What exactly will a higher final drive do over the stock final? Does it keep ur RPM up more so that you stay in your high end powerband, improving accleration. So a lower final would drop the RPM more between shifts which would be better for say turbo. Thanks for the help!!!!

 

Yup.

Basically, it makes the wheels spin faster in each gear.
I.E. a civic hx has a very tall final drive and can reach 70 mph @ redline in 2nd gear while a civic ex in 2nd gear @ redline is only going around 60ish.

 

Higher final (shorter final gear) can make better lap times.
i.e. ITR...

From 'Best Motoring'.. they showed straight line performance comparisons with the first gen TypeR vs. the newer version TypeR with 4.785 final. Both yielded the same 400m (1/4mile) time of 15.01something seconds. The one with the 4.785 final drive wins on the first 3 gears (off-the-line acceleration). The one with the 4.4 final caught up at the end. If the race was to a longer distance, the one with the 4.4 final would be in front ..not really gaining distance ahead of the 4.785, but it would be the last one to run out of gearing.

The first TypeR's had a 4.400 final drive. Honda switched to a 4.785 for the newer versions to yield better overall lap times on their twisty courses. With the old 4.4 final, they would exit from a turn and would be below torque band. sometimes have the urge to downshift in order to get accelerating. Most of the time with 4.4 final, they were still in vtec. But, even though VTEC activation pt. on the TypeR was @ 5900rpm, peak torque is around 6200-6300. Thats the point where they wanted to be most of the time ..after finishing the turn. The 4.785 final brought it in that band. It is what made lap times better.

For better 1/4mile ET, a shorter final (higher value is shorter) will be benificial if your engine is tuned to the rpm band where the gears drop. Try not to get too short of a gear. In other words.. dont fall short of torque.