have a 2000 v6 mustang, and when i was on the freeway, i took it to 118 mph,(regulated top speed) anyway i am almost posative that i was still in third gear at a little over 5,000 RPM's. i was wondering if im right, and if so whats with fourth gear that i cant get to?
also if i took the govenor off my car what would be the top speed, and would i hit fourth?
thanks for your help. its a 4spd auto

 

In a auto 4th gear is overdrive. It will do nothing. If 118 is what you got thats probally all your gonna get.

 

And by the way, you were not in 3rd gear, you were in 4th overdrive.

 

don't know about the newer model trannys, but the older AOD ones will not shift into overdrive at WOT, so if you are pretty sure you were in 3rd gear, you probably were. you need to briefly lift a bit on the throttle to get it to shift into overdrive and then you can go back to WOT and really see what the true top end speed is.
by the way there blueangel, overdrive will allow you to get to a higher top end speed since it lets the engine run at a lower speed so you get the chance to pull it up to max rpm again once you get it to shift into overdrive. if he was really in 3rd gear not OD, he should get a higher top speed than 116 before he hits the engine limiter again. if it was already in OD, then 116 is the best he will get.

 

If he wasnt in overdrive then he would have been in 4th gear before he got switched into overdrive? 3rd gear on a manual car cant go 118 mph, the cobra only goes 115 in 3rd(i looked it up) so I highly highly doubt he was in 3rd gear.

 

JBA got a 89 LX to go 178mph. I think with lot of work, maybe tou could do the same.

 

in an auto with only 4 forward gears, third gear is 1:1 and 4th gear is overdrive at about 0.68:1 or so, not exactly sure of true ratio. if he floored it and kept it there doing a speed run, it never could shift from 3rd into 4th unless he lifted like I already said, so I think he was in 3rd gear (1:1), where he could have gotten 118 mph.

 

Guys...were're talking about a V-6 here...not a 5.0 or 4.6
It's a 190hp 3.8 so 116-118mph is about all you're gonna get from a N/A 190hp V-6.
Aerodynamics play a large role in top speed potential also. The mustangs don't exactly have the best coefficient of drag.