This man knows what he's talking about. The chip won't raise your top speed in each gear. That's why one of the most popular upgrades for the domestic guys (think Mustangs and Camaros) is to swap out the rear ring and pinion in the differential, usually to gain acceleration. What this does is make each gear shorter (more shifting to do) but you're in the powerband of the engine faster, so the acceleration is better.

 

Exactly. And a lot of turbo'd guys want longer diff/tranny ratios so that they're in their spool range for longer. To an extent anyway.

 

Yeah. I've often heard of people turbo-ing their Mustangs after they converted to 4.10s in the rear, and having to swap out again to a 3.55 or lower, just because they: a) Have zero traction off the line b)Don't take advantage of the turbo because they're always shifting gears. Whenever I think of a turbo'd V8 car, the launch should almost be like a slingshot to be the most effective. You know.....it takes off nice and steady for a few feet, just to get going, and then *bang* the turbo kicks in and you're off like a rocket. The guys that sort that out always run the fastest times.

 

Fair enough, deep down I think I knew this. Makes sense because we changed the gearing in my Dad's 1971 Camaro Z28. 4th gear rapped out will put you about 75-80, but it gets there quick. But like someone said earlier the gears aren't very tall.

I think what threw me off is when they were talking about doing 80mph in 3rd. I was thinking well I can do easily 15mph more than that in third, so whats different about my car?? I just got chipped maybe thats it. <----- that was my thought process which was clearly wrong!

Thanks everyone for shedding some light on the science/mechanics of the subject!

This forum is great I love learning, even when it proves me wrong - Thanks Again! [8D]