What Gears Will I Need ?

[ITLLRUN]

I have an 89 GT , Its an aod all stock except for the bolt on`s Pulley`s full exhuast , MSD box , throttle body , No Ac , It`s not gutted , I think a GT weighs something like 3300 , I am assuming I make 265 270 hp , I have the stock cam in there , stock heads intake and stuff like that is untouched , I need to know what I should be shifting at to get peak performance out of it , And so I can figure out my gear ratio , Any suggestions ? Thanks I was thinking about ahifting at 6000 but that might be to much ?

[NJSaleen32]

I think 6K is too high a shift point on a stock motor with an AOD (stock I assume). 6K would be out of your powerband, try 5450 to 5600 RPMs and see how that works for you. As far as gears if you drive it alot on the street with the occasional drag strip use go 3:73's. If you flog the track alot and the car is mainly a nice weather drive I think you will be happy wiith 4:11's. I recently went to 4:11's from 3:73's and love it. Also if not done already have a shift kit installed on that tranny and a converter.

BTW- Leave it out of OD when racing and it's best to let the computer shift for you because it's faster than you and more consistant.

[ITLLRUN]

I have installed a new converter shift kit and a lentech valve body so I can bypass overdrive , However if you leave those aod`s in drive they will shift to early and overdrive automatically comes on , The 94` must be designed differently if you don`t shift it , just curios , thanks for your reply

[NJSaleen32]

yea I can turn off OD, plus I am runnig an EECTunner so I can modify my shift points. It will take a few passes down the track to find the correct shift points, work on the 1-2 shift for your 60 ft to find the best RPM and when you cross the 1330' listen to the engine RPM. You should be revving around your peak and still pulling when you cross that mark. It took me 3 runs to dial mine in, first one shifted too early and was low in RPMs across the 1330', second time hit rev limiter durnig 1-2, Third was a charm. I also had the ability to download and look at the log file to help see where it was shifting at. If you are manually shifting I would get a tac with a shift light and set it a few hundred RPMs prior to you shift point (for shifter delay) and go from there. If you need more help let me know as it will take some track time to get it right

Thanks