2003 Axle Ratio

[BADOS]

Had a hard time finding out what the axle ratio was for my '03 Bird. It's 3.58. I don't know if it changed through out the generation, but probably not. Anyway, thought I'd share.

[MerlotBlue]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

These days? People don't talk about the axl ratio so much.

Transmissions really skew the need to consider the trade offs in the Axel ratios anyway. I think that's why you don't hear as much talk about the subject as you used to.

Before over-drive transmissions..........4 speed manuals and 3 speed automatics?

A final drive ratio of 1:1 meant you had to weigh the idea of a 1/4 mile SCREAMER with horrible cruising characteristics and bad gas mileage vs a car that would have a less than easy time giving you it's best acceleration out of "the hole" yet gave good MPG and didn't require you to play the radio at full volume just to drown out the engine noise at 60 mph on the high-way.

2 years ago I sold a 1996 Camaro Z28SS with a 6 speed manual I bought in '96. It came with 3.42 gears.............in years past this would have been a middle point between cruiser and drag strip ready.

That 6 speed had a predicable 4th gear ration of 1:1. It also had a 5th gear ratio of .70:1 and a 6th gear ratio of .50:1

Ultimately 6th gear was nearly useless.

2000rpm at 80 mph meant using 6th rarely happened.

A swap to 4:10 gears would have been a tough choice in the 1970s...........3,500rpm cruising at only 60MPH is nobody but a deaf person's idea of a reasonable trade off.

The '96 6 speed though?

4:10s actually produced a car that JUMPED off the line and turned a very reasonable 2,000RPM at 70mph.

[justjon]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

"with 4:11 gears you can really get lost"

[MerlotBlue]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

"with 4:11 gears you can really get lost"

Ahh........funny how those ring and pinion tooth counts work. At least I suspect that is the difference.

For what-ever reason my old Corvette has 4.11s and the Camaro I no longer own had 4.10s.

I've never actually looked at the gears in either car.........I'm gonna GUESS how-ever that the tooth count is different.

A ring with 41 teeth and a pinion with 10 would explain a "4.10" ..........not sure what would explain 4.11s.

A ring with 37 teeth and a pinion with 9 teeth? ......a little higher than 4.11.... closer to 4.12.

Honestly, it makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

Besides, lapping and shimming gears is above my mechanical abilities anyway.......so it's not as if I'm ever gonna be in there to count 'em.

It's enough for me to know that you're absolutely correct.

Higher ratio gears really are a great performance upgrade for many modern cars with over-drive transmissions.

I'm surprised you don't seem to see it done as often today as in years past.

Then again the T-Bird isn't much of a candidate for it.

The lack of a protraction rear end means all you'd get is a big cloud of tire smoke from one wheel anyway. Not much of anything good in that.

[dbsupercrew]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

The lack of a protraction rear end means all you'd get is a big cloud of tire smoke from one wheel anyway. Not much of anything good in that

Chevy terms.........Positrac
Ford terms...........Tracloc

If you have enough horses and the wrong surface it's a cloud of smoke from both wheels and some interesting driving

[jerrym3]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

Lowest rear end ratio I've ever driven in a street car was 5.14/1. It was a friend's 1956 Corvette, and those were the days when high gear was 1/1.

I ran 4.11s in my 57 BelAir. Even that was too high on the highway for a car with 14" tires and 1/1 final gear ratio.

But, what a difference when compared to the stock 3.36/1 ratio.

My 65 Corvette came out of the factory with a 3.08 ratio (by accident) instead of the stock 3.36. Ridiculously low rpms at 100 mph, but kind of sluggish off the line, for a Vette.

[MerlotBlue]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

Chevy terms.........Positrac
Ford terms...........Tracloc

If you have enough horses and the wrong surface it's a cloud of smoke from both wheels and some interesting driving

.........spell checkers..........never know what they'll do if you don't re-read after using 'em.


Truth be told the new T-Bird is a weak performer in terms of Horse-power and most certainly weak on what we're REALLY talking about here...... it's "torque" that gets a car moving from a stand-still.

The little V8 is great looking engine when you lift the hood but for a car this heavy a few more cubic inches and bunch more power would have been a welcome development.

........and then maybe Ford would have given us a Positrac rear end (sorry you can put a Ford in Chevy guy's garage but that in itself will never erase 30 years of calling it a "posi")

The T-Bird is a cruiser........single trac is probably the right choice for a car that struggles to make power at under 2,500rpm anyway.

[BADOS]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

My other car is a Corvette automatic with the performance 3.15 axle. It will knock you back in the seat if you deck it at 80. In the past, I had some muscle cars with 3.90 and 3.93's. Actually, a lot of people swapped there gears because it was an inexpensive way to give the car a kick in the "harse." Now it's expensive along with everything else.

[BADOS]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

"with 4:11 gears you can really get lost"

Pappy said, "Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin' if you don't stop drivin' that hot rod Lincoln." Oh man, I must be old!!

