I have a few questions about putting higher rearend gears into my car. First, how do I know what gears are currently there now? What would be the best new setup for me, and how hard would this be to do? If I did do this, what else would I need to change along with this, anything with the engine or maybe a new chip needing to be programmed?

About the Intake manifold and runners, my main concerns are what brand do I want to get, Edelbrock or SLP? Or is there a better brand, also what goes along with this, would i need a new chip or anything else? or would it be a simple bolt on thing, also with the new runners and intake, would i still have clearance with my stock hood?...I may sound really stupid, but I am clueless when it comes to doing these things, please help me. Any help you could give me I would greatly appreciate it...Thanks in advance...

Check out my sig if you want to know what i have done currently...

-Joe-

 

As far as what gears you have an easy way of testing is do 70 mph in D. Now look at your tach, if it reads for ex: 2730 rpms then you have 2:73s. What would be best for your setup depends, what do you prefer acceleration and a lower top speed, slightly less mpg. Then you might want to go with 3:73s, however make sure you do the mods to the TPI because a stock TPI stops breathing at 4500 rpms and you'll run into a similar problem like I did where my cam stops making power @ 4k. Don't get me started on how pissed I am about my gear choice. But if you want the best of both worlds increased acceleration and mpg then get 3:42s. Plus if you do a lot of highway driving the 3:42s would be better. I wouldn't plan on installing the gears yourself. Gears are very tricky and have to be done just right.

One last thing, if you change gears, then you'll need to buy a new speedo gear for the trans, they're only like $30 I think. This way your speedometer won't be thrown way off by the gears.