I don't know bout you guys, but i think our 1st gear is too tall for the power of this car. My old talon came with 210 stock and had a shorter 1st gear than the svtf. We could have much better accl down low and better 0-60 time if our 1st gear went up to something like 30-35 intead of 40. What do you guys think?
Tall 1st gear
focusedintentions
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I don't know bout you guys, but i think our 1st gear is too tall for the power of this car. My old talon came with 210 stock and had a shorter 1st gear than the svtf. We could have much better accl down low and better 0-60 time if our 1st gear went up to something like 30-35 intead of 40. What do you guys think?
I'm sort of half-and-half on this one.
Whenever I want to get off the line quickly, the tall gearing really irks me. I need to slip the clutch quite a bit, with more throttle than I feel comfortable using, in order to get just barely adequate acceleration. The power comes on at higher revs, sure, but getting up there is an exercise in patience.
OTOH, for driving around town, 1st gear is fine. There's enough torque to keep up with most traffic, and I don't shift at high enough rpm to really get annoyed at staying in 1st for too long.
Whenever I want to get off the line quickly, the tall gearing really irks me. I need to slip the clutch quite a bit, with more throttle than I feel comfortable using, in order to get just barely adequate acceleration. The power comes on at higher revs, sure, but getting up there is an exercise in patience.
OTOH, for driving around town, 1st gear is fine. There's enough torque to keep up with most traffic, and I don't shift at high enough rpm to really get annoyed at staying in 1st for too long.
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1st goes up to 40 (or just before it)
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its too tall for to be great for drag racing, but great for auto x.....on teh highway though [thumb]
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Just tried it today,
1st gear - 39 mph
2nd - 65 mph
3rd - 90 mph
4th - 110 mph
all gear changes @ 7000 rpm...
and NO , I didn't get to find 5th...... Dumb cops sitting on the side of the road talking...... but I did have it in 5th last Fri doing [nono] mph before slowing for traffic, didn't notice the rpm's at the time.
L8R
1st gear - 39 mph
2nd - 65 mph
3rd - 90 mph
4th - 110 mph
all gear changes @ 7000 rpm...
and NO , I didn't get to find 5th...... Dumb cops sitting on the side of the road talking...... but I did have it in 5th last Fri doing [nono] mph before slowing for traffic, didn't notice the rpm's at the time.
L8R
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Yeah there are hella cops...my best recomendation for ya Svt4life is take the 234 bypass out to 66 drive out to route 15 and get back on 66 there. There is a good stretch of straight highway to do a high speed run at like 2 am. I did [nono]on my bike there and [nono] in my old talon.
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Also, i was thinking, our 1st gear would be great if our car had over 200 hp and some torque down low. I used to wish my talon had a taller 1st, but then again, with over 250hp, a first gear that only goes to 30mph and AWD, even our first gear would have gone by really quick.
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The Getrag transmission wasn't designed specifically for this SVT Focus, but I beleive the Ford designers chose it for a multitude of reason. One of which was probably it's ability to perform well in a track racing and street use aspect, as well as good fuel mileage. This car was not designed as a straight-line racer, as evident by it's less-than impressive 1/4 mile times.Beantown Focus said:
Once the boost comes on in my Eclipse, first gear is gone too quick, but I can still use 2nd to roll stops signs and for driving around parking lots. Second bogs the engine in the SVT if I try to do the same.
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Hey Shadrach, dunno if you have looked them up, but there is a company called team rip that builds tranny's for talon/clipses awd that has a 40mph 1st gear. A fully built tranny by them is like 3 grand, almost bought one to put it in my old car....
On the side note, The reason i don't like our 1st is b/c anytime i need to pull off aggressively to get into traffic, i need to slip the clutch alot..so blah on that note!
On the side note, The reason i don't like our 1st is b/c anytime i need to pull off aggressively to get into traffic, i need to slip the clutch alot..so blah on that note!
In a month of owning this car, my ONLY complaint is the tall 1st gear. And with the A/C on it's absolutely an exercise in frustatration launching this car. I agree with others, you do have to feather the clutch more than is necesssary and I have to imagine that will lead to premature clutch wear. I came close to stalling several times the first week of ownership because of this. Now I have learned to rev the engine to at least 3K rpms before letting the clutch out. Also, 1st and 2nd gear are so tall in this car I've had to downshift into 1st gear if I'm going slower than 15 mph in 2nd. I have never had to downshit into 1st before in a car. My old RSX S could be driven at 5 mph in 2nd gear if necessary with no problem. Try that in the SVT and it will probably stall.
I am happy to report the other things I was worried about, like the wide turning radius and the gas milage have been non issues. At 168 inches, this car is so short that it's still very easy to manuever even with the 39 ft turning radius, and I have been getting much better gas milage than I expected. And even with the tall 1st and 2nd gearing, this Gertrag transmission is awesome. I'm SO happy not to be dealing with the constant 2nd and 3rd gear grinding issues I had on my Type S.
I am happy to report the other things I was worried about, like the wide turning radius and the gas milage have been non issues. At 168 inches, this car is so short that it's still very easy to manuever even with the 39 ft turning radius, and I have been getting much better gas milage than I expected. And even with the tall 1st and 2nd gearing, this Gertrag transmission is awesome. I'm SO happy not to be dealing with the constant 2nd and 3rd gear grinding issues I had on my Type S.
Ok when shifting a 7200rpms 1st 45, 2nd 60, 3rd 90, 4 i wasnt paying attention....and to tell u that truth i think that the high revving and he mph in the 1st gear saves me in alot of my races b/c when we go to 7000-7200 then shifing every 1 else has already shifted to 2nd gear and we are still pulling in our 1st...juss my thoughts...[thumb]
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