Where can I get some good information on understanding transmission ratios and what they mean? I'm confused at what the numbers mean. For instance,
3.30:1 1st
1.94:1 2nd
1.31:1 3rd

I wanna know about what the number to one means and what effect it will have to change it to a higher or lower number, etc...

Thanks

 

bump for a good question.
Itching to learn even more and dive deeper into the car-geek ridden paradise we call Honda-Tech

 

If you have a PS2 just get Gran Turismo3 and that will probably teach you alot about gears and other stuff as well.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sivik2nr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">3.30:1 1st
1.94:1 2nd
1.31:1 3rd
</TD></TR></TABLE>

great site http://auto.howstuffworks.com/gear1.htm
but basically when a small gear turns a larger gear, you have a gear reduction, which will produce an increase in torque, but essentially have a low top speed (lower gears 1st, 2nd)
when a larger gear turns a smaller gear, its essentially 'overdrive' (5th gear) low torque output, but higher top speed achievable
when the same sized gears turn each other its direct drive (4th gear or really close)

using your case in point 1st gear = 3.30:1 which is a gear reduction, the drive gear turns 3.3 times to make the driven gear turn 1 time = torque multiplication but low theoretical speed
altering gear ratios will change torque output and theoretical speeds, altering final drive ratio will usually result in 'faster' ratios (more torque) but lower achievable speeds
well, maybe someone can do a better job than me shedding light on this topic

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SlicedBread &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well, maybe someone can do a better job than me shedding light on this topic</TD></TR></TABLE>

actually that helped a lot. You were saying something about changing your final drive... is that like changing the driven gear? ( the one that gets turned by all 4 - 6 gears of the transmission [4-6 depending on what car/ trannie you have] )

 

The final drive effects every ratio by a constant number. For example:
1st gear is 3.1-1 and final drive is 4.4-1..your actual low gear ratio is 13.64-1
3.1 x 4.4 = 13.64
If you left the individual gears the same but changed the final drive to 4.20, your new 1st gear ratio would be:
3.1x 4.2=13.02 or 13.02-1
Changing the final drive effects the ratio of every gear (even reverse)