Opinion on this venture? A custom 5th gear

[getnpsi]

http://sites.google.com/site/diyoverdrive/

[iceracerdude]

Read the whole link once I found out the guy has the exact same car as me! Was surprised to get to the end of his story and found out about the "fail". Although he didn't say exactly the what or the how of the fail, but I'm left wondering how much the "what" actually co$t him in the end. I appreciate the work he had to do having had my hands in several types of transaxles, but for the average guy my advice would be to spend the time and money on a great set of tall, skinny, Michelins!

[Safety Guy]

For his application (ZX/2), I think his first try (regular Escort 5th gear) was the best. It was very easy and lowered his engine speed by 160 rpms at 70 mph. I bet that mod would last and last, unlike his "engineered" second try. And how many of us get "free machine shop work" like he did?

Since Festivas were about the smallest, lightest car available in the Mazda/Kia/Ford car family, I doubt there is a similar simple & easy 5th gear change for us. Lowering engine speed by around 1 to 2 hundred rpms at over 65 mph sounds nice and would be especially well worth it for those with B6s and B8s.

My B6 accelerates quite nicely in fifth gear on the highway (even uphill), so upping the overdrive a tad would be nice, and not hurt drive-ability at all. Doing the mod without yanking the MTX out would be icing on the mod cake!

Karl

[TominMO]

My B6 accelerates quite nicely in fifth gear on the highway (even uphill), so upping the overdrive a tad would be nice, and not hurt drive-ability at all. Doing the mod without yanking the MTX out would be icing on the mod cake!

Karl

Man, I was missing my turbo the other day. Coming back from a JY, there is a 45 degree hill to go up, on the hwy. The B6 with turbo acted like that hill wasn't even there, with John and me in the car. Without the turbo and alone in the car, I actually had to downshift to 4th to get any acceleration! Oh, the shame! Stock B6 but with 14 degrees of timing (and premium gas), and gutted cat. Very restrictive stock muffler too, which I will probably replace at some point with something more free-flowing.

Turbo is off the car to get rebuilt, but I might leave the car non-turbo and use this turbo for something else.

[iceracerdude]

My K03 actually accelerates going up a hill...the higher it goes in the gear the harder it pulls. I mean climbs to the redline like it doesn't know any better, It's a weird sensation, feeling it chase into the sweet spot when you thought it was already there!?

[Safety Guy]

Tom, when I say my Aqua B6 "accelerates" on the highway in 5th, I'm comparing it with the B3 in Twinstiva, which I think is down by 5 to 10 hp due to something wrong with #2 cylinder. So Twin basically couldn't accelerate more than very slowly on a level highway. I'd have to downshift to go up a modest hill.

In comparison, my B6 car just goes, though not spectacularly. I would have to downshift on a really steep hill, or if I wanted to accelerate quickly.

Since Aqua's a "work car" which I'll use for trailering and pulling other cars, actually the taller 5th gear would not be in order. But when I build my "dream car" out of Twin, with that B8, a taller 5th gear would be nice and economical for longer trips.

Karl