Your choice of Gear Box: Tall or Short?

[turbo_c]

Many of the petrol heads I know swear by short gear ratios and short final drives… “ACCELERATION, Dude!” seems to be the mantra… but is that all there is? What about driveability? What about type of usage?

Lets talk about what kind of GB you like and why…

I like my MPFI Esteem’s tall GB, cuz:

1. While I do enjoy the occasional “show-em-who-is-boss” quickie races on an open road, I prefer to cruise along at a brisk pace while going long distances. The tall GB lets me cruise at 100Kmph with the engine sedately purring away below 3k rpm.

2. I can do 120Kmph in 2nd without redlining! Perfect for overtaking that long trailer while dodging potholes / cows… no need to reach for the gear lever at inopportune moments!

3. The great Indian car mantra: “Average!”. Most of my driving is on the open highways… cruising on a tall 5th gear most of the time keeps my ride’s drinking habit at bay.

True… I may have lost out on acceleration, but, my car is more suited to my usage this way... more "driveable" for me at least!

- T u r b o C -

[nitrous]

I can do 120Kmph in 2nd without redlining!

Is it modded?? Cos, i know a few modded balenos which can't cross 100kph in second.

[zulfikar]

hi,
what is the difference between Tall or Short Gear Box???

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by nitrous

Is it modded?? Cos, i know a few modded balenos which can't cross 100kph in second.

Nitrous anna , stock balenos do just over a 100 in 2nd gear .. Unless and until the gear ratios are modded ..

Just like Turbo c , unless taking part in drags even i tend to cruise at speeds of 60 within the city inspite of having EMPTY roads .. On highways its always 100-120 unless its a TBHP long drive .. So having a tall gear ratio does help in cruising ..

To have best of both worlds is to have two sets of GB's , one for the drags and one stock .. I know a freind of mine who has 4 sets of GB's for the same car ..

Even for drags its quite necessary to design a gear box well , having short gears wont work because one would loose more time in shifting gears than the advantages gained from the quicker revving ..

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

To have best of both worlds is to have two sets of GB's , one for the drags and one stock .. I know a freind of mine who has 4 sets of GB's for the same car ..

OMG..!!! n what car does your friend own...??? Also why 4 sets one would be tall GB n 2nd would be short GB n the rest ?????

KP

[sbasak]

Whether the gear ratio should be short or tall, depends mainly on the torque curve of the engine. Engines having low RPM high torque can often works fine with taller ratio. However, low torque value with taller gear ratio will demand to frequent gear change.

Majority of cars have similar to these gear ratios (1-5) - 0.25, 0.5, 0.7, 1, 1.25 with final drive ratio ~0.25

[The Wolf]

turbo_c, dude sorry to say but your question cannot be answered coz the gear ratios as sbasak said depends largely on the engine power output characteristics...like the torque at various rpms etc. Vehicle weight, petrol/diesel, usage purpose and usage environment also matter. Factory gear ratios are the calibrated and mated with the engine output to give you the best torque at all times but I would never say they are the best considering your area of interest.

[2fast4u]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

For me it ought to be shorter gears. I just love changing gears.

its fun sure but then u get eaten by small cars at the lights. thats what happens to me. so initially i loose till 2nd but after that its all power unleashing. this is a Nissan RB20DETT with short gearing.
i love the Esteem for that 2nd gear power to take u above the ton. i need 3 gears "now" to just get near the ton.

If its a looong race then good (again based on ur engine character) so the short will help. for everyday driving tall seems better though.
also noticed that in short gearing the overdrive is not actually an overdrive but more of cruising gear compared to tall gearing where the overall speed drops when in top gear.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by kpzen

OMG..!!! n what car does your friend own...??? Also why 4 sets one would be tall GB n 2nd would be short GB n the rest ?????

KP

AAAHHH well maybe i forgot to add that its a race/drag spec esteem .. 4 GB's is nothing , that car has 3 engines all set for different set of tunes , 2 spare blocks , 2 sets of spare tyres , fibre doors, 1 spare NOS kit and god knows what ..

Now he is building another esteem for which he already has two drag spec engines done up apart from loads of other goodies .. Call him psych'd ?? U bet ..

Now coming back to topic , for good street use and drag racing its very imp to get the right balance between the gear ratios .. However short ratio gear boxes if designed properly could do wonders on a NA car on a strip .. For NOS/TC/SC cars its always better to have long ratios if not chances of hitting the revvlimiter are a plenty..

PS : Sorry for going OT

[naveendhyani]

for me drag is not much fun rather i enjoy the long drives on the highways. so tall is for me.

@ nitrous & mclaren1885 - is there a way i can change my baleno gears to a taller configuration? also how expensive wud it b and what will b the advantages/disadvantages?

[agspins]

short ones suit my style of driving... but some times i think it is better have tall shifts.
watever short shifts r better n sporty i feel

[Shan2nu]

Did you mean short ratios or close ratios? Theres a big diff between the 2.

I'd go for a close ratio gearbox with a slightly taller final drive.

Shan2nu

[Rice_tuner]

i'd prefer a box with a slightly taller final drive...while having close ratios on the 4th and 5th cogs

[5u3zEr0]

If a tall gear box means a higher redline for the RPM then I would like it real tall!

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by turbo_c

1. The tall GB lets me cruise at 100Kmph with the engine sedately purring away below 3k rpm.

- T u r b o C -

You said it man! Same train of thot from me. I like plonking into 5th as soon as possible to keep the car in lower revs - primarily for engine durability.
Yesterday I'd taken my new Swift for a long drive and even at 80 kmph in 5th gear, the engine was ticking away at less than 2K rpm!

The same logic is applied to city driving as well.