# Lets talk 5spd VS. 6spd.... **URL:** \ **Category:** NYSpeed Automotive\ **Created:** [May 6, 2008, 8:15am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976 "2008-05-06T08:15:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pass\_McGass](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/pass_mcgass/32/7616_2.png) [@Pass\_McGass](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Pass_McGass)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:21am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/21 "2008-05-06T11:21:15Z")
Even if your 6 speed of choice has super short gearing, you can always skip gears if you don’t feel like shifting every 2 seconds. I haven’t used 3rd gear in my car in a loooooong time. I usually shift 1-2, 2-4, 4-6. 6 speed can has awesome. ---
**Author:** ![focusinprogress](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/focusinprogress/32/7227_2.png) [@focusinprogress](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/focusinprogress)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/22 "2008-05-06T11:23:28Z")
yeah, I guess the problem is I dont really know what the gear ratio’s mean, and was looking for similar situations for other cars and try to figure out what is a better option for say 300-400 whp to be driven a couple days a week, see some twisties and track time, as well as highway pulls. I am trying to build a well rounded car. ---
**Author:** ![66impalass](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/66impalass/32/7429_2.png) [@66impalass](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/66impalass)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/23 "2008-05-06T11:28:58Z")
this spread sheet will help figure things out, and honestly this is what I use when I was trying to decided on my diff. Fuck, I can’t load up an .xls spread shit, some one can pm me there e-mail if they want it ---
**Author:** ![ILCisDEAD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a87d85/32.png) [@ILCisDEAD](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ILCisDEAD)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:36am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/24 "2008-05-06T11:36:02Z")
do you have the 4.11 in the car? I personally don’t like that 4th gear goes to 150mph ---
**Author:** ![66impalass](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/66impalass/32/7429_2.png) [@66impalass](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/66impalass)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/25 "2008-05-06T11:38:34Z")
> [@ILCisDEAD](#): > > do you have the 4.10 in the car? > > I personally don’t like that 4th gear goes to 150mph yes, I wish I would have went with 3.91’s instead, my gas mileage sucks but it the pick up is significantly better, but I loose tractions in 1st with 275’s. Its a trade off. [http://www.diffsonline.com/product/gearsets.shtml](http://www.diffsonline.com/product/gearsets.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![focusinprogress](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/focusinprogress/32/7227_2.png) [@focusinprogress](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/focusinprogress)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:40am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/26 "2008-05-06T11:40:52Z")
no, I have a regular zx3 with the 3.82 in it. 4th goes to about 115-120ish, and then 5th is a waste EDIT: my bad, wasnt directed at me. ---
**Author:** ![Nikuk](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/nikuk/32/7254_2.png) [@Nikuk](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Nikuk)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/27 "2008-05-06T11:47:32Z")
> [@focusinprogress](#): > > no, I have a regular zx3 with the 3.82 in it. 4th goes to about 115-120ish, and then 5th is a waste > > EDIT: my bad, wasnt directed at me. Which brings up a good point… do you expect to trap higher then 120? Or are you looking for more usable gear for zee highway? You know, changing tire size is alot cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![ILCisDEAD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a87d85/32.png) [@ILCisDEAD](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ILCisDEAD)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/28 "2008-05-06T11:49:33Z")
> [@focusinprogress](#): > > yeah, I guess the problem is I dont really know what the gear ratio’s mean, and was looking for similar situations for other cars and try to figure out what is a better option for say 300-400 whp to be driven a couple days a week, see some twisties and track time, as well as highway pulls. I am trying to build a well rounded car. I’m sure you;ve done the some highway pulls already. find out what speeds you would like to be shifting at … and uyse that Fbod link above to see what diff you would like to use… 6spd just seems like an over priced. For example… 40 pull (for me) - 140ish - might be inaccurate since i’m not sure of the exact wheel size right now… I think 4th will take me to 150, instead of what the calculator above told me. 2nd gear start (stock, 3.62) 40 @ 4800 to 67 @ 8000 - Shift to 3rd 65 @ 5100 to 101 @ 8000 - Shift to 4th 99 @ 5800 to 137 @ 8000 2nd gear start (4.11) 40 @ 5500 to 59 @ 8000 - Shift to 3rd 58 @ 5200 to 89 @ 8000 - Shift to 4th 88 @ 5800 to 121 @ 8000 - Shift to 5th 119 @ 6400 to 140 @ 7500 I dabble in 5th. I think this might be something you want to do, and see if 5th gear is that much of a determining factor that its too overdrivish… I personally don’t think you would need to dick around with a 6th gear, since a new tranny (idk if you can just swap in a new gear set, seems doubtful) would be way more expensive than a diff ---
**Author:** ![ILCisDEAD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a87d85/32.png) [@ILCisDEAD](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ILCisDEAD)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:53am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/29 "2008-05-06T11:53:07Z")
> [@66impalass](#): > > yes, I wish I would have went with 3.91’s instead, my gas mileage sucks but it the pick up is significantly better, but I loose tractions in 1st with 275’s. Its a trade off. > > [http://www.diffsonline.com/product/gearsets.shtml](http://www.diffsonline.com/product/gearsets.shtml) Tits! I’m not too concerned with the gas mileage at all… I just want something that can give me a little more advantage from 40 up. the 3.92 seems to be a better fit though… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Nikuk](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/nikuk/32/7254_2.png) [@Nikuk](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Nikuk)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:55am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/30 "2008-05-06T11:55:06Z")
The big question I would have about 5th in a fuckus is wether or not it can handle high load and powershifting… ---
**Author:** ![focusinprogress](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/focusinprogress/32/7227_2.png) [@focusinprogress](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/focusinprogress)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 12:07pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/31 "2008-05-06T12:07:48Z")
> [@Nikuk](#): > > Which brings up a good point… do you expect to trap higher then 120? > > Or are you looking for more usable gear for zee highway? > > You know, changing tire size is alot cheaper. im looking for more usable gear on zee highway… using the calculator, if I shift at 6500 rpms for every gear on the 5 spd with stock 3.82 final drive, Im at 34mph in 1st, 58 in 2nd, 86 in 3rd, 121 in 4th, and 162 in fifth. for the 4.06 final drive, im at 32, 55, 81, 114, 152 for the 6spd 37, 62, 84, 104, 124, 153 [a forum member with his SVT ran 6th to redline at 170mph on a dyno] so, I feel like the 6spd would be better because then 5th gear and 6th gear will both pull fairly well compared to only having the 5th gear to cover the same chunk of mph and being a total dog of a gear, with the 4.06 only marginally helping me on the 5spd while lowering my overall top speed -am I understanding that properly? ---
**Author:** ![ILCisDEAD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a87d85/32.png) [@ILCisDEAD](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ILCisDEAD)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/32 "2008-05-06T12:33:05Z")
well yea… thats the whole point is to lower the top speed so you can almost have like a 2.5 gear instead of a 3rd gear… And it wouldn’t just marginally help you on JUST 5th… it will help the whole way up ---
**Author:** ![Nikuk](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/nikuk/32/7254_2.png) [@Nikuk](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Nikuk)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/33 "2008-05-06T12:36:00Z")
Nick you need to worry about where in the powerband this gearin gwill put you, not so much about the top speed. $0.02 ---
**Author:** ![focusinprogress](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/focusinprogress/32/7227_2.png) [@focusinprogress](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/focusinprogress)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/34 "2008-05-06T13:51:46Z")
^ yeah, not a whole lot of people have made a switch. I guess they say they 4.06 is for 1/4 mile queens on the forums, and there hasnt been much said on the 6spd swap pro’s ---
**Author:** ![BrockwayMT](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/brockwaymt/32/5060_2.png) [@BrockwayMT](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/BrockwayMT)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:03am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/35 "2008-09-06T08:03:07Z")
Remember that with a three shaft trans you have three shafts instead of two (duh). This means that you have two gears meshed with the diff carrier instead of one. It also means that you have two extra bearings in the trans. At a given speed the 3-4 countershaft will be spinning quite fast by virtue of the 4.25 final drive. Thus, all things being equal, your parasitic loss will be higher in the three shaft trans. ---
**Author:** ![IanK](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/iank/32/5016_2.png) [@IanK](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/IanK)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976/36 "2008-09-06T20:53:18Z")
> [@ILCisDEAD](#): > > Tits! I’m not too concerned with the gas mileage at all :pimp: LOL [Previous page](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/lets-talk-5spd-vs-6spd/47976.md?page=1)