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Re: Overdrive and rear-end ratios, General and TR4

To: gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (W. Ray Gibbons)
Subject: Re: Overdrive and rear-end ratios, General and TR4
From: phile@stpaul.gov (Philip J Ethier)
Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 13:18:10 -0500 (CDT)
W. Ray Gibbons writes in response to Mr. Mike Passaretti >

> I don't think so, Mike.  If you know the tire rolling radius, you can
> figure how far it travels in one rear axle revolution (C=2*Pi*r).  If you

BFG's testing seems to conform the "flat spot" theory, yielding
Revolutions/mile numbers about 3% higher and therefore mph/1000rpm numbers
about 3% lower than the pure math would imply.

I can supply simple instructions to build a spreadsheet in your favorite
spreadsheet program to use the BFG formulae to figure any gear ratios and
tire size.  I will Email the text to anyone who requests it.

If a TR4 had 175-70-15 tires, they would turn 843.96 rev/mile.  (What size
tires do you really have, Mike?)

With a rear-axle ratio of 3.7 and a straight-through top gear, it would
yield 19.82 mph/1000rpm.  Therefore, a redline of 6000 would be a top
speed of 118.95 mph.  

Changing to a 4.1 rear axle would change those numbers to 17.89
mph/1000rpm and 107.34 mph.

> know the rear axle ratio and the 4th gear ratio or OD ratio, you can get
> at miles/1000 engine revolutions.  But your math has to have come adrift
> somewhere, because 16 miles/krev is extremely high.  Look at it this way,
> as you drive down the road at 3000 rpm, you would be going 48
> miles/minute.  Not likely.

Look at this again, Ray. The usual way of stating this is

miles PER HOUR / thousand revolutions PER MINUTE

So what Mike really meant was 16 mph/1000rpm.  (This is a typical number
for a Spridget, not for the size tires I would expect on a TR4)   At 3000
rpm, the road speed would be 48 mph.

> Then too, your numbers go the wrong way.  Changing from a 3.7 to 4.1 axle
> ratio will decrease the number of miles per 1000 revs.

True.

Phil Ethier, THE RIGHT LINE, 672 Orleans St, Saint Paul, MN  55107-2676  USA
h (612) 224-3105  w (612) 266-6244    phile@stpaul.gov
"These are the questions that kept me out of the really good schools"
- George Carlin


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