Ive heard a lot about the ATS and JDM FD's, but from what I understand that will kill the top speed of the car. Granted, I dont usually go 150mph that often, but it has been done and will be done again. Flame all you want but I like to have that as an option. What are some other choices I can go with as far as gearing goes, besides the FD? Someone mentioned to me one time about changing out 1st thru 3rd gears(with what, I dont know), and keeping 4th and 5th for normal highway driving. I like the sound of that, improving my accelleration in the first few gears, and still having my taller gears and keeping a higher top speed. Is it possible to just change out each individual gear and if so what would you recommend going with?

 

Well in my opinion the ITR gearing is already damn near optimal and contributes greatly to the car's amazing use of 195 bhp and its over all proformance. So im not sure why anyone would want to spend money altering a gearbox and playing with ratios that are basically prefectaly suited for the car

 

The USDM gearing is not at all optimal. Do a search for 'final drive' or ATS to see lots of discussions on this point. Many agree that changing the final drive is one of the best modififcations that can be made to USDM Rs.

 

I reach the same indicated speed with my ATS fd as I did when I was stock. Although now I'm limited by gearing and not wind resitance

 

I just put a jdm itr tranny into my civic hybrid, it runs only about 500rpm higher than it used to (with gsr tranny) at highway speeds. Just about every major j apanese tuner uses the ATS 4.9 FD gear, so thats gotta say something.
Furthermore, with the 4.785 you should still be able to go 150 if you must
-steve