Shouldn't you have asked those questions before buying it??? That's a lot of money to spend w/o knowing what difference it will make!

 

Are 4.57 gears ok for an AP2? And also what do you guys think about J's or anyother LSD (1.5)?

 

I'll let you know how the gears are in an AP2. I'll be making some vids for youtube soon (my gear install in this saturday...4.57 in a stock AP2).

 

Ok can someone post the average times like 0-60 or

 

I drove a car with 4.77s and a whole host of goodies like light wheels, HP producing exhaust/headers (supposedly) around CMP and I could only equal the lap times I did in my stock except for Motons/mugen exhaust and comptech front sway bar car.

To say that 4.77s are faster is misleading and it's odd that this is hardly discussed here. On this track and I would wager on any auto-x course the car with a shorter gear will be at a disadvantage. Shorter gears mean more shifting. More shifting is less time accelerating. This adds up.

But, you will notice increased accelleration (and shifting) as you drive to the next stop light.

Have fun.

 

I don't think shorter gears are a disadvantage on many tracks. Maybe the 4.77's are extreme, but with a 4.57 or 4.44 I don't know if you can say absolutely that it has a disadvantage against stock (and I won't be so bold as to say it provides an advantage either).

I will say that the accelleration is obviously much better with the shorter final gear. Watching videos online, it is obvious that the accelleration shows a big improvement.

Your personal experience is not really an indicator of anything. Maybe the suspension was poorly set up on the guys car you drove with the 4.77's. Maybe he his brakes were cooked, his tires overheated (or cold), etc etc. Lots of variables involved when you compare two completely different cars like that, then try to attribute the difference to 1 of the many differences between the two cars.

Anyway, my video will show the cluster from a 5mph roll to top of 3rd or into 4th. I will do this stock and then stock with 4.57s on my AP2. Then I will edit the video so that the clusters are side by side, and both start at the same time. This will clearly show the difference in accelleration.

It'll probably take me a month to get the video done. I have to shoot the stock video friday, install the gears sunday, break it in for a week or two, then shoot the final video, then edit it all together.

 

No, he has a point even if the comparison isn't a double-blind scientific test. Gearing is highly track dependent (road course), but in general I think 4.77s lead to too much shifting, especially in tight tracks or auto-x.

Besides that, driving on the highway going 75 almost at VTEC would drive me nuts.

 

Actually, if you read his post, his argument was based on lap times, not his impression that it was actually the gearing that was the problem.

Here's his simplified argument:

1. I drove a super fixed up car with 4.77 gears around the track.
2. I drove my car, which is much less fixed up and has stock gears around the track.
3. The lap times were similar, so the 4.77 gears must be a disadvantage.

That doesn't make sense, which is what I was pointing out. If, for #3, he had said, "When I drove the super fixed up car with 4.77 gears, I felt that the gearing was wrong for the track, and led the car to be slower than if it would have had stock gearing." - then the argument would make sense.

The way he argued it, it doesn't make sense. Like I said, the similar lap times could've been a result of anything.

 

Serious motorcycle racers bring a variety of gears to suit various tracks. What's optimal for one track may not work near as well as another.

Gears def. have a higher fun factor, b/c they shove you a little harder in the back of the seat and subjectively feel faster since you're going through the gears quicker. Offset against that is the additional time you're losing w/ more shifts.

A few years ago I experimented w/ shorter gearing on my Honda CRF250R. It's engine had similar characteristics to the S2000's: revvy, w/ not much torque. I figured the gearing was a slam dunk improvement. Took it off after one race, b/c I lost intra-gear flexibility and banged through them too quick.

That said, I've driven an S2k w/ 4.57's, and liked it. Not sure if I'll make that mod myself, but it's under consideration. I wouldn't go w/ 4.77's, though, as that would be a bit too much IMO.