[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by Uncle Humjaba Hmm... Kind of going back a ways, but to whoever said gears don't add power... The only kind of power that matters is wheel horsepower. Gears would increase wheel horsepower.. So technically yes, they do add power

If by power you mean torque, yes. You are increasing the multiplication of torque by giving yourself more gear-based leverage.

By that logic, you also have more "power" by having your transmission in a lower gear.

However, where that breaks down is that, while you do have more torque, the actual output of work is less. Work here being the physics definition as the ability to move something in a certain amount of time. With a constant rpm, a car with lower gears (car A) would be able to tow a larger load, but it won't tow it as far in the same amount of time. The car with higher gears (car B) may not be able to pull as large of a load, but it will pull it further. (Distance A)(Weight A) = (DistanceB)(WeightB).

Cars can do a certain amount of work accross a speed range based on the gearing. A stock 98 Cobra will do that work from 0-150 mph. Swapping to lower gears will take that same amount of work and shorten the range, to say 0-120mph. Lower gears effectively "concentrate" the work you can do.

At this point either that makes sense or it doesn't.

If you think gears give you more power, show me before and after dyno charts with no other modifications made - it would be really easy, all you'd have to do is dyno in 1st, and then dyno in 4th.

[Drtbkercr5]

No new gf, she is amazing. lol i do a ton of highway drivin

[stang94]

If you do ton of hwy driving, get 3.73 then.

[1BADSTANG]

Originally Posted by stang94 If you do ton of hwy driving, get 3.73 then.

yeah. If not, 4.30's. if some, 4.10's.

[Drtbkercr5]

im going 4.10s, i bought a mustang for a reason, if i cared about mpg that much i woulda bought a hybrid

[Uncle Humjaba]

Originally Posted by ReverendDexter If by power you mean torque, yes. You are increasing the multiplication of torque by giving yourself more gear-based leverage. By that logic, you also have more "power" by having your transmission in a lower gear. However, where that breaks down is that, while you do have more torque, the actual output of work is less. Work here being the physics definition as the ability to move something in a certain amount of time. With a constant rpm, a car with lower gears (car A) would be able to tow a larger load, but it won't tow it as far in the same amount of time. The car with higher gears (car B) may not be able to pull as large of a load, but it will pull it further. (Distance A)(Weight A) = (DistanceB)(WeightB). Cars can do a certain amount of work accross a speed range based on the gearing. A stock 98 Cobra will do that work from 0-150 mph. Swapping to lower gears will take that same amount of work and shorten the range, to say 0-120mph. Lower gears effectively "concentrate" the work you can do. At this point either that makes sense or it doesn't. If you think gears give you more power, show me before and after dyno charts with no other modifications made - it would be really easy, all you'd have to do is dyno in 1st, and then dyno in 4th.

I'm very well aware of how work and power are defined in physics... got an A in that class 2 semesters ago :p Anyway, pardon if my logic is wrong, but i figured that since shorter (higher numerically) gears basically multiply the output (ability of the engine to increase the speed of the wheels - perhaps i was mistaken in calling this horsepower?) of the engine, a dyno would see that result somewhere. And yes, i would also expect a higher number in 1st gear than in 4th. In the majority standard transmissions isn't 4th gear the 1:1 gear?

Looking at it form a physics perspective, maybe I didn't think it all the way through... work = force * distance, power = work / time
i figured since it was doing the same amount of work in less time, that gave you more power. but perhaps gears lower the amount of force required to move the car, so there's less work being done, and that cancels out the affect of it taking less time? For torque... torque = moment arm * force -- gears basically give you a bigger moment arm, but again if there's less force required to move the car then is that affect cancelled out? I just have a hard time believing that even though gears allow you to get from speed a to speed b quicker, a dyno won't pick that up.

edit: so i was talking with a friend... i guess it makes sense. the distance you drove on the dyno is less and that cancels out the fact that it took less time. learn somethin new every day

[RALVAREZ26]

Originally Posted by Drtbkercr5 but wont 4.10s kill on gas?

if your worried about gas sell your car and get a v6 or 4 banger! a v8 is going to use a lot of gas wether it's fixed up or not! so what if you lose 2mpg if you have gears you're already getting 17mpg stock!

[RALVAREZ26]

whoops, didnt read the rest of the thread before posting!