How much of a Difference would 4.10's make?

guinnessman

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Lately my 96 LSC has been feeling very slow, it's probably due to the 80-90 degree weather. I floor it, and it hardly wants to burn the tires up from a stop, in the winter it would roast the tires through 2nd Gear. I just can't stand how slow this car is from 0-30 and 50-70, such long dead spots.

On the street how much faster will a gear swap make a stock Mark? Is it MUCH better, or a slight improvement? I'd want to go 4.10's/4.30's gas mileage means nothing to me if I can have a quick street machine.

PS today i took a ride in my buddies 2003 GTi 1.8T, it is Manual and has a chip/exhaust w/BOV etc. It was quick, but i think my car with Gears would rape him??? Maybe..lol.
 
Going from 3.27 to 4.10 would be a world of difference! You can go on denny's driveshafts website and look at the speed calculator to see the difference in your rpms with different gears. Our overdrive is .7 and the only other info you need is tire size,gear ratio and rpms and that's it! I am going with 3.73 in mine becouse I got the entire rear center for 100 bucks and is practicly new:)
 
it's probably due to the 80-90 degree weather.

God I wish it was 80-90 around here, lately it's been 98+ with 70-90% humidity and 76-80 at night...guess that's what I get for living in Mississippi :mad:

Back to the OP..you do know that you're gonna need a tune and possibly a stronger driveshaft, don't you? On the street, you're gonna get off the line quicker and accelerate quicker and with a 4.10, you may want to look into a trac-loc, you are gonna have traction problems :)
 
-f you plan on going 130+ mph, then a denny's driveshaft is the way to go! I just got mine from them and its a 4" and cost about 575.00 shipped. I was told a 93 one piece driveshaft would be better than what you have but the denny's is far superior than the stock shafts! It depends what you want to spend! Yes, a tune is also important!
 
get the gears. it is a big difference. you won't rape your friends GTI, but you will pull on him easily. the other week i put a good 3 cars on a brand new civic SI from a roll. (he was a car ahead of me when i hit it and 2 cars behind me when i let off.)
 
Normally it's a noticable difference that would show up at the track but since you have been having issues with that car for a while your results my not reflect the norm. Don't expect much if any gains without the car running right to begin with. Otherwise I would saw without a doubt a worthwhile mod.
 
The gears should help out a good bit. Also keep in mind that in the winter everything is cold, therefor little traction for the tires. rubber and road cold= less traction
 
I gained 3 tenths at the track from 3.27s to 4.10s.... I like them but for my dd Id rather have had 3.73s. I like to cruise at around 80 on the hwy and 3000rpm seems a little high for me.
 
I have 4.30s in the '93 and 4.10s in the '96. The only reason the '96 has 4.10s is because they came free from the '93. ;)

If your location is correct, Long island, I don't think you need to worry about too much highway cruising to be concerned about mileage but I get 23 mpg on the highway cruising 75-80 with 4.30s on the '93. I get about 24 mpg with the 96 with 4.10s, but neither are daily drivers.

3000 rpms cruising is not too much unless it's every day.
 
If your location is correct, Long island, I don't think you need to worry about too much highway cruising to be concerned about mileage but I get 23 mpg on the highway cruising 75-80 with 4.30s on the '93. I get about 24 mpg with the 96 with 4.10s, but neither are daily drivers.

3000 rpms cruising is not too much unless it's every day.

Very true JP. Too much traffic to cuise that fast most of the time. And I get over 20mpg on the highway. Plan on 4.56s next year after the next round of mods are done.
 

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