I currently have 1996 Cobra 4V with a 75 shot of nitrous and a Vortech pushing 12 pounds. After driving for a few months I have grown weary of the amount of time it takes my 3.73s to get me into my power band. I have been reading all over Google and haven't come up with a conclusion... I rarely drive on the freeway so revving isn't of much concern. I don't give a damn about gas, I have a high power V8. I am worried 4.10s might not be as big as a difference from 3.73s as I'd like. My car feels like a dog off the line for the power it makes. If a centri builds boost with RPM... I really don't know.
I am trying not to fear the gear. After being in my buddies 500WHP STI and watching how quickly that ate gear shifts I might be inclined to go with the 4.30s.
For an engine driving a centrifugal it only makes sense to up the gear just so the engine doesnt struggle to get to its power band. 4.30!
You get too much gear in it, and as soon as the boost comes on it may make the tires go up in smoke. My 95 is lazy until the boost comes on due to its low compression ratio, but with 4.10s, it will scratch the tires about 15 feet after shifting to 4th gear. You may fix one problem with the deeper gears, just to have another one, traction.
I was thinking the same thing, I hear you. I was thinking of throwing on a set of Mickey Thompson ET street radials on. My current tires are meh.
What size wheels/tires are you running? My Vortech only hits 8lbs of boost and with the stock gears (I think) I still spin like crazy on 315s. Really interested in this since I plan on going big with the gears as well. My initial thought was 4.10s. You might change my mind!!
I am running 18" wheels with 4.30 gears for a few weeks now. Additionally I am running a 2.87 pulley, so somewhere near 14 psi. When the nitrous hits it's over.
I am running a Vortech V-1 S trim blower on a 2.87 pulley and I have Nitto NT555 tires in a 285/35/18.
Dayum. Same supercharger as me, but I have the standard pulley. So, how does it drive now? Without nitrous how does it hook? With my setup I get some pretty good wheelspin in 1st and 2nd in the upper RPM range, from about 3500 up. Doesn't seem to slow it down too much, though.
Depends how hard you floor it. First gear is pretty worthless, low RPM wise in second is a bit sideways, otherwise I feel planted. However, I am lowered on Koni coil overs, Torsen racing LSD, a beast of a torque arm, welded sub frame connectors, and some other goodies, so I don't think I am really an ideal candidate to base tire control off of. Additionally, I feel very confident with my car. In the top of third at full tilt a shot of nitrous will still break the tires loose. It's really that sudden burst of torque that gets it going. So to answer you question, I don't spin to the point of feeling like I need changes mechanically, more changes on my foot work. I enjoy the set up so far.