Oh you guys ...............
Over and over I tell you I'm a streeter.
And in real-world experience, Second-gear is where it's at; on account of with a 3.09 low, First gear is just a tire burner.
If you install this A833od box in your car with 3.55s, that would give you a miserable Second gear of 1.67 x 3.55= 5.93 which is similar to
1.40 x4.10s= 5.74
THIRD gear with a Standard A833. How often do you skip-shift your current combo?
Meanwhile the 3.09 x 3.55= a tire-frying 10.97 Starter gear, which would also be like 4.10s with a Regular A833,( 10.91) in
First gear. So it's like shifting a Regular A833 with 4.10s, straight from First to Third, skipping Second. WHERE is the performance in that? A good Second road-gear to have is in the range of 6.80 to 7.20, depending on your combo
Look here;
the od box with 3.55s has roadgears of;
10.97------
5.93-----3.55-----2.59 compared to;
10.91-7.87-
5.74-4.10 -------- the Regular box with 4.10s.
You see any 6.80s to 7.20s in here?
The splits are; .540-.599-.73 (od box)
versus .718-.728-.719 Standard A833; You know that .718 x .728 =.523 which is only a tiny bit different than .540;
SO IT'S ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE SKIPPING SECOND-gear.
Again; How often do you skip-shift your current combo?
But that's ok for guys who already own one, cuz well cuz.
But if a newbe doesn't yet have a trans, or does have an od box but doesn't have the whole nine yards, there is no way I would ever recommend this trans for anything but; a lo-po, small-cam or wide LSA cam, cruiser.
Been there/done that/ got the broken parts to prove it/ ain't ever going back.
but hey, I at least tell you;
"This is my opinion."
Whereas "others" like to kick the chair out from under me.
From the First post;
Has anyone had any experience with the OD 833 4 speed that Brewers sells?
Im considering it as im looking into a OD unit for my car
Its currently has a 4 speed 355sure gripe and 15inch rims and its just not enjoyable to drive at highway speeds
Thanks for all thoughts and replies
I totally get that 3.55s are not enjoyable on the hiway.
With my very first combo, I ran a 25.6" tall tire, and 65mph was a tic over 3000. My first move was to install 28" tires for a new rpm of 65=2770. Then I slowed down to 60=2560 which was still uncomfortable.
So in went the 3.23s, and 60=2330 Ok now we're getting somewhere. But that 2.66 x3.23=8.89 starter gear was none too performance oriented, but worse is that Second gear was now a miserable 6.17, which made 60= 4440, so there was no performance in that.
Ok so then, like you, I thought, I'll give that od box a chance. Of course I knew about the split. And I knew I never wanted to see another 6.17 Second-gear, so in went some 4.10s. Second was now 1.67 x 4.10=6.85 which was almost perfect; 60 in Second was now a tic under 5000, and in od 65=2330 ..... YABUT, First-gear was a staggering 12.67
So I got the idea to install a GVod and split those wide buggers. Of course with a double overdrive, I could run any rear gear in my collection. So I ran some 4.30s. Those 28s had worn out long ago, and by now I was on 27s. So Second-gear was a whopping 7.18, and 60=5370 now we're talking! In Dod, 65mph was 1990rpm, now we're talking! Of course the Starter-gear was 3.09 x 4.30=13.29 ..... but I hit the splitter right out the gate, and she shifted at just the right time into First-over for a Sweet ratio of 10.36, Shazzam! The bonus was that First gear of 13.29 is a great ratio to idle around the parking lot at 550rpm=3.3 mph.....
This combo gave me Seven usable gears to cover every situation. But in the end, having to split gears almost ALL the time just got to be a PITA. And I kept breaking that stinking tiny overdrive gear...... which usually tore up the rest of the box.
So enough was enough; I pulled the last good box out, and in went a Commando box with the GVod behind it. This box has the 3.09 starter and the rest is just like the Regular A833. So I started with 3.23s. This gave me 60=4630 in Second, but 60=5840 in First-over, Shazzam! And 65mph in Fourth was 2620, but in od was 2040. And the Starter gear was a perfect for my combo of 9.98. So I ran this for a very long time.
So I know what yur up against. And so I highly recommend the Commando box, with a rear gear change. The Ratios are
3.09-1.92-1.40-1.00. You can run this with 3.23s or less. In fact with your current combo I'm guessing is the 2.66 Regular box and 3.55s, your road gears are;
9.44-6.82-4.93-3.55
if yur happy with that 9.44 starter, then you can even run a 2.94 rear with the Commando... which would give you the following roadgears;
9.08-5.64-4.12-2.94, and 65=2380 with 27" tires.
(or 9.98-6.20-4.52-3.23, and 65=2610 with 3.23s and 27s)
What's also nice about the Commando/2.94 combo is that Second-gear is good to about 80 mph@5650rpm for passing ......... starting at 4000=57mph. I really liked this with one cam I had. Peak torque to peak power in the blink of an eye.
But I gotta tell ya, Third gear (4.12ratio) kindof sucks at WOT, mostly because your car is already moving at 80ish mph when you get into it. But honestly, for that same reason, and for a streeter, it almost doesn't matter.
So in this sense, the Commando is like a poor-man's overdrive, but sortof better, cuz it works with any rear gear you chose, up to say 3.91s ( starter of 12.08), or the perfect Second gear of 7.18 with 3.73s. So if down the road you want to have some real fun, you can. Something that with the Overdrive box I could never make happen.
Of course your cheapest option is to just swap out those 3.55s. But then the combo usually gets a lil lazy, and the only cure for that is more cylinder pressure, or more cubic inches.
Lest you think I maybe had a POS engine, that sweetheart 367HO went 93 mph in the Eighth, pulling like a freight-train; not bragging, jus saying...
