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22 Posts
Hi all.
Let me start by saying the only performance car I have owned so far, was a '69 Roadrunner with a 383ci, 4 on the floor and 3.23 gears in the rear end, a nice all around muscle car. (I once put 4.11 gears in the Roadrunner and what a difference that made, awesome off the line but sucks on the freeway.) I am planning to buy a used '99 or '00 Corvette next spring and I want to use my experiences with the Roadrunner as a starting point in picking a good transmission / rear end gear combination. (Only 2 possible rear end gear choices available with the 6-speed transmission, right?)
My question is...
Does the 6-speed transmission act like a 4-speed that has the traditional 4 forward gears (in this case, gears 2,3,4,5) with an additional lower than normal gear (1st) and an overdrive gear (6th), higher than the 4th gear in the 4-speed? (In which case you would get great off the line performance and great freeway driving / gas mileage.) Or...
Is the 6-speed just 6 gears matched to the 4-speed’s range of gears? (No extra low 1st and no overdrive.) In which rear end gear selection would be more critical.) What is the advantage to this setup?
The reason I ask is I hear some Corvette owners talking about how it really makes a difference to get the performance rear end gears. Also, how badly does the rear end gear selection effect the mileage?
Mike:smokin:
Let me start by saying the only performance car I have owned so far, was a '69 Roadrunner with a 383ci, 4 on the floor and 3.23 gears in the rear end, a nice all around muscle car. (I once put 4.11 gears in the Roadrunner and what a difference that made, awesome off the line but sucks on the freeway.) I am planning to buy a used '99 or '00 Corvette next spring and I want to use my experiences with the Roadrunner as a starting point in picking a good transmission / rear end gear combination. (Only 2 possible rear end gear choices available with the 6-speed transmission, right?)
My question is...
Does the 6-speed transmission act like a 4-speed that has the traditional 4 forward gears (in this case, gears 2,3,4,5) with an additional lower than normal gear (1st) and an overdrive gear (6th), higher than the 4th gear in the 4-speed? (In which case you would get great off the line performance and great freeway driving / gas mileage.) Or...
Is the 6-speed just 6 gears matched to the 4-speed’s range of gears? (No extra low 1st and no overdrive.) In which rear end gear selection would be more critical.) What is the advantage to this setup?
The reason I ask is I hear some Corvette owners talking about how it really makes a difference to get the performance rear end gears. Also, how badly does the rear end gear selection effect the mileage?
Mike:smokin: