American power train offers A body 6 speed manual
Almost to much for the street?
Sorry, hard pressed to actually believe that. LMAO!
The GV-OD seems overkill.
In my opinion yes, and here is why;
There are two 6 speed ratio sets, and here is the first;
2.97-2.10-1.46-1.00-.74-.50 and the splits:71-.70-.71-.74-.68 If you put 4.30s out back,you can trap from 5800(112) to say 6600(128). And your starter gear is 12.77
Now if you are down on power, and can only muster 112mph, then the 12.77 starter is a little shy. But if you can pull 128, you have a heck of a SBM. Hardly streetable. So what's it gonna cruise at? At 65 with 28s,1st over is 2482;the cam likes that. In 2nd over, 65 is 1688. Just try cruising that big motor at that. But you say dod is good for high speed cruising,right. Well that cam is barely cruisable at 2200, so what mph goes with that? Answer 115mph.So basically with a real motor and 4.30s, you have a 4+1, and 1st is kinda shy.
Now let's talk about those splits. An engine of this caliber will have a fairly narrow powerband.Unless it's a stroker, which it kinda needs to be to hit 128 at 6600.So lets assume it wants to be shifted at 6600. The drop-ins will be;4686-4620-4686, so that would be a powerband requirement of about 1950;so at least that's doable.
-But let's get back to a smaller engine. And let's run 4.88s. This engine might trap at
[email protected]. Again that's a pretty big cam. So the starter gear is now 14.49. Well that's a little deep! First over will get you 65@2817, a little busy, but the cam is happy. And Second od will get you 65@ 1903; Doable, but just. So what exactly do you have for a streeter? A nearly useless first gear, and a nearly useless 2nd od. Thankfully starting in 2nd is easy cuz it is 10.25 ratio.Total answer for a streeter; you have a 3+1, and a driveshaft that is disparately trying to throw it's u-joints.And you paid how much to be able to say "I have a 6 spd!"
Okay so really what is a 6 speed good for?
To make the best of this tranny you will have to build an engine to use it. So let's back up the bus.Let's build a streeter.To use 2nd O/D, and to use the deep low, and let the rest fall where they may.Okay, from experience I know that a nice SBM starter gear is between 10/1 and 11.5ish tops.So 10.75 is a happy average and thus 10.75/2.97 = 3.62s; smack in the middle of 3.55s and 3.73s. I'll go with the 3.73s cuz Ima gonna need 'em for cruising.So now we have a starter gear of 11.1. Where will it have to cruise? Well, again with 28s, 65mph will be;2152 and 1455. So what to do?To pull 65@1455 and be easy on fuel,(I mean that's the whole big deal about having a Double Over-Drive,)will take a teensy,weensy, cam. We are talking 2bbl cams. Very short duration cams.Well maybe you live in a place where the speed limit is 85. Ok, I can dig it.85mph will bring the rpm up to 1903. So now you are into streetcam territory.Something in the range of 218 to 228 @050. But consider this; There is
no good reason that I couldn't have selected 3.55s and then 85mph would be 2678 in First over; and we are back to a 4+1.
So,What have we learned?
It is my opinion,
that for;a normally aspirated V8 car, be it a streeter, a street/stripper, or a track-only car, in Canada at the very least; and if you never or rarely hit the interstate:The 6th gear is almost too much for anything, never mind; "almost too much for the street"
Now there is a second gearset;and
It is my opinion that it is much better for a streeter. The ratios are
2.66-1.78-1.30-1.0-.80-.64 and the splits; .67-.73-.77-.80-.80
-First notice the progression in the splits. Each successive ratio, carries a smaller powerband requirement. This works to keep the engine closer and closer to it's power peak, as she goes faster and faster, and has to fight her way through the air. Sweet! Next notice the total spread from the first gear to the last gear. It is much tighter. Then check out the 4-5 split;80%. This tranny begs to be used as a 5+1., But not as a dragracer.
-So lets check it out as a dual purpose car. Again shooting for a starter gear around 11.50max, we get a rear of 4.32; so 4.30 it will be. This gets us a starter gear of 11.44(perfect) and a trap gear of 4.30(also perfect).So we have a very nice 4-gear strip car. Now, soldiering on to cruise mode;65mph with 28s again will be 3123 in First O/D, and 1999in Second O/D.
Well, what do we have? Since First O/D is pretty much useless we again have a 4+1.
And again I ask;you paid how much to be able to say;"I have a 6spd"?
It is my opinion that you will be hard pressed to find an application in N.America, where a 6speed will be a benefit to a NA. V8. So far as I can figure out, there is just one place in all of North America where you could use it, and only at one time of the year. And it will cost you more money and time than you can imagine, to be able to run with the big boys.
-Any ways; as to my combo and overkill ............My combo has some real nice ratios;
3.09-1.92-1.40-1.09-.78 with splits of .62-.73-.78-(.71od) Notice the progressive splits, from first thru fourth. If I run it with 3.91s, I get a starter gear of 12.08, a trap gear of 4.26, and a cruise gear of 3.05 which gets me 100Kph(62mph)@2269 just about where my 230 cam vacuum peaks.
But hey, I have a splitter, I can split 1-2, and I can overdrive second.
The ratios thus are 3.09-2.41-1.92-1.50;splits; .78-.797-.78.. So what you ask? Well with 3.91s out back the track-starter is 12.08, and in the 1/8th, 2nd over will be 93.8@6600,Shazzam! But I want you to notice that;I'm in second o/d. That's right; I pulled the stick just once. And the powerband? 1450rpm. Overkill? You betcha. And,Ima crusin home at 2269rpm. Does it get any better?
So sorry OP, for the interlude;drive on thru....
