Moby & The Silver Bullet
LVC Member
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- Oct 29, 2005
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Okay, I'm thinking about changing out the gears in my Cutlass. They're highway gears right now (3.08) and while I have all the power in the world once I crest say 70 miles or so, they're giving me fairly unimpressive 0-60 times. I haven't taken it to the track yet so I don't know what my 1/4m is, but a stopwatch and a paved country road just north of town gave me an 8.42 sec 0-60 with 3.08 gears.
Right now, all my power is in the 70+ range. I figure I'd get more use out of a high power 0-60 in the city than I would a high power 70+ but I don't want to have high RPMs making 70+ a harrowing experience.
This is what I have in the cutlass right now: 350 Rocket completely stock in the 310-325 gross hp range. Single exhaust, 3.08 gears in a non-posi rear end, stock tranny and fairly new P215/75R14 tires with good tread.
Small problems with the car that might be hurting that 0-60 time are: slight gas leak where the gas line runs into the carburator (the connection on the carb is stripped) that could mean a loss of pressure, the shocks and springs are really worn out, and there might be a ball joint going out in the passenger tire. (I haven't actually jacked it up and checked to see if anything's loose, but the tire does look like it's leaning in every now and then........then again, that could also be blamed on the bad springs.)
Now, here's my mission: Get the off-the line performance up without hurting the quarter mile and without making RPMs on the freeway too high.
Don't get me wrong, if I do manage to improve my quarter in the process, that'll make me real happy, but that's not what I'm actually after... all I'm after is improving the 0-60. If you cloned my car, kept the gears in one, and installed the lower gears in the other, and then race them, if they tie at the quarter, then that's good enough for me.
I realise that the low gear one would be winding down at the quarter while the high gear one would just be hitting it's stride, but I'm never gonna distance race this car, so as long as the lower gear setup meets or beats my current setup in the quarter, I couldn't care less how it'd fare in the 1/2 mile.
I realise that if I'm willing to gear it low enough, I can have pretty much any 0-60 time I want, but if I go too low, then it'll make it dangerous to take on the highway cause I'd have to maintain too high an RPM for too long just to maintain speed, and I'm sure it'd be hard to handle in the city too, plus, if I gear it too low, that'd make the power band too low end, and I'll end up running out of juice before I even hit the quarter thus hurting my quarter mile time.
If I go too low I make it a one-trick pony, which I don't want. I want it to still be a fairly well rounded car. Rocket fast off the line, but beefy up through the quarter and powerful enough to be easy going on the highway.
The gears wont be the only thing I do, but they'll be the main thing. I'd also replace the rear end itself with a posi, install true dual exhaust, install a shift kit in the tranny, repair the gas leak (which may require a whole new carburator), replace the shocks and springs, and put on tires that are a little bit beefier.
If that's enough to get me down to where I want, then that's where I'll stop. If not, then I'll replace the intake with a performance intake, install an advance kit and actually advance the timing a couple degrees, but I hope I don't have to, I like that the engine is stock and don't really wanna mess with timing.
What I'm wanting to do is get the 0-60 time on my car down to 6.5 secs or lower (6.0 is ideal) without hurting my 1/4 mile and without reving crazy down the interstate. I'll probably go with the highest possible gear ratio that'll sling me to 60 in 6.5 or less.
So I'm thinking of going with a 3.73 gear ratio.
What do you think? Will dropping down to 3.73 along with the posi, the dual exhaust, the shift kit, and the reworked suspension and carb be going low enough to shave 2+ seconds off my 0-60 yet be staying high enough to avoid screwing my quarter mile and souring my highway experience?
Also, if I do need to replace the carb, should I go with a rochester that'd bolt right on, or should I go for a holley that'd require an adaptor? What size tires should I go for (I do want to stay as close as possible to stock and p215/75r14 is stock.) and what springs/shocks should I go for? Lastly, are there any mods that I'm not considering that I should or any mods that I am considering that I shouldn't? Lemme know.
Thanks a lot for the input guys! Once I get all these mods done, I'll take her down to a drag strip, get official times and then post them.
Right now, all my power is in the 70+ range. I figure I'd get more use out of a high power 0-60 in the city than I would a high power 70+ but I don't want to have high RPMs making 70+ a harrowing experience.
This is what I have in the cutlass right now: 350 Rocket completely stock in the 310-325 gross hp range. Single exhaust, 3.08 gears in a non-posi rear end, stock tranny and fairly new P215/75R14 tires with good tread.
Small problems with the car that might be hurting that 0-60 time are: slight gas leak where the gas line runs into the carburator (the connection on the carb is stripped) that could mean a loss of pressure, the shocks and springs are really worn out, and there might be a ball joint going out in the passenger tire. (I haven't actually jacked it up and checked to see if anything's loose, but the tire does look like it's leaning in every now and then........then again, that could also be blamed on the bad springs.)
Now, here's my mission: Get the off-the line performance up without hurting the quarter mile and without making RPMs on the freeway too high.
Don't get me wrong, if I do manage to improve my quarter in the process, that'll make me real happy, but that's not what I'm actually after... all I'm after is improving the 0-60. If you cloned my car, kept the gears in one, and installed the lower gears in the other, and then race them, if they tie at the quarter, then that's good enough for me.
I realise that the low gear one would be winding down at the quarter while the high gear one would just be hitting it's stride, but I'm never gonna distance race this car, so as long as the lower gear setup meets or beats my current setup in the quarter, I couldn't care less how it'd fare in the 1/2 mile.
I realise that if I'm willing to gear it low enough, I can have pretty much any 0-60 time I want, but if I go too low, then it'll make it dangerous to take on the highway cause I'd have to maintain too high an RPM for too long just to maintain speed, and I'm sure it'd be hard to handle in the city too, plus, if I gear it too low, that'd make the power band too low end, and I'll end up running out of juice before I even hit the quarter thus hurting my quarter mile time.
If I go too low I make it a one-trick pony, which I don't want. I want it to still be a fairly well rounded car. Rocket fast off the line, but beefy up through the quarter and powerful enough to be easy going on the highway.
The gears wont be the only thing I do, but they'll be the main thing. I'd also replace the rear end itself with a posi, install true dual exhaust, install a shift kit in the tranny, repair the gas leak (which may require a whole new carburator), replace the shocks and springs, and put on tires that are a little bit beefier.
If that's enough to get me down to where I want, then that's where I'll stop. If not, then I'll replace the intake with a performance intake, install an advance kit and actually advance the timing a couple degrees, but I hope I don't have to, I like that the engine is stock and don't really wanna mess with timing.
What I'm wanting to do is get the 0-60 time on my car down to 6.5 secs or lower (6.0 is ideal) without hurting my 1/4 mile and without reving crazy down the interstate. I'll probably go with the highest possible gear ratio that'll sling me to 60 in 6.5 or less.
So I'm thinking of going with a 3.73 gear ratio.
What do you think? Will dropping down to 3.73 along with the posi, the dual exhaust, the shift kit, and the reworked suspension and carb be going low enough to shave 2+ seconds off my 0-60 yet be staying high enough to avoid screwing my quarter mile and souring my highway experience?
Also, if I do need to replace the carb, should I go with a rochester that'd bolt right on, or should I go for a holley that'd require an adaptor? What size tires should I go for (I do want to stay as close as possible to stock and p215/75r14 is stock.) and what springs/shocks should I go for? Lastly, are there any mods that I'm not considering that I should or any mods that I am considering that I shouldn't? Lemme know.
Thanks a lot for the input guys! Once I get all these mods done, I'll take her down to a drag strip, get official times and then post them.
