Do you like playing musical gears but also like to keep things realistic? I decided to compile a few of my resources and create a thread listing realistic gear ratios, transmission and final/rear axle, that were available on certain cars/combinations as a sort of guide for those needing a different setup but still wanting to stick with something plausible. This is also a great place to find ratios for the realistic transmission swap to go with that engine swap!
NOTE: Mods feel free to move this to the tuning section if you like
As there are hundreds of cars in this game I can't even begin to go into every single one of them, so I'm going to focus in on some of the more commonly swapped manufacturers (mostly old muscle cars) and almost exclusively manual transmissions. Feel free to contribute or point out any typos, obviously I will be adding information as time allows.
The gearing format will be listed in sequential order without any actual numerical designation for which gear is which, so for a simple Muncie M21/M22 it would read 2.20/1.64/1.28/1.00 where 2.20 is 1st gear, 1.64 is 2nd gear, 1.28 is 3rd gear, 1.00 is 4th gear, and since this is a 4-speed there is obviously no 5th or 6th gears used (my trick is to set any unused gears to 0.48 that way if I upshift by accident it bogs down and reminds me I'm not supposed to use that gear). This makes the list less cluttered and my life much easier. Final drive ratios will be listed the same way, so for that same vehicle a final set list of 3.55/3.73/4.10/4.56 means any of those final drives was used or would be readily available on the aftermarket in the case of some vehicles where the factory choices suck for road racing.
AMC
Warner T10
Unlike the other Big 3 American car makers at the time, AMC never developed a proprietary replacement for the original T10 4-speed and it was used until the debut of the Super T10. If you're doing the 401/6.6L AMX swap you need a T10/ST10 as the other trannies would either not hook up or would shatter like glass behind that beast.
While there are a plethora of other 3-speed and 4-speed manuals (T98, T18, T19, etc) that will hook up to an AMC V8 engine, I won't be going into those as they are Jeep transmissions with ultra-low "granny" gears (most in the 4.00 or higher range) and incredibly wide truck-based gear spreads that make them unsuitable for a racing application.
As we are dealing with only '71+ AMC vehicles they would have all been originally equipped with the Super T10 variants, although I'm listing the older T10 ratios as well for the sake of having some options.
Wide "T" T10- 2.64/2.10/1.49/1.00
Wide "P" T10- 2.43/1.76/1.46/1.00
Wide ST10- 2.64/1.75/1.33/1.00
Close ST10- 2.43/1.61/1.23/1.00
AMX
My information on what rear axle ratio came with what gear set is limited for AMC, not to mention that, much like Ford, they had a bad habit of building cars that veered off the options sheet if a customer requested it. So while they may have said the numerically higher rear gears are only available with the close-ratio boxes, someone who requested a high gear with a wide-ratio ST10 would have likely been obliged. Just to complicate things further I'll mention that most of the performance gears (minus 3.91) were dealer-installed options, and at the time the dealers were known to put together pretty much anything for the customer that had the cash. The 3.15 was standard with the 2.87 being the factory economy option and 3.54/3.91 being the performance checkboxes.
Final Ratios- 2.87/3.15/3.54/3.91/4.10/4.44/5.00
Yeah, a 5.00 axle, not a typo....
Warner T14/T150
3-speed manual that is lame and weak with bad ratios to boot. Makes a great anchor for bay or river fishing boat. Used in the V8 Gremlin for '73 only before the T150 3-speed that was used '74 and later.
T14- 2.60/1.60/1.00
T150- 2.99/1.75/1.00
Gremlin
The V8 Gremlin never used a 4-speed manual and both 3-speeds are more commonly associated with Jeeps than anything resembling track performance. As the 304 AMC V8 and the rear axle were both carried over from the old days of screaming performance cars it was not uncommon for Gremlins to be transplanted with any combination of a bigger AMC V8, a 4-speed transmission, and virtually any rear gear listed above under the AMX. Information on factory combinations is not the easiest to find and I'm not wasting time on a Gremlin.
Final Ratios- 2.53/2.73/3.08/3.15/3.54
Warner SR4
4-speed manual used only behind 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder AMC engines. Ratios intended more for Jeep, only use in this game is if you're keeping the stock 4.2L in the Pacer.
SR4 (6-cylinder)- 3.50/2.21/1.43/1.00
SR4 (4-cylinder)- 4.07/2.39/1.49/1.00
Pacer
We'll keep this short because no one probably cares. The 2.53 axle was the only one available with the 4-speed in '77 although 2.73 and 3.08 were available in other combinations that year or in later years the SR4 could be had with either. On the other hand a 401 would vaporize the rear axle, so feel free to use the AMX rear gears instead since you'd be swapping that differential in anyways.
Final Ratios- 2.53/2.73/3.08
NOTE: Mods feel free to move this to the tuning section if you like
As there are hundreds of cars in this game I can't even begin to go into every single one of them, so I'm going to focus in on some of the more commonly swapped manufacturers (mostly old muscle cars) and almost exclusively manual transmissions. Feel free to contribute or point out any typos, obviously I will be adding information as time allows.
The gearing format will be listed in sequential order without any actual numerical designation for which gear is which, so for a simple Muncie M21/M22 it would read 2.20/1.64/1.28/1.00 where 2.20 is 1st gear, 1.64 is 2nd gear, 1.28 is 3rd gear, 1.00 is 4th gear, and since this is a 4-speed there is obviously no 5th or 6th gears used (my trick is to set any unused gears to 0.48 that way if I upshift by accident it bogs down and reminds me I'm not supposed to use that gear). This makes the list less cluttered and my life much easier. Final drive ratios will be listed the same way, so for that same vehicle a final set list of 3.55/3.73/4.10/4.56 means any of those final drives was used or would be readily available on the aftermarket in the case of some vehicles where the factory choices suck for road racing.
AMC
Warner T10
Unlike the other Big 3 American car makers at the time, AMC never developed a proprietary replacement for the original T10 4-speed and it was used until the debut of the Super T10. If you're doing the 401/6.6L AMX swap you need a T10/ST10 as the other trannies would either not hook up or would shatter like glass behind that beast.
While there are a plethora of other 3-speed and 4-speed manuals (T98, T18, T19, etc) that will hook up to an AMC V8 engine, I won't be going into those as they are Jeep transmissions with ultra-low "granny" gears (most in the 4.00 or higher range) and incredibly wide truck-based gear spreads that make them unsuitable for a racing application.
As we are dealing with only '71+ AMC vehicles they would have all been originally equipped with the Super T10 variants, although I'm listing the older T10 ratios as well for the sake of having some options.
Wide "T" T10- 2.64/2.10/1.49/1.00
Wide "P" T10- 2.43/1.76/1.46/1.00
Wide ST10- 2.64/1.75/1.33/1.00
Close ST10- 2.43/1.61/1.23/1.00
AMX
My information on what rear axle ratio came with what gear set is limited for AMC, not to mention that, much like Ford, they had a bad habit of building cars that veered off the options sheet if a customer requested it. So while they may have said the numerically higher rear gears are only available with the close-ratio boxes, someone who requested a high gear with a wide-ratio ST10 would have likely been obliged. Just to complicate things further I'll mention that most of the performance gears (minus 3.91) were dealer-installed options, and at the time the dealers were known to put together pretty much anything for the customer that had the cash. The 3.15 was standard with the 2.87 being the factory economy option and 3.54/3.91 being the performance checkboxes.
Final Ratios- 2.87/3.15/3.54/3.91/4.10/4.44/5.00
Yeah, a 5.00 axle, not a typo....
Warner T14/T150
3-speed manual that is lame and weak with bad ratios to boot. Makes a great anchor for bay or river fishing boat.
Used in the V8 Gremlin for '73 only before the T150 3-speed that was used '74 and later.T14- 2.60/1.60/1.00
T150- 2.99/1.75/1.00
Gremlin
The V8 Gremlin never used a 4-speed manual and both 3-speeds are more commonly associated with Jeeps than anything resembling track performance. As the 304 AMC V8 and the rear axle were both carried over from the old days of screaming performance cars it was not uncommon for Gremlins to be transplanted with any combination of a bigger AMC V8, a 4-speed transmission, and virtually any rear gear listed above under the AMX. Information on factory combinations is not the easiest to find and I'm not wasting time on a Gremlin.
Final Ratios- 2.53/2.73/3.08/3.15/3.54
Warner SR4
4-speed manual used only behind 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder AMC engines. Ratios intended more for Jeep, only use in this game is if you're keeping the stock 4.2L in the Pacer.
SR4 (6-cylinder)- 3.50/2.21/1.43/1.00
SR4 (4-cylinder)- 4.07/2.39/1.49/1.00
Pacer
We'll keep this short because no one probably cares. The 2.53 axle was the only one available with the 4-speed in '77 although 2.73 and 3.08 were available in other combinations that year or in later years the SR4 could be had with either. On the other hand a 401 would vaporize the rear axle, so feel free to use the AMX rear gears instead since you'd be swapping that differential in anyways.
Final Ratios- 2.53/2.73/3.08
(just kidding, but seriously I work in a speed shop and upwards of 75% or more of my customers with GM muscle cars have automatics, I think these guys missed the point of a muscle car; before anyone says anything I'll mention my 70 year old grandmother still drives her '67 Camaro 327/4-speed/3.55 car with no power steering all over the place and I've never once heard her whine about how it's "just too much work to drive a stick in traffic"
).
The car we get has something of an identity crisis: on the one hand I'm seeing a 3-speed manual transmission with a 2.93 rear gear that was only available on the Gran Sport 455 (aka the GS455), on the other hand I'm staring at a rather distinct appearance package of large black stripes only available in yellow or white which indicates a GSX. My issue? There are no records showing any of the 678 GSX-equipped cars ever came with a 3-speed manual or a 2.93 rear, NONE, ZERO, NOT ONE. The GS455 was a plain solid color car, no fancy GSX black stripes and crap everywhere. I'm confused, why couldn't they just give us a decent rear gear and a 4-speed instead of making a stupid mistake over an economy 2.93 gear and a 3-speed manual? Now we're starting to go the way of Gran Turismo where half the Fords and Mopars got GM transmissions and most of the GM cars got either Ford gears or some gear combination that doesn't exist even as an aftermarket part.
