Rear-end swap (GTS not wife)

[Venom Lover]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Old Rascal:

...the torque curve is so flat and linear that the seat-of-the pants feeling is not as exciting as on my previous Porsche 996 Carrera.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ummm, you must be driving a Eurospec car eviscerated of its power. Is this the case? In the U.S., there's no way a 996 is going to feel faster than a Viper unless it's the TT variety. What is the peak torque on the Euro-996 vs. Euro-Viper?

Anyway, my 3.55 rear end did improve performance at the drag strip by a tenth, and there is a difference in SOTP feel. Unitrax in Anaheim is a good source.

 

[Neil - UK]

Venom Lover: the standard 97 Euro viper (Old Rascals) was restricted to 378bhp/454lbs, can't speak for the Porsche.

 

[Venom Lover]

Neil,
Out of curiosity, how is the restriction accomplished? Is it reversible? If so, maybe that's what Old Rascal needs, more so than a 3.55 rear end! Just my opinion. 387 bhp is nearly 100 hp off what the U.S. cars produce, depending on year.

 

[Neil - UK]

They choke them do death, i remeber Nadine telling me she removed a big peice of plastic inside the airbox, not worth a 100 horses though. Will have to check to see where the rest went

 

[Neil - UK]

Old Rascal: try the search button at the top -enter 3.54, lots of
interesting bits

 

[JonB]

The airbox restrictor (alreday removed) and a de-tuned ECU due to "inferior" octane availability account for the emasculated motor

 

[Venom Lover]

My 60' times on street tires dropped from 2.00 sec territory down to 1.90 sec at the drag strip. I also knocked a tenth off my 0-60 times. So, there is a difference in straight-line performance.

I have not road raced the car since the gear swap, but I'm a bad enough road racer that I'm not sure it would matter much for me. The fact that you generally need to shift more with the lower ratio may actually degrade lap times, unless you're ultra smooth and fast at shifting, but that obviously depends on the track configuration as well.

Personally, I do not feel that there is enough of a seat-of-the-pants difference in feel to justify the ~$2K price tag just for street driving, but maybe that's just me. I still like the lower ratio, but I bought it for drag racing.

 

[Kid97GTS]

I actually like the lower ratio for everyday driving since it allows you to effectively use 5th and 6th on parkways or the freeway without lugging the motor. Also, the ability to break the tires loose from a roll in second gear is kinda cool. I'm also impressed with the "feel" of the aluminum flywheel, but I don't know if I'd spend the money (in labor costs) to get the flywheel replaced unless I was going to have some other work on the transmission or clutch done at the same time.

 

[Martin D]

Not as exciting as your Porsche???

Call a medic - you MUST not have a pulse.

Do an entire swap....It should be no problem.
I did it, however, I went with 3.45's

Regards,

 

[SoCal Rebell]

Get the 3.54 gear, also if you can swing it an aluminum flywheel, they work great together. The seat of the pants is amazing, probably around $2,000 installed for both.

 

[99 R/T 10]

On this note, I am looking change my stock 3.07 gears (96 R/T),
to 3.73s. Will any year rear end fit into my car? Or will I have to stick with only the Gen I's?

Mike

 

[bad viper]

recommend 3.45 ratio.