New Gears..... Update!
I posted here several weeks ago about swapping out the gears in my 2005 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE RWD with 5.3L. I had recently purchased a 21 foot Gulfstream Ameri-Lite that had a listed dry weight of 321...
Forum Discussion
A few things people have misconceptions about:
#1. Gears give you more power at the wheels.
They don't. In fact, the lower the gear (numerical higher) the LESS power they put to the wheels. They just give you more torque at the wheels but less power. If gears gave you more power you would see 18 wheelers flying up the mountains around here. Instead they crawl up the hills at 20 to 30 MPH, sometimes less.Learn about power explained.
#2. Torque and power are the same.
They are not. Power is time based. Torque is not. Torque is just a twisting effect with no time penalty. Power is how much twisting effect you have and how fast that twisting effect is applied.
#3. Gasoline tuners give you a bunch more power.
They don't. Unless you think 10 to 15 HP is a bunch. The only way to make a bunch more power with a gasoline engine is with a bunch more air flow and tuners don't/can't do that. Sure, you can pick up a handful of power (15 HP) like the OP did by playing with the engines timing. This is the reason supercharging an engine gives you a bunch more power. With gasoline: More air= more HP.
#4. Manufactures leave a bunch of power on the table.
They don't. Well not really. They leave it on the table, but for a reason. An example of this is the Corvette with a 700R4 transmission. When the Vett came out with the 700R4 tranny way back when, the tranny wouldn't live under full power shifts. So GM got tricky and pulled timing (and power) so the tranny would live. This is just one example of a long time ago. There are bunches now days and more all the time. Another example is fuel mileage. Manufactures can get better fuel mileage. The problem is NOX would go sky high. It takes fuel (energy) to run the cat converter. If we didn't care about NOX getting out of hand we could have vehicles that get better mileage. We do, so we don't.
#1. Gears give you more power at the wheels.
They don't. In fact, the lower the gear (numerical higher) the LESS power they put to the wheels. They just give you more torque at the wheels but less power. If gears gave you more power you would see 18 wheelers flying up the mountains around here. Instead they crawl up the hills at 20 to 30 MPH, sometimes less.Learn about power explained.
#2. Torque and power are the same.
They are not. Power is time based. Torque is not. Torque is just a twisting effect with no time penalty. Power is how much twisting effect you have and how fast that twisting effect is applied.
#3. Gasoline tuners give you a bunch more power.
They don't. Unless you think 10 to 15 HP is a bunch. The only way to make a bunch more power with a gasoline engine is with a bunch more air flow and tuners don't/can't do that. Sure, you can pick up a handful of power (15 HP) like the OP did by playing with the engines timing. This is the reason supercharging an engine gives you a bunch more power. With gasoline: More air= more HP.
#4. Manufactures leave a bunch of power on the table.
They don't. Well not really. They leave it on the table, but for a reason. An example of this is the Corvette with a 700R4 transmission. When the Vett came out with the 700R4 tranny way back when, the tranny wouldn't live under full power shifts. So GM got tricky and pulled timing (and power) so the tranny would live. This is just one example of a long time ago. There are bunches now days and more all the time. Another example is fuel mileage. Manufactures can get better fuel mileage. The problem is NOX would go sky high. It takes fuel (energy) to run the cat converter. If we didn't care about NOX getting out of hand we could have vehicles that get better mileage. We do, so we don't.
