Question about gearing
 

Does anybody know if its possible to swap out our 1st and 5th gear for a slightly (nothing huge) wider range? Or is this one of those things where we would need to have a COMPLETE tranny custom built?

Basicly, all I'm looking at is making 1st a little more usuable and giving 5th a little more length. I just feel that 5th is too close to 4th.

It's probably possible, but prohibitively expensive. It would probably be easier and less expensive to swap out the final drive gear, especially if you can do that while installing an LSD (since you'd already have the trans out and apart). Mitsu has, in the past, made their final drives swappable on a few other trans models, so there's a chance they did the same with the RA.

Unfortunately, It'll take either a shop to step up and crack open an RA trans to see what's inside, or an individual that has money to burn. If I had an extra $500 laying around, I could pick up a used trans, but I don't.

final from a thechnica fits in our set...

Interesting, but we don't have the Technica here, and I have no idea what the US equivalent would be, if there is any. :lol:

the.. mirage

mirage = technica

Ah....ok. So, if the FD from the mirrage was swapped into the RA then what would the NEW FD be and how would this effect the top end?

well the few guys that have done it here have seen a gain on top end and not just the final but all the gears

You would see a difference in all the gears. Power goes through the 1-5 (or R) gear, then the final drive, before it gets out to the wheels. Change the 5th gear gearset, and you only affect 5th gear. Change the final drive, you affect all the gears.

Pretty much what ^ he said.

Ok...thats SORTA what I thought.

I had only originally mentioned swapping out 5th only JUST because its too close to 4th. I figured we'd be able to get a better top speed that way (providing your making enough power with everything else).

Either way. I say RRM investigates that Mirrage FD.

There are better tranny shops out there that I would rather have working on this. Team Rip, for example, or Shep Racing. Either of them can build a practically bomb-proof tranny for a DSM, and Team Rip does them for Evos, too.

I've wondered what the top speed of the ralliart art is, I imagine somewhere just under 145 but thats shooting high. I've had it up to about 130 @ 6k(off the top of my head). With adding a turbo would't a person want to change the gearing while they are doing all the engine work, unless you like the short gear ratio of course.

I did the math on it once, and at the rev limit in 5th gear with stock size tires came out to something like 145.

I was close :D

I agree about 4th being way too close to 5th... it's annoying for those of us who don't care for agressive freeway driving and want to drive aggressively on the streets and go for mileage on the highway. And I thought it has long-since been decided that the RA is drag-limited at 132mph or so? Or are you talking about after swapping out the final gear?