There's nothing wrong with all the ratios being pretty close together. Just shift. If they're too far apart, there is nothing you can do to power out of turns. It's useless. Do you just drive in a straight line or have you ever driven on a road course/canyon roads? I can tell you from experience that all the GM FWD ratios suck, with the possible exception of the Getrag 284 which is not easy to find and impossible to rebuild.Atilla the Fun wrote:6000 to 3500 is excellent for taking maximum advantage of any decent V8, or even a Twin Dual Cam 3.4. I'd bet you've never driven anything with ratios as close as you propose, but I can tell you from experience that ratios too close is worse than ratios too far apart, you'll find yourself skip-shifting. A Northstar sure can handle the ratios of any Fiero stick-shift, but whatever makes you happy.
I have a TDC 3.4 in my car that has seen the road course, drag strip, and LOTS of canyon time, with various gear sets.
I've used the Isuzu (3.73/2.04/1.45/1.03), Getrag (3.50/2.05/1.38/0.94/0.72), Getrag (3.50/2.19/1.38/1.03/0.81), and Getrag (3.50/2.05/1.38/1.03/0.81).
The Isuzu ratios suck even in a straight line. The drop from 1st to 2nd puts you 500rpm below the start of the powerband. 2nd gear is VERY long and is useful in one place: Streets of Willow Springs (the smaller road course at Willow Springs International Raceway). It just so happens that with a TDC you're in 2nd gear in the powerband for the whole track with the exception of the front straight where you briefly shift into 3rd. It worked out nice. The Isuzu is useless for other performance driving. It's dismal in the canyons.
All the Getrag ratios work "ok" at the drag strip... but the 1st to 2nd drop in the 3.50/2.05 set is too big; you can't shift quickly from 7000 RPM into 2nd with a stock clutch and aluminum flywheel. Maybe with a small diameter multi-disk you could. Since the shift is so long and this happens so early in the run, I would imagine it has a measureable affect on the ET, though I have no way of testing this. Note that this is on a fully rebuilt Getrag with all new synchro rings.
In the canyons, too far apart is useless; there are corners you can't find a gear to pull you out of because there is NO gear that puts you in the power band.
With the 3.50/2.19 set, the shift from 1st to 2nd is perfect and wonderful. I LOVE the shift feel and RPM drop. However, with 2 so short, 2nd and 3rd are way too far apart and put you at the bottom of the powerband. 2nd ends up being too short in the canyons, and 3rd far too long and far away so there are LOTS of turn exits you cannot pick a gear for. It's useless on a tight road course like Streets, as well as canyon roads. It's very nice on the street though; 1st and 2nd feel great and get you up to a reasonable speed (~65mph) at the top of 2nd.
I'm now using 3.50/2.05/1.38/1.03/0.81. I wish I would've gone with 0.72 for the 5th because even on the Grapevine I don't have to shift out of 5th as long as I keep it above 65mph. I could probably squeeze a few more mpg out of it with the longer 5th. This set is good besides the 1st to 2nd (3.50 to 2.05) shift. It's too slow due to the synchros not being able to keep up with the large RPM drop. The Getrag doesn't seem to like shifting much above 6000 RPM.
I think the ideal set would just have a longer 1st gear, and the rest similar to this set. Maybe a steeper 5th.
