turbo's and gears.......the big debate.

[4.8t]

i agree totally. my own little experiment was with the 4.3l turbo silverado project i finished not long ago. it had 3.42 gears and was a extcab 2wd with nv3500 trans. it ran real good but the gears were so high that it took for ever to get into a good powerband. once boost came on it would move real nice. but when he shifted the rpm dropped so low, that it took forever again to get to the rpm it needed to be at. we put a set of 3.90's in it and oh man did it wake up!! boost came on real fast and when he shifted gears boost would come right back on. it ran 103 in the 1/4 mile. 4.3l v6 with a mpt70 turbo.

i agree with the fuel mileage thing too. funny thing is it took my wife to prove it to me. we went on a trip and i was driving 70 in my silverado trying to keep mileage good. i was getting 19mpg so i was happy. i told her to keep it around 70mph to keep the mileage. she said ok and i fell asleep. i woke up to her hauling ass. i ask her what she was doing and she tells me the truck felt "better" at the faster speed. she got 21-22 mpg doing this. and i got the told ya so look on top of it. lmao

[George C]

i agree totally. my own little experiment was with the 4.3l turbo silverado project i finished not long ago. it had 3.42 gears and was a extcab 2wd with nv3500 trans. it ran real good but the gears were so high that it took for ever to get into a good powerband. once boost came on it would move real nice. but when he shifted the rpm dropped so low, that it took forever again to get to the rpm it needed to be at. we put a set of 3.90's in it and oh man did it wake up!! boost came on real fast and when he shifted gears boost would come right back on. it ran 103 in the 1/4 mile. 4.3l v6 with a mpt70 turbo.

thats another thing a manual boosted setup needs different gearing aspect and turbo sizing then a stalled auto. A good stall will make up for spool time where as a manual still has to go thru the rpms to reach the same point unless you slip it as you drive which will do nothing more then eat the clutch's life.

i noticed the same thing going from 488s to 410s. it made it nicer crusing on highways, it made it nicer roll racing but made it horrible for getting off the line and shift rpms