I get the idea. and its obviously easy to compare trannies to see wich has the shorter gears if you have the same fd, for example a b16 and gsr) but I dont understand how to figure out wich has the shorter gears if the fd is different.

I mean i understand it works the same way, like if you were to have 2 different trannies(A&B) and they both had the same gear ratio in every gear, but tranny A had a 3.3 fd and tranny B had a 4.4 fd, then tranny B would be shorter.

but lets take the 05' s2000 and 05' 350z for example. how would you figure out wich has the shorter gears????

s2000 ..... 350z
1. 3.13 ..... 1. 3.79
2. 2.04 ..... 2. 2.32
3. 1.48 ..... 3. 1.62
4. 1.16 ..... 4. 1.27
5. 0.94 ..... 5. 1.00
6. 0.76 ..... 6. 0.79
fd 4.100..... fd 3.540

 

Multiply the gear's ratio times the final drive ratio to get the overall ratio, also you can tell which tranny is close ratio simply by looking at the difference between consecutive gears. Also a simple rule of thumb, HONDA trannies are always the most aggresive, this is of course exaggeration but honda has some of the most ridiculously aggressive gearing i have ever noticed. Honda definitely isn't afraid of crazy tranny ratios.

 

Don't forget the size of the wheels, if they're much different from each other.

 

Oh yeah great observation, rolling diameter of the wheels, forgot that. And you'll notice this in the newer hondas with bigger wheels the final drive is higher to accommodate the larger diameter.

 

awesome, thanks guys