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How many gears are optimal for a high horsepower car?


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Guest Anonymous

As my name suggests, i recently put together a 73' 240Z with an Ls1 converted to a supercharged Ls6. its running around 750-780 hp, with a hundred more on tap from a N20 bottle. my problem is i cant seem to decide on a manual tranny. there are virtually billions out there. Im wondering if a t-56 is a bad idea since my car puts out so much hp. wouldnt it be better to get something like a 4 speed manual with very large gears, so that i wont have to shift so much and my tires will stay glued to the pavement? i could still get a nice overdrive gear for happy freeway travel. all im looking for is a top speed of 150-160. with that much hp it shouldt be a prob. the cars redline is 7300 rpm. any help or links would be greatly appreciated. money isnt much of a problem, either, ive got a bit saved up to get a nice triple disc arrangement. thank you for your help.

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One nice thing about having alot of HP is you dont need as many gears or such a whacked rear end ratio, and you can stay in the gear longer which is great for road racing.

 

With that much power on tap, simply finding something that wont break is going to be expensive. However, since the car is so light, if you only road race it (which would be interesting with that much pony), then I probably would not worry too much, although getting a cooler and swapping fluids somewhat often, and checking the internals now and again might be nice, you may even want to cryo the T56. Unfortunately the LS1 T56 I'm told is not as strong as the previous version, but if your dragging the car it is probably not the trans for you, and I think a TH400 built up would be the way to go for the real drag-man.

 

What are you doing with the car? That sounds like a hell of a beast, what kind of wheels/tires?

 

With that much power if you can stay on the ground, I see 220 MPH and www.silverstateclassic.com fun. Major aero work though for safety...

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Not to be picky but the more torque you have the less gears you need. And by more I mean a broader torque curve across RPM. Case in point would be a DOHC 4 banger turned to produce max HP at high PRM. For that engine the power band would be very narrow requiring a lot of shifting to keep the engine at max RPM. A blown V8 will have stump pulling torque down low and can thus tollerate a WIDE gear spacing.

 

This is something Grumpyvette has posted links on before. You may want to search through the Chevy V8 forum for torque and gears to get some on line tutorials.

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Optimal will be the key word. Sure see a lot of 2 speeds at the drags....but shifting is such fun, I'd hate to only have one gear change. My 383 is torquey, though no where near some on the site. With a 15 lb flywheel, I can use 3rd gear as a very credible 1st with no clutch slipping. 6 speed is pretty redundant, but when cooking, I like to stir the pot.

John

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Well, with that kind of power on the street, I'd recommend a aftermarket 4 speed! Say a Jerico D4 or what I'm going to run, a custom Muncie M22. Check-out the May 2002 issue of CarCraft and you will see what I mean. It starts with a re-engineered aluminum "Super case" made by Auto Gear. A cast iron midplate,(not aluminum)and the best part, killer gears by a Italian firm by the name of Antonio Masiero Spa. Four different gear sets to choose from!

 

M22 1st-2.199, 2nd-1.640, 3rd-1.274, 4th-1.00

 

M22W 1st-2.559, 2nd-1.752, 3rd-1.366, 4th-1.00

 

M22X 1st-2.199, 2nd-1.506, 3rd-1.174, 4th-1.00

 

M22Y 1st-2.199, 2nd-1.506, 3rd-1.000, 4th-0.859

 

No that is not a typo, they do make a overdrive 4 speed. Though I believe that with taller tires, freeway speeds would not be a problem. Hope this helps.

 

www.auotgear.net

www.gearzone.net

 

Mark burnout.gif2thumbs.gif2thumbs.gif2thumbs.gif

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