[DeTomaso] 3.2 gears and clutch life?

Charles McCall charlesmccall at gmail.com
Mon Nov 12 02:22:17 EST 2007


This has a very easy way to determine if 3.2 gears will work in your car. 

Start in 3rd gear and see if you like it. The effect will be similar to
starting in 1st with a set of 3.2 gears. If you can do it with minimal
clutch slippage then you're probably fine.  

-----Mensaje original-----
De: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] En
nombre de Ken Green
Enviado el: Monday, 12 November, 2007 12:10 AM
Para: MikeLDrew at aol.com; detomaso at realbig.com
Asunto: Re: [DeTomaso] 3.2 gears and clutch life?

Mike,
   
      I have a vey strong suspecision that the new Vettes have a 6th gear
higher then the Pantera 5th with 3.20 R&P, which works just fine with EFI.
I just don't think you can compare 40 year old technology (Holley & big cam)
with a modern EFI motor.  It may be possible that Johnny's motor can't run
under 2000 RPM, but that's not true for modern engines.
   
  Ken
   
   
  

MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote:
  
In a message dated 11/10/07 10:36:15 AM, kenn_green at yahoo.com writes:


      I've been told that Larry Stock tried 3,2 gears and ended up cooking
clutches.  I'm wondering if that was with a big Holley and a big cam so the
engine had to be revved to higher RPM from a standing start?

>>>His motor was a torque-monster Aussie 351C, with gobs of bottom-end.  The
gears were ridiculously tall, and I personally saw his clutch come flying
out of the car on a steep, 10 mph uphill hairpin turn driving around Lake
Tahoe (Darryl Johnson had borrowed the car and wasn't very adept at
manipulating a clutch).  When Larry took the car apart the entire flywheel
was bright blue from the heat!
    
    >  With EFI and a mild cam (low overlap for turbos), would I have the
same problem?  The engine should run much smoother and much better at a lot
lower RPM.  I know I can get a higher 5th gear, but I like the spacing of
the stock gears.

>>>The 3.20 gearset is completely and totally useless for the street.  Lloyd
Butfoy built a ZF for a friend in the UK (whose GT5 has 24-inch short tires)
and sent it to him with the 3.20 by mistake, instead of the proper 3.77.
The car has a 550 hp/550 ft/lb aluminum Windsor, but it's totally miserable
to drive.  He cruises on the freeway in 3rd gear, because 4th and 5th are
too tall, effectively turning his car into a three-speed. Even with all that
torque, most any other car can kick his ass at the stoplights, unless he
just abuses it like crazy.  I saw him run the car in a dragstrip setting,
and he went through the traps in 2nd gear.  How dumb is that???

With standard-sized tires (i.e. 315 or 335/35-17), the problem would just be
worse.

BTW I just shipped him a 3.77 ring and pinion yesterday; Johnny Woods will
be re-rebuilding his gearbox this winter.  Lloyd was gentlemanly enough to
acknowledge his error and provided the ring and pinion (which is about a
$2500-3000 affair) for free.

Mike



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