[MerlotBlue]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

My other car is a Corvette automatic with the performance 3.15 axle. It will knock you back in the seat if you deck it at 80. In the past, I had some muscle cars with 3.90 and 3.93's. Actually, a lot of people swapped there gears because it was an inexpensive way to give the car a kick in the "harse." Now it's expensive along with everything else.

The truly "cool" thing about old Corvettes is you can have it both ways.

I suppose that I'd have to agree with you on the costs involved with the latest Corvettes.........but.....

For the older cars? Those built between 64 and 82 anyway........

Owning 2 or more sets of gears in their carriers is the way to go. With different gear ratios, you can swap 'em in and out in about an hour once you've done it a couple of times.

I've got a heavily modified 1979 that used to make frequent trips to the drag strip. 3.08s for everyday and 4.11s for the 1/4 mile were swapped in and out a couple of times a year.

Today the car is set up for road use. My wife actually drives the car. So it's been a long time since I last swapped the gears..........today transverse fiberglass springs and koni shocks front and back along with stabilizer bars so fat the car drives like a dream vs the harsh ride an available performance suspension would have given you 20 years ago.

Ultimately it has a place in my garage still because it's just fun both to drive and work on.

It's also a harsh reminder of the only real disappointment I have with the T-Birds.

Low production numbers in this 4 year run of Retro-Birds means you don't see one at every traffic light all summer long and I like that..........but it also means the available aftermarket is horribly thin and likely to get worse as time goes by.

The weaknesses in the car will mostly go undressed and that's a shame for someone like me who buys a car and hopes to hold it for a long time.

[theflash]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

I think gear heads like many of us have been so lucky to have been around in the early performance days, 1950 to 1974. Who can forget the Muscle cars from 62 to 73?
They were easy to buy and easy to work on to get even more HP.

Then the Government got involved in emissions, and safety (see Ralph Nader) and as this government does, screwed the pooch. High octane gas was not made for general use.
It took ten years and lots of engineers to get the cars to start to perform again. But the cost went to the roof.

Now we have muscle cars everywhere. Most cars of today could keep up or better many from the late 60’s. And we don’t need a mechanic to keep it in tune, just a computer wiz.

But again the government is screwing the pooch. They don’t like the fuel we use and want us to be green. Or use wind to sail down the hi-ways. In the next few years, if people still have a job and can afford a car. It will have a total of 190 hp some times and at a car price of about $25 to 30 K.
Or pay $106,000 and get a Lexus LS600h with 438 HP, but wait a minute this only gets 22 MPG hi-way 2 mile less a gallon than their regular LS600 L.
This must be a Hybrid car for Al Gore and his cronies. :flames:

So the Government is taking us to the green zone and we will pay through the ass for everything and get bad performance. Well in ten years they will engineer better cars so we will have fun cars too drive and the government will say the planet is too cold so lets burn petroleum and coal, because we have so much of it and the government can TAX it.

[BADOS]

Re: 2003 Axle Ratio

Here ya go:

Have you heard this story of the Hot Rod Race
When Fords and Lincolns was settin' the pace
That story is true, I'm here to say
I was drivin' that Model A

It's got a Lincoln motor and it's really souped up
That Model A body makes it look like a pup
It's got eight cylinders, uses them all
It's got overdrive, just won't stall

With a 4-barrel carb and a dual exhaust
With 4.11 gears you can really get lost
It's got safety tubes, but I ain't scared
The brakes are good, tires fair

Pulled out of San Pedro late one night
The moon and the stars was shinin' bright
We was drivin' up Grapevine Hill
Passing cars like they was standing still

All of a sudden in a wink of an eye
A Cadillac sedan passed us by
I said, "Boys, that's a mark for me"
By then the tail light was all you could see

Now the fellas was ribbin' me for bein' behind
So I thought I'd make the Lincoln unwind
Took my foot off the gas and man alive
I shoved it on down into overdrive

Wound it up to a hundred-and-ten
My speedometer said that I hit top end
My foot was glued like lead to the floor
That's all there is and there ain't no more

Now the boys all thought I'd lost my sense
And telephone poles looked like a picket fence
They said, "Slow down! I see spots!
The lines on the road just look like dots"

Took a corner, sideswiped a truck
Crossed my fingers just for luck
My fenders was clickin' the guardrail posts
The guy beside me was white as a ghost

Smoke was comin' from out of the back
When I started to gain on that Cadillac
Knew I could catch him, I thought I could pass
Don't you know by then we'd be low on gas

We had flames comin' from out of the side
Feel the tension, man, what a ride!
I said, "Look out, boys, I've got a license to fly"
And that Caddy pulled over and let us by

Now all of a sudden she started to knockin'
And down in the dips she started to rockin'
I looked in my mirror; a red light was blinkin'
The cops was after my Hot Rod Lincoln

They arrested me and they put me in jail
And called my pappy to throw my bail
And he said, "Son, you're gonna' drive me to drinkin'
If you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln!"