Screaming04

Question for those with 3.636 r/p, 6 speed and 200-250 rwhp.

Are 1st and 2nd gear still irritatingly short or does the 3.63 solve this issue? I'm leaning to the 3.3 GB but just want someone to confirm my hunch that the 3.3 will be the answer to my athiest prayers. I love my car but really wish that 1 and 2 were taller...

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Your car will feel really slow with a 3.3 at only 200whp

Dot3

iTrader: (1)

Flyin' Miata : Technical info : Gearing calculator

karter74

iTrader: (4)

Shouldn't feel any different than a 5 speed with 4.10's. I wouldn't consider that combo with 200+whp "slow"

Screaming04

Sure, that would be another way of asking the question. Those with 5sp and 3.90 or 4.10 with 200-250 whp, how does it feel? Slow, really?!

If an N/A 1.8 came with a 5 speed and 4.10's pretty sure my 8-10 psi will perform better than that...

Dot 3, I've looked at that a thousand times, doesn't answer my question.

05pearl

iTrader: (4)

Correct - here is the 5sp/4.1 vs 6sp/3.3

Chilicharger665

iTrader: (2)

I recently bought some 3.63's from a guy on here. There has been no communication since I sent money. If that doesn 't change quickly, I am getting some 3.3's. The gearing should be great on 200-300 whp and beyond.

M.Adamovits

It gives top speed in each gear, with any rear end combinations. How doesn't this answer your question?

18psi

iTrader: (76)

he wants us to telepathically instill the feeling into his brain over the internetz

Chilicharger665

iTrader: (2)

He keeps on mentioning how short 1st and 2nd are. Basically, he wants to know how it feels to have longer gears when driving around town and not having to shift as much. So, basically, what no one could possibly know yet.

Savington

iTrader: (31)

OP, skip 1st gear.

2manyhobyz

iTrader: (4)

I've been running a 3.63/6spd for over a year. I think 1-3 is fine, it makes 6th a usable highway gear. If I had a free 3.3 to put in, I'd still stick with the 3.63. Horsepower will effect this, but below 300 cure wheel spin with better rubber. My .000002

Screaming04

The post above helps. Getting an extra 3mph in first doesn't sound like a big enough change. I've done a 20% rear ratio change before but the V8 ahead of it didn't seem to care. A 10% change wouldn't have been noticed. Curious if the 3.63 makes a noticeable difference.

I was just looking for opinions from those who have actually swapped to a 3.63 gear for their experience.

Screaming04

Sav. Tried that. Too much gear, and I checked... It's way more than 3.3 would give me.

bbundy

First and second I believe would feel better with a 3.308 but 6th would be totally useless and you would actually lose some top end speed if you want track performance it now would be like a three speed on the track with first and second still too low and 6th too high especially with only 200 to 250 hp. I have a 3.636 with ~325-350 rwhp wasn’t happy with 2nd gear top speed until I turned the rev limit up to 8400 rpm. At which point the 3.636 became a thing of beauty for autocross, it’s in the power band with high boost response in second instantly from the start beam and out of every corner with enough top speed to keep from needing a shift to third to keep from driving excessively on the rev limiter.

3rd through 6th are perfect for me on some high speed tracks with the 3.636 some others would be better with a 3.909 with only 250 HP Im pretty sure the 3.909 would produce lower lap times on most all tracks. 3.636 is only required for autocross to get second gear speeds high enough otherwise Id probably use a 3.909.

A super tall first won’t help with launching the car. It will still spin the tires and it just makes you spin them even more or slip the hell out of the clutch to get a good launch. A stump puller first is good for getting the car rolling and getting into second faster while spinning the tires less in the process.

The other consideration I hear all the time is highway cruise RPM. Though I do drive my car on the highway some this is totally un-important to me. Might be worth some small fraction of an mpg I highly doubt more than 1 mpg but I can’t understand why somebody who has boosted their car would care to sacrifice performance for such a miniscule thing.

Screaming04

Thanks Bob, maybe I just need to learn to live with it. It's mostly a street car, that 1-2 shift just happens way too quick for me. I'm trying to accelerate but I've got my foot on the clutch and off the gas a lot of the time. A taller than n/a supplied gear will help, I just don't want to do it twice. Appreciate your perspective.

This has absolutely nothing to do with mpg for me.

supersuckers

Sorry to thread jack. But what are people's opinions on gearing for 250WHP, 6 speed, dedicated track, and very occasional road use Miata? 3.3, 3.6 or 3.9? The car had a 5-speed 4.1 setup which I was comfortable with, so I'm leaning towads the 3.3 at this time. Thanks!

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

The 6 speed 3.3 combo basically results in a 5 speed with 4.10+a highway gear that you probably wont be able to use while racing with only 250hp.

JasonC SBB

6spd + 3.3 will be similar to 5spd + 4.1 in gears 3-6
6spd + 3.3 will be similar to 5spd + 3.9 in gears 1-3

I had a 5spd+3.9 at 10 psi 205-ftlbs 220-hp and it was wonderful on the street.

supersuckers

Yeah, thought of that. So that leaves the 3.6 and 3.9. The 3.9 doesn't appear much different than the 4.1, and I've seen some state that you really want 300HP for the 3.6. So I'm starting to think the 3.9 + 6 speed may be the sweet spot for track gearing on a 250WHP car? I don't run the car above 7k, so that would get me to 145mph.