Some questions I have
06-29-2006, 06:20 PM
#1
1st Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location:
Posts: 128
Some questions I have
I have no idea about any of these things.
1. WHat are headers and what do they do? Why is it good to replace the stock ones?
2. What are heads?
3. How do gears work as far as getting 3.10s or whatever. WHat are the stock gears?
Ok that is it. Its really confusing for me this stuff is!
1. WHat are headers and what do they do? Why is it good to replace the stock ones?
2. What are heads?
3. How do gears work as far as getting 3.10s or whatever. WHat are the stock gears?
Ok that is it. Its really confusing for me this stuff is!
06-29-2006, 06:32 PM
#2
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 204
RE: Some questions I have
Headers are sets of tubes that feed exhaust from each cylinder into the exhaust pipes. Horsepower gains for our v6 with headers alone are small. but they're still pretty cool!! people change to headers for increaseed exhaust flow, but again... the stock ones on our engine are well designed and adding headers to say, a dual exhaust setup won't add much hp... maybe some volume to the exhaust note!
Heads are basically the "covers" for the cylinders on your engine. the combustion takes place inside the cylinder, below the cylinder heads.
Gears...
The engine feeds its rotational power through the transmission and into the driveshaft. The driveshaft connects to the pinion gear in your rear differential. The pinion gear drives the ring gear sending power to your wheels. Gear sets are numbered with ratios... a 3.73 gear set means that the ratio of turns from the pinion gear to the ring gear is 3.73 to 1. A "shorter" gearset has a higher number. (ex 4.10 is shorter than 3.73) Shorter gears will increase the number of rpms of the driveshaft required to produce a certain rotational speed of the wheels.
example. in 5th gear at 60 mph... 4.10 gears will have your engine running at a higher rpm than 3.73 gears. Both 3.73 and 4.10 (the most common ratios available for the 7.5 inch Ford rear dif) are shorter than stock, which I think is around 3.5. The different gear ratios basically serve the purpose of getting you into your engine's powerband faster.
Heads are basically the "covers" for the cylinders on your engine. the combustion takes place inside the cylinder, below the cylinder heads.
Gears...
The engine feeds its rotational power through the transmission and into the driveshaft. The driveshaft connects to the pinion gear in your rear differential. The pinion gear drives the ring gear sending power to your wheels. Gear sets are numbered with ratios... a 3.73 gear set means that the ratio of turns from the pinion gear to the ring gear is 3.73 to 1. A "shorter" gearset has a higher number. (ex 4.10 is shorter than 3.73) Shorter gears will increase the number of rpms of the driveshaft required to produce a certain rotational speed of the wheels.
example. in 5th gear at 60 mph... 4.10 gears will have your engine running at a higher rpm than 3.73 gears. Both 3.73 and 4.10 (the most common ratios available for the 7.5 inch Ford rear dif) are shorter than stock, which I think is around 3.5. The different gear ratios basically serve the purpose of getting you into your engine's powerband faster.
06-29-2006, 06:38 PM
#3
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: san diego
Posts: 801
RE: Some questions I have
headers are what take the air out of the engine (we have two on each side) our stock headers are called "manifolds"
and the piping is smaller meaning less air can come out or the longer it will take . by upgrading your manifold with headers more air come out in a free flow. resulting in more hp and tq.
gears:
when you hear the car shift its going into a new gear a taller one. or maybe a shorter one when downshifting. In first gear our gearing lets us go about 45 mph in second 65 or something its just like a bigger pulley the bigger the pulley the slower the engine rotates. and if the engine can only rotate so fast thats why you need to shift so you can go faster. bassically the lower the gear ratio 3.73 or 4.10s the faster you will exelerate higher the slower 3.30 like our stock 05-06 autos so by upgrading to 4.10s we will be faster but shift ewarlier and have a lower top speed.
hope that helped you at all. later somebody will give you a link that wll explain it alot better than me.-jim
and the piping is smaller meaning less air can come out or the longer it will take . by upgrading your manifold with headers more air come out in a free flow. resulting in more hp and tq.
gears:
when you hear the car shift its going into a new gear a taller one. or maybe a shorter one when downshifting. In first gear our gearing lets us go about 45 mph in second 65 or something its just like a bigger pulley the bigger the pulley the slower the engine rotates. and if the engine can only rotate so fast thats why you need to shift so you can go faster. bassically