4 speed vs 5 speed

[pup2]

Unfortunately, not all gearboxes are created equal, so there's hardly a time when a manufacturer creates both a 4-speed and a 5-speed box wherein the first four gears are the same.

It's simply because the five gear car doesn't have any more power than the four gear car, so a higher overdrive gear isn't required, as 4th gear is already designed as an "optimum" overdrive for that car.

Thus, in common practice, both the four gear and the five gear box have similar overdrive ratios (4th = 5th), with the 5 gear box having closer gears.

On some performance cars, 5th gear isn't even close to the overdrive ratio on the automatic 4-speed version of the car. On most cars, 4th gear or 5th gear is so tall that you'll never hit redline... on my car, top speed is limited by redline in 5th...

The 4-gear Lancer SL is a smaller car, so it can be quicker off the line than the GSR. You need to compare like-to-like cars here.

There's little advantage, nowadays, to building a four-speed box over a five-speed one... just a difference of one gear inside the box. The advantages for building a five-speed box lie in flexibility and fuel economy.

For six speed boxes? That's when you start getting higher and higher overdrives... as giving extra-short ratios at low speeds on a 6-speed MT means the driver has to row like crazy at traffic speeds. That's why 7-speed and 8-speed boxes are mostly automatic. Those extra gears make for more smoothness, but they'd make it a pain to shift it yourself...

Yes dun sa 1st and 4th paragraph. Alam ko mas mataas yung final gear ratio ng konti pag may 5th pero mas maiksi ang range nung sa lower gears. Kaya pag hinataw mo ang acceleration, mauuna mag redline yung sa may 5th.

Don't think my SL's weight was much different from my cousins' kasi I had a lot of junk at the back. At alam ko yung akin headers and exhaust lang mods. Don't know what mods they had pero yung isang cousin ko meron -- I was faster than both of them though.

Sabi nga nila baka daw pina-rebore ko. Sabi ko naman yung driver ko nga lang nagpalagay ng headers at exhaust kasi kinalawang eh. Unless he did it behind my back -- without being paid! hahaha.

[niky]

Perhaps they don't realize... the Lancer GSR (this is the 1998 or so model, right?) weighs about 1050 kgs, whereas the box-type (that's what your SL is, right?) is about 600-700 kgs. Even if you had a lot of junk, your car would still be 200-300 kilos lighter.

Even though you have less power, the lighter weight makes it easier to move from a stop. It's only at higher speeds that the power deficit starts to tell.

We saw this at the support race for the PTCC the other month which featured classic cars from the Manila Sports Car Club... on the ticket were a Datsun 240Z (eventual race winner), a Porsche 911 (one of the older air-cooled 6's), a Porsche Speedster, an Isuzu Bellet GT-R, an Alfa Romeo Giula and a Lotus Eleven.

The Isuzu Bellet is a 1.6 liter engined car. Sure, it was modified, but everything there was running relatively loose exhausts, and I'm pretty sure the 240Z had triple webbers. The old 911 is also a pretty fast car... good for 0-100 km/h in about 7-8 seconds... but the Isuzu, from fourth on the grid, beat both Porsches and the Datsun to the first corner, because its light weight and good traction allowed it to launch much harder.

Another good example... Ghosthunter's car and mine. I have about 15-20 hp more than he does (based on readings from the same dyno), but his car weighs about 200 kgs less. It's faster than mine... unfortunately for me...

[rion]

oh I see, salamat po sa info sir niky.

I don't want to compare a molasses a/t with a m/t. it's just that I was thinking maybe there is a waste in energy in the time you use the clutch pedal, moving the stick and letting go of the accelerator pedal... and a bad timing of using the gears.

[mbeige]

oh I see, salamat po sa info sir niky.

I don't want to compare a molasses a/t with a m/t. it's just that I was thinking maybe there is a waste in energy in the time you use the clutch pedal, moving the stick and letting go of the accelerator pedal... and a bad timing of using the gears.

A short shifter kit is probably what you're looking for and a racing clutch. Then again, masmaalog kasi sobrang kapit nung clutch. My dad has this in his Civic, not for use daily as much as possible kung di ka sanay. But he uses it daily, maybe he's enjoying it now hehe.

[pup2]

Hindi po. They were all late 1980's models. This was the last car I had na binenta ko same price ng acquisition. Ngayon nagsisisi pa ako -- sana nirestore ko na lang. I also feel it was faster at acceleration than my 90's era GTi singkit which was a 1.5 5-speed. Pero top speed po niya is mga 165 lang.

[niky]

You can always buy an old one to restore...

As for why it was faster, then... I don't rightly know. There are so many things that can affect the outcome of a race, really.

[mbeige]

Feeling faster and actually being faster are two hugely different things.

Some cars do not feel fast but they have loads of torque that just push you relentlessly along your way. On the other hand low torque cars make up for it with high horsepower (Hondas come to mind) so they feel fast.