I have no idea about gear ratios. I don't know what is high or low. My car apparently has 308 gears the engine is a 383 stroker and the trans is a 700R4. It launches hard as hell but runs at about 2200 or 2300 rpm on the enterstate and I wanna get it lower. I was hoping to trade a little low end grunt for mid and high rpm go and better gas mileage on the enterstate. sooooo 373 or something diferent?

 

There is a difference what is termed 'lower gears' and numerically lower gears.

The lower the number, the higher the ratio will be.

3.08 will give you a higher top end, but sacrifice low end launch & vice versa.

If you have 3.08 now, your next step is a 2.73, for interstate mileage. 3.73s will launch you like crazy, but sacrifice mileage even more.

 

I have 2.73's and my car sits about 19-2000 rpms at 70, I hate how doggy they are so I'm swapping in 3.42's. I never thought higher than 2.73's existed, then I saw a mid 80's vette with 2.56's. Thats insane.

 

Well I know next to nothing about gear ratios, but I had an 85 vette. Don't know what gears it had but it launched pretty hard.

Thanks a lot for all the advice guys. I apreciate it.

 

What it amounts to is....

Numerically higher (like 3.73) equals being called "lower" gears...Numerically lower (like 3.08) is caller "higher" or "taller".

So...3.08 is "lower" than a 2.73, but "higher" than a 3.73. It is all relative between the 2 gear ratios your comparing.

 

cool. thanks man.

 

What year is your car?

with my tires (about 27" diameter) and stock '85 700r4 and 3.08 gears, I do about 1900 RPM at 70 mph.

How many mph are you going when your doing 2200-2300 RPM?

You might want to check the accuracy of your tachometer.

 

I've got an 84 but it rolls on 87 IROC rims. The back tires are drag radials that are about a 1/2 inch taller than stock. Speedwise I'm doing about 70.