I got my 4.44 gears installed a few days ago. I ordered the gears from Rick's, along with the yellow box that compensates the speedo and the install kit which includes some big bearings, shims, nuts etc. Total price was $1250: $900 for the parts, $350 for the complete installation (including yellow box). Rick's gave very prompt service, the gears came directly from Japan by mail in about 4 days and the other two items came in just a few days in seperate shipments.

So far they feel great, crisper response in all gears, not as much bogging in first. I haven't done a full assault yet because the installer recommended giving the gears 500 miles of break-in. But even at moderate driving I can feel that a full-on blast through the gears is going to be very nice.

The main reason I went with the 4.44 gears was that when I installed my 18" tires I could definitely feel that the car bogged more in all gears. The 18" tires are 2% larger in diameter, which somehow made a big difference in the acceleration of the car. Now with the shorter gears I get all of the responsiveness back of the stock car plus extra "zip", the car simply accelertates more quickly. I've heard that the 0-60 time drops down to just under 5 seconds, but that sounds a little optimistic to me. The freeway RPMs are a little higher than before, 80mph is now around 4,800rpm instead of 4,400. But I didn't buy the car for freeway comfort, time will tell if it is any more unbearable than the stock gears on extended freeway drives.

So far, an enthusiastic "thumbs up"

 

What is the factory ratio?

 

Factory is 4.1 and you can get aftermarket gears from Rick's in 4.3, 4.44 and 4.77.

 

sounds like my next mod!

 

May I ask where you had it installed?

 

I also plan on doing the gears very shortly but I plan on doing 4.77's rather than the 4.44's. I really see no reason every s2k owner should not do the gears as it is the best bang for the buck hands down. As far as my reasons go for doing the 4.77's over the 4.44's well PM me if you really want to know, but 4.77's it feels like a totally different car! 4.44's just help a bit throughout the rpm band and acceleration.

- David

 

to me, i feel like on freeways it'll be too much.

 

The easy way to simulate 4.77 on the freeway is to leave it in 5th gear, that's the same ratio as 6th will be if you go with 4.77. I haven't driven a car with 4.77, I'm sure they're fun but the time I spent on the freeway in 5th gear persuaded me to go with 4.44.

I had them installed locally here in SoCal, former Weseloh Honda mechanic (now at BMW) did the install. You can PM vapors2k for the contact if you need it. Dropped it off in the morning, picked it up after work.

By the way, if anyone was concerned about gear noise, my car sounds just like it did stock. I don't hear any gear noise from the rear diff. We went with Mobil 1 75/90 synthetic gear oil, the mechanic recommends changing the oil after the first 500 miles to be safe.

 

is this a correct statement?
ack, i'm kinda confused here... i thought by changing to 4. 44 or 4. 77 gears,
you kinda want to upshift a bit faster and more often, hence with 4. 77, you almost need like 7 th gear to
cruise comfortably?
obvious i have no idea, someone please educate me...

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by seung
[B]

is this a correct statement?
ack, i'm kinda confused here... i thought by changing to 4. 44 or 4. 77 gears,