Gearing

[WhatsADSM]

Well I don't want to sound like a stang owner here, but I think my car would be hella faster if I had smaller gears (keep in mind I'm A/T)

Most people achive smaller/larger gearing by putting in a different diff, however I was thinking....

Couldn't you achieve the same effect by simply changing to smaller tires? Since I'm AWD, yea I would need 4 of them but still. I think it would work... Just pop em on before I go to the track then put the normal 16s back on when I go home.

I may have a little speedo problems but hell the smaller gears should help out a bunch in the 1320.

Any ideas... I was thinking pull the 14s off the 1.8, I could probably pick those up for cheap.

Murray

[Genius]

Using smaller tires is a theoretically sound idea. It would save you some weight too. The 14 inch wheels off of the 1.8L will work as long as your car has the smaller brake calipers (spring '92 or earlier build date). Otherwise, you'll have to find at least 15 inch wheels to clear the brakes.

The most ideal setup would be for you to pass the traps before you go into 4th. Not sure what tire size that would be or if it is possible. Going from 205/55R16's to 185/60R14's would only give you about a 10% ratio change.

[ForestTalonAWD]

That should work, but like Genius said, I'm not sure how much of a difference in gearing it will make. Since the overall rolling diameter of the wheel/tire combo is the important thing, some low-profile tires on 15" tires would be good.

I'd be really interested in seeing some before/after times with this idea.

[DSMscreamer]

If your going to put on the 14 inch rims I would also switch to a 185/50R14 tire to further lower your final drive ratio. It would look funny but it would be better than a 60 series.

[99gst]

Wouldn't running narrower tires hurt your launch? I know AWD and all but you might end up spinning all 4.

[DSMscreamer]

I dont really think he will have trouble being an automatic. Even if you break torque you can only get like 3000rpm maybe. Unless your making a rack of HP I hear its pretty hard to get significant wheelspin out of an AWD A/T DSM.