Longer Ratios fitted - my thoughts

[bradc]

Well the EVO ratios are now in my car and I've done 200km with them in. This is a follow on from Kenneths post (number 87) on this topic.

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthr...t=21414&page=5

I have attached a little chart showing what the stock is and what I now have. As you can see it is now possible to get to 100kmh in 2nd.

To be honest I couldn't really tell any difference in acceleration between the original ratios and the new ratios. In saying that, my car isn't exactly stock. The only times I really knew that the gears were any different were:

Changing out of second with just over 100kmh indicated on the speedo

After changing out of second being at higher rpm in 3rd gear, making 3rd gear seem much shorter. Before changing out of 2nd at 7000rpm would see you in 3rd at 4680rpm, now after the change the engine is at 5050rpm. This is VERY noticable. When driving at normal aggressiveness levels, ie changing out of 2nd at 4000-5000rpm, 3rd still feels a lot shorter and feels...for want of a better word, 'sportier'. This is the biggest change imho.

Now for the longer 5th, which is the original reason I started to research different ratios. I couldn't notice anything when driving in 5th. The revs are obviously a bit lower, but there was no difference in acceleration, pickup or lag that I could notice. I still ended up on the high side of 100mph passing 5 cars while keeping it in 5th the entire time. Apart from looking at the tacho there was no real way to tell. What I didn't notice however was that changing from 4th to 5th feels different. Changing at 70kmh isn't really an option when accelerating onto the motorway or another situation where you need to accelerate as quick as other cars, you need to be at about 85kmh or so to change into 5th now, otherwise the car does sound like it is being bogged down a bit. In saying that when in traffic on the motorway I regularly changed into 5th at 60kmh and just let the car build up speed which it did perfectly ok, without roughness or anything. I think that out on the open road going up hills where you'd normally be able to keep it in 5th gear down 95% of the time, you might need to change down into 4th a bit more.

Overall I really recommend the ratio swap. 1st is still simply frantic as always even though it is a lot longer, but the main advantages are what I highlighted above, the longer 2nd that lets you get to 100kmh, the effective shortening of 3rd gear and the longer 5th for lower cruising rpm.