a mostly street car like mine...you might just like installing "highway gears" and use the torque of the motor to haul ass.

Long winded way to say exactly what the above post said. It's all in the combo. 

[plovett]

No A-B testing here either, but I can tell you that going to low ratio gearset was a negative in my street/strip car.  It made 1st gear useless and compounded that with bigger rpm drops between gears.  It was a lose-lose situation.  My opinion is that the low ratio gearset is only good for low powered and/or heavy cars, or true strip cars with traction that can use the extra gearing at launch. 

paulie

[FElony]

OK, thanks for the replies. My curiosity comes from the many people who have gone wide ratio in the Top Loader because of the large mid-range of the 428 (and larger). The car in question is an intermediate that currently has 3.50's with 275's out back. Not sure at this point whether to leave it sedate or turn up the wick a bit. Sounds like wide gears go down the list a bunch.

[plovett]

A manual transmission equipped car is more sensitive to gear ratio.  An automatic is inherently more forgiving due to the slip of the torque converter, even with a stock torque converter.

 I would use a wide ratio C6 in a medium to heavy weight car with higher gears, like 3.00-3.50, and a moderate hp engine, or a smaller cid engine. 

JMO,

paulie

[StarlinerRon]

Jerico usually recommends about 3.00 first gear in a drag car.

I use a 2.78 box and a 4.57 in my Starliner. 2 tons of fun on the street!

Ron.

[FElony]

A manual transmission equipped car is more sensitive to gear ratio.  An automatic is inherently more forgiving due to the slip of the torque converter, even with a stock torque converter.

 I would use a wide ratio C6 in a medium to heavy weight car with higher gears, like 3.00-3.50, and a moderate hp engine, or a smaller cid engine. 

JMO,

paulie

Yes. A mildly cammed CobraJet with race headers and 3.50's at 3800 lbs. Hence my initial curiosity to see an A/B.

[plovett]

I think it might be a good idea in that application.  I think it'd be worth a few hundred extra bucks. 

JMO,

paulie

[FElony]

Seems like there is a 6-pinion planetary option by going wide. May be overkill for this car, but could help a more masculine build.

[Falcon67]

I have run simulations for ratio changes using a C4 - I didn't see enough to justify the cost.  6 pinion planetary is good insurance if you are beating on it.  However, we've been racing C4s for many years in the 450~500 HP power range and I can remember replacing one (1) stock three pinion unit. 

[e philpott]

I'm with Paulie ... wide ratio C-6 would be great in a hard working Tow Vehicle , or maybe a real heavy cruiser that you didn't want to gear vendor or OD it , you could couple the big first gear ratio with a 2.75 gear and it would still take off good at the light and cruise good down the highway short of adding another gear with a GV or just going 4 sp auto

[BattlestarGalactic]

OK, thanks for the replies. My curiosity comes from the many people who have gone wide ratio in the Top Loader because of the large mid-range of the 428 (and larger). The car in question is an intermediate that currently has 3.50's with 275's out back. Not sure at this point whether to leave it sedate or turn up the wick a bit. Sounds like wide gears go down the list a bunch.

The difference between a wide and close toploader is huge when dealing with first gear.  The close ratio was better used for road racing because first gear is so long(just about the same as 2nd gear in a wide box) and you can use it on the track.   They did use it in drag racing, but they used 5.13 gears in the back.  No body uses that much gear anymore(because you can get a transmission with a deep first gear).  Thus you can control your trap RPM better.

I tried a close ratio ONCE in my pickup many years back.  I broke my wide rato box and a friend loaned me his close.  UGH, that was shorted lived.  Even with 4.56 gears it was horrible getting started from a light and 1st gear would get you to speed without having to shift into 2nd.   The supposed "close ratio gearing is better" argument is bull pucky in my opinion.

[TripleJ]

Following this thread closely. Currently starting a 428 stroked to 463 build for my 64 Galaxie, a 3.50 gear in the diff with a c6. I am wondering if wide ratio kit would be worth the effort. The mill will be a hydro roller mild build cruiser with TFS heads. Any thoughts will be appreciated.
Thanks Joe Menard

[plovett]

The weird thing is, if somebody has a wide ratio toploader and a 3.25 rear gear, nobody complains about it.   If somebody has close ratio toploader and 3.89 rear gear they act like it takes an act of Heaven to get the car moving, but both scenarios have the exact same overall first gear ratio.  Why is that? 

paulie