Possibly going from 3.31 to 3.73, need your opinion.

[D.T.R]

Ok, here is the deal guys.
I rode in my buddy's 5.0 with 3.73s and I really liked it. He did a quick pull from 20 to 100mph and it felt a lot quicker granted his car has a tuner, and an intake while mine is 100% stock.
I have already the tuner, an AFE filter and the H pipe arrives today... all of this is going in the car tomorrow morning. My dilema here is... should I swap my gear for a 3.73 ? I'm afraid of having huge traction issues and at the moment I'm not looking to invest in another pair of rims with drag radials as this car is my DD..
With the mods I'm getting, plus 3.73, is the car going to spin way too much from a dig or low roll with the stock tires? The car doesn't even have 2k miles yet so I want to kill the stock tires before I move on to something stickier.


Cliff Notes:

I'm getting bolt ons, should I also upgrade to 3.73 or is the car going to spin way too much from a dig/low roll ?

 

[FiveLeeter918]

haha, I like the cliff notes.

Personally, I would start off with the tune and intake/exhaust components you already bought.

Maybe you guys could take the cars to the drag strip and run them. See how much faster he is on gears alone.

If he isn't having any issues, I don't see you having them either with just an H-Pipe.

 

[D.T.R]

haha, I like the cliff notes.

Personally, I would start off with the tune and intake/exhaust components you already bought.

Maybe you guys could take the cars to the drag strip and run them. See how much faster he is on gears alone.

If he isn't having any issues, I don't see you having them either with just an H-Pipe.

He has serious traction problems with the stock tires (which is what I also have)
He usually comes out on drag radials..

 

[teamstorm02]

I have 3:73 gears in mine and it spins bad 1st and 2nd

 

[D.T.R]

I mean, i know more whp will cause more traction problems, but I'm afraid that with 3.73 there will be zero traction unless on drag radials. And since this is a DD... i kind of don't want to DD on drag radials.

 

[MikeLTDLX]

I have limited traction with my car and it has 3.31s. I have the Pro-Cal tune, which is a tune that is geared towards torque production, but it is quite often pretty absurd. I have a Brembo car, if that makes a difference. The lack of traction was utterly ridiculous at the track and I got one semi-clean pass in out of three on street tires. The first was a total waste and the second almost ended up with eating the wall in 4th gear.

If you do the swap, let us know the results. I am curious myself, but before I do it I am going out to the track with 26 inch tires. This will give me closer to a 3.42 gear.

Mike

 

[D.T.R]

I have limited traction with my car and it has 3.31s. I have the Pro-Cal tune, which is a tune that is geared towards torque production, but it is quite often pretty absurd. I have a Brembo car, if that makes a difference. The lack of traction was utterly ridiculous at the track and I got one semi-clean pass in out of three on street tires. The first was a total waste and the second almost ended up with eating the wall in 4th gear.

If you do the swap, let us know the results. I am curious myself, but before I do it I am going out to the track with 26 inch tires. This will give me closer to a 3.42 gear.

Mike

I kind of want to do the same thing. Take the car to the strip with this 3.31 and see what's the best I can get out of it... and if it sucks then swap for a 3.73 and get real tires for it.

 

[MikeLTDLX]

I kind of want to do the same thing. Take the car to the strip with this 3.31 and see what's the best I can get out of it... and if it sucks then swap for a 3.73 and get real tires for it.

Well, I went 12.8 at almost 113, with a 2.2 60 foot and that was spinning through a good deal of 1st, and on the 1-2 shift. So, if I can get the stupid thing to hook, it is a low 12 second car. I would like to get it into the 11's on the 3.31s, I think that is doable as the car sits. I am not a huge fan of the 3.31s. I think they make 6th gear a near useless proposition and since my fuel economy is not that stellar, I would love to go up in gear. However, right now I want other things more than gears.

Mike

 

[D.T.R]

Well, I went 12.8 at almost 113, with a 2.2 60 foot and that was spinning through a good deal of 1st, and on the 1-2 shift. So, if I can get the stupid thing to hook, it is a low 12 second car. I would like to get it into the 11's on the 3.31s, I think that is doable as the car sits. I am not a huge fan of the 3.31s. I think they make 6th gear a near useless proposition and since my fuel economy is not that stellar, I would love to go up in gear. However, right now I want other things more than gears.

Mike

you went 12.8 with what mods?
Tomorrow I should have the AFE filter, h-pipe and tuner installed in the car...
I hope I can trap around 115mph... the ET will eventually get better as I learn the car better and or do something about traction.

 

[MikeLTDLX]

you went 12.8 with what mods?
Tomorrow I should have the AFE filter, h-pipe and tuner installed in the car...
I hope I can trap around 115mph... the ET will eventually get better as I learn the car better and or do something about traction.

I have a Pro-Cal tune with K&N drop in, Pypes 3 inch X-Pipe (after factory cats), resonator delete, Roush axle back and UMI LCA relocation brackets. It was a night with good air, but pretty humid. Traction was a severe limitation. The Pro-Cal makes it even worse, since it really emphasizes low end and mid-range torque. It was quite an eye opener to be sideways and experiencing axle hop at 100 mph in 4th gear, let me tell you. I was also rusty as hell, I had not been to the track in 10 years.

Mike

 

[D.T.R]

I have a Pro-Cal tune with K&N drop in, Pypes 3 inch X-Pipe (after factory cats), resonator delete, Roush axle back and UMI LCA relocation brackets. It was a night with good air, but pretty humid. Traction was a severe limitation. The Pro-Cal makes it even worse, since it really emphasizes low end and mid-range torque. It was quite an eye opener to be sideways and experiencing axle hop at 100 mph in 4th gear, let me tell you. I was also rusty as hell, I had not been to the track in 10 years.

Mike

dang.. that's pretty crazy. You were on your stock Pirellis ?

 

[Shaun@AED]

My car came with 3.73's.
I swapped to 3.55's and picked up 2+ mpg in fuel economy, as well as gained 3MPH in the 1/4, matched my 3.73 60fts and dropped a little ET.

I haven't tried 3.31's, but I won't go back to 3.73's with the current near stock setup.

 

[MikeLTDLX]

dang.. that's pretty crazy. You were on your stock Pirellis ?

Yeah, I was. The last pass was much better. I put them down to 23 psi and did more of a burnout. If I had time to make one more, I would have dropped them to 20 psi and burned them harder. I ran out of time. Considering that my first pass was a 3 gear spinning 14.9 @ 106, I took my 12.8 at 113 and went home satisfied.

Mike

 

[D.T.R]

My car came with 3.73's.
I swapped to 3.55's and picked up 2+ mpg in fuel economy, as well as gained 3MPH in the 1/4, matched my 3.73 60fts and dropped a little ET.

I haven't tried 3.31's, but I won't go back to 3.73's with the current near stock setup.

That's awesome.
with this 3.31 gear... and me driving like a grandpa (I always drive like that) i get 26 to 28mpg on the hwy... and I really love that.

I hope I can pull good times at the track.

 

[D.T.R]

Yeah, I was. The last pass was much better. I put them down to 23 psi and did more of a burnout. If I had time to make one more, I would have dropped them to 20 psi and burned them harder. I ran out of time. Considering that my first pass was a 3 gear spinning 14.9 @ 106, I took my 12.8 at 113 and went home satisfied.

Mike

Dang...
I guess when I go (there is an IFO coming up here next month) I'll drop them to 20psi unless I can borrow my friend's bigs and skinnies which I'm sure I'll be able to.

 

[MikeLTDLX]

That's awesome.
with this 3.31 gear... and me driving like a grandpa (I always drive like that) i get 26 to 28mpg on the hwy... and I really love that.

I hope I can pull good times at the track.

I really think 3.55 is the way to go. By running a 26 inch tire, I will get up to around a 3.42. I want to see what this does. I have a brand new set of 26 inch M&H Racemasters sitting in my shed. I just need to see if my 5 lug Welds will fit the GT. They are on my wagon, which is in Paint Jail. I am going to try to get a test fit in today.

Dang...
I guess when I go (there is an IFO coming up here next month) I'll drop them to 20psi unless I can borrow my friend's bigs and skinnies which I'm sure I'll be able to.

I would get the tires. Screw the stock rubber. However, if you are stuck with stock rubber, try it around 20-24 psi and see if you can hook it.

Mike

 

[D.T.R]

I really think 3.55 is the way to go. By running a 26 inch tire, I will get up to around a 3.42. I want to see what this does. I have a brand new set of 26 inch M&H Racemasters sitting in my shed. I just need to see if my 5 lug Welds will fit the GT. They are on my wagon, which is in Paint Jail. I am going to try to get a test fit in today.



I would get the tires. Screw the stock rubber. However, if you are stuck with stock rubber, try it around 20-24 psi and see if you can hook it.

Mike

I just realized that I have a set of 235/60/15 M&H racemasters that hook awesome on my 700whp Honda... that's a 26" tire... I thought they'd be too small for the mustang? they're not too wide (same width as my stock tires on the mustang) but I know they'd hook. I'm thinking of putting those on the back to see how they hook.
Hopefully the rear calipers clear 15" rims

 

[FiveLeeter918]

didn't realize these cars had such horrible traction issues...

 

[D.T.R]

Mine stock, with 3.31 is great. From a dig, launching it at 3200 rpms it takes off nicely.

 

[Shaun@AED]

FWIW I run a Hoosier 28x10.5 with 3.55's. 430ish RWHP SAE and 123mph traps at a raceweight of 3525lbs. Damn near perfect Trap RPM for the stock intake IMO.