What gears for Novi 2000 Cobra w/ 500RWHP?

[greasy]

Currently running 4.10's in the car and I obliterate the tires on the street in 1st & 2nd gear, it is more annoying than anything. I very rarely hit the 1/4 track, so I could care less about that. I am looking for a good gear to wind the car out in 3rd and have better lower gear traction.

I was thinking 3.55's or maybe even the 3.31's, but I do not want the car to feel like a dog. I just want a more usable 1st gear.

What are your recommendations?

 

[nomoretickets]

Might help to expand the picture. What tires are you running?

EDIT: cheers to another chi-town guy

 

[greasy]

Might help to expand the picture. What tires are you running?

EDIT: cheers to another chi-town guy

What's up Chi-Town brother?!?!

I was running 315-35-17 Toyo R888's last year. I changed the wheel setup and will be running the Toyo R888's again, but in a 305-35-18.

 

[venom1997]

It's the tires I have 500 rwhp with 4.10 and twin screw you won't stick unless u run a drag radial and a good one like Hoosier

 

[greasy]

The R888 is a really good tire, much better than the 555R I was running before. I need something with a stiffer sidewall and decent water removal. Like I said, I do not care about strictly straight line. A tire is not going to let me wind out the car in 3rd gear any longer.

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

idk how you're abliterating a R888 with 500rwhp and 4.10's.. I ran 650rwhp road racing suspension and 4.10's with a more aggressive 1st and 2nd T56 gear. I could smash it in 2nd gear at 4500 and dead hook. this was a 305/18 setup too. With the ground warm and the tires warm I could roll on 1st hard as F and wouldn't have an issue. and my car makes way more tq than most centri setups at 570rwtq. I would stick with 4.10's and maybe play with tire pressure.

 

[greasy]

idk how you're abliterating a R888 with 500rwhp and 4.10's.. I ran 650rwhp road racing suspension and 4.10's with a more aggressive 1st and 2nd T56 gear. I could smash it in 2nd gear at 4500 and dead hook. this was a 305/18 setup too. With the ground warm and the tires warm I could roll on 1st hard as F and wouldn't have an issue. and my car makes way more tq than most centri setups at 570rwtq. I would stick with 4.10's and maybe play with tire pressure.

Probably exaggerating on obliterating second gear, but 1st is zero traction even rolling into the throttle. If the tires get decent heat into them it's not bad. Doing burnouts at stop lights to get tires warm is not really an option. The whole idea is to make 1st more useful and have longer time in gears, especially 3rd.

Are 3.73's too close to 4.10's? I'm thinking 3.55's.....

 

[1996MysticSnake]

Probably exaggerating on obliterating second gear, but 1st is zero traction even rolling into the throttle. If the tires get decent heat into them it's not bad. Doing burnouts at stop lights to get tires warm is not really an option. The whole idea is to make 1st more useful and have longer time in gears, especially 3rd.

Are 3.73's too close to 4.10's? I'm thinking 3.55's.....

I literally have the same exact problem and I just had the rear redone with 3.73's haven't driven it yet but I think 3.55 it probably gonna really make it feel slow especially if you are used to 4.10s

 

[yellow98stang]

R888's or any soft compound tire is going to be terrible when it's cold out. Keep the 4.10's and wait till summer, then reevaluate the situation. Another thing to consider is heat cycling of the tires. Soft compound, "race tires" only have so many heat cycles in them before the grip degrades and they will never hook like they used to.

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

I had 3.55's and they sucked.. I just swapped to 3.73's for my new setup, but it'll be making in the 8-900 range.. I would maybe try a drag radial.

 

[nomoretickets]

3:73's to 4:10's will make have a noticeable seat of the pants feel, and could help w/ the shenanigans you are dealing with. Though I will say, if you are basing this decision off the weather recently up here, probably not a fair assessment unless you really intend to drive this car hard just about year round.

 

[nomoretickets]

What's up Chi-Town brother?!?!

you know how it is, another beautiful day of low to mid 40's, rain, and no fun time in the cobra

 

[1996MysticSnake]

R888's or any soft compound tire is going to be terrible when it's cold out. Keep the 4.10's and wait till summer, then reevaluate the situation. Another thing to consider is heat cycling of the tires. Soft compound, "race tires" only have so many heat cycles in them before the grip degrades and they will never hook like they used to.

I tried Nitto 555R drags and Toyo Proxes TQ with the 4.10s, my car put down 505 at the wheel.

The Nittos were a joke I could pretty much make them spin at any speed and it was almost dangerous when the boost would start to come in hard. The TQ's are significantly better but I can already tell wont last nearly as long, I got like 10k or so out of the nittos.

Plus the other thing to think about is that with a 4.10 centri car you are blowing through the rpms so quick you aren't utilizing the boost in 1st and 2nd gear. The 3.73s will let you sit in the powerband a little longer and in turn you will have more usable powerband, at least this is what I noticed with 4.10s.

I've had farts that lasted longer than first gear when you punch it with the vortech and 4.10s

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

^^^

You are going through the RPM's quicker but you are utilizing the boost as you need the get to the RPM for boost to happen. The quicker you get to the rpm where power comes on the faster the car will be. The main thing here is you need a decent tire to hold the power. You can't have 500-600rwhp and then complain about traction. Get the tires to hold the power and gearing..

I've had just about every combo from 350rwhp-650rwhp and every variation inbetween from 3.55's-4.10's. 3.55's suck.. You are constantly waiting for power. Trust me. You hit 3rd and you just wait make a sandwich drink some energy drink before you really start to pull from 6k+ due to how the power multiplys with the 3.55's. it just takes forever.. You can try 3.73's.. Another option is getting a taller tire to change final ratio

 

[98 N/A 4V]

So you're saying that my 4.56 and 28" combo might be a little over kill for my novi?























Nah, I'll just spin it higher.

-Mark

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

^^ that's the spirit