what would be better for our car's 3.23's or 3.42's. i have stock 2.73's in right now. and i have a set of 3.42's and my friend just changed his 3.23's to 3.73's so i could get his. i have been told that 3.73's would over rev a lo3 but have would 3.42's. im posting this here and not in the drivetrane b/c u guy's have the same car i do. thanks

 

do you have any future mods planned?

with a STOCK lo3/auto, i personaly would be inclinded to say go with the 3.23's. if you have some future mods planned, that will up your powerband a bit, go with the 3.42's

 

3.73's are the best choice. Don't get into this stuff that you will loose fuel milages and yada yada yada. Its all crap, everyone i know put 3.73's in the car.

Over reving is a new one, but keep in mind you have a roller motor. Crusing down the highway at 500 rpms at the max more wont hurt it.

 

i disagree, i don't think 3.73's are the right choice.

rear gearing is not as easy as, 3.73's worked for me, and other people put them in and their butt dyno says its faster.

i changed from 3.08's to 3.42's i saw ZERO 1/4 improvements, my MPH was up by about 1mph, but my ET was down .05, with the same 60's.

moral of the story, in stock form the LO3 does not have the upper rpm power to take advantage of steep gears. it needs longer gears to get it in its torque curve when shifting. if he plans to mod the car to the point that it can take advantage of steeper gears then go for it, but until you do a head/cam swap on these cars, 3.73 is WAY too much gear, IMHO 3.42 is too much gear, i really do think 3.23's are the ticket with a stocker.

 

hmm ... you do have a point

 

i switched to a 323 gear whwen it was mostly stock then as i added stuff and when i redid the trans i added a 2400 stall and that combo works great for me. now im added sus stuff .

 

couldn't have said it better myself. Everyone always automatically thinks the lowest (numerically) gears will always be the best choice. You should be using your powerband, not jumping out of it very quickly.

 

look at my sig, i have 3.73s and saw a huge improvement. I went from 15.97 to 15.02 with 3.73s, posi, stage 1 chip, 6* timing, 1/2" TBI spacer and a crank pulley. You be the judge on what gave me the biggest gain.

 

You want to cross the traps at or just past your peak hp in 1:1 gear. Choose whichever gearing will allow you to do that. That's really all there is too it. With 2.73's you won't even get into 3rd gear or may just barely make it there. BTW, I dropped .5 off my ET and picked up close to 4 mph by shifting at 5,000 rather than 4,400 and that was with identical 60 foots. If those are your only 2 choices go with the 3.42's.

 

Who cares on what the times were, what was the increase in trap speed?

 

from 15.97 to 15.018 and from 84.xxMPH to 90.22MPH, cant remember what the trap was when i ran the 15.97, i cant find my log book, but i remember it was in the 84-85 range.