When i bought my car a few months ago the guy gave me a set of richmond 3.73 gears. I am wondering if installing them is easy enough to do it myself and if not, how much should i be looking to pay a shop to do it? -Austin

 

Is this car a single-purpose, strictly strip-only (trailered) race car?

Or is it ever driven on the street?

 

Its my daily driver. Right now i have the 3.27s in it. And how much will this affect performance and how much will it affect mpg?

 

more of a trans and drivetrain q, isn't it?

not a huge diff either way

richmond gears are not street friendly usually.

 

If this car is used on the street, DO NOT put those gears in it.

The very things that improve their life in drag racing setups, also doom them to short, noisy, unsatisfactory street performance.

Sell them, and buy some US Gear, Dana, Precision, Motive, Yukon, or Superior gears. In short, just about ANYTHING BUT those Richmonds, as long as it's not some offshore chinesium excrement.

If this is a TPI car, 3.73 gears are too much. The gears you have are already a pretty good choice. 3.42 is about as far as you would usually want to go, and that with a stick shift. If yours is an auto, a converter will do you more good than gears, at this point, in terms of bang for the buck.

 

Hold on, 3.27 is a nine bolt ratio. What rear end do you have?

 

Ive got the Borg-Warner rear axle. I guess ill just keep the gears i have and sell the 3.73s. Thanks guys for your help. Just wondering though... how hard is it to install a new ring and pinion?

 

If you've got a 9 bolt, those gears wouldn't even fit your rear anyway.

 

Not at all. Extremely easy in fact.

Just as easy as brain surgery is for a brain surgeon.

But something tells me, I don't think you'd want me working on your brain though; and I probably wouldn't want you working on my car's rear end just yet. I'd describe this as being in the class of things where if you have to ask, you aren't ready to attempt it.

Best to find somebody who will let you assist while they do it, and you learn all you can from watching and helping. That way you'll know what tools are required, some of the techniques that can only be learned from experience, etc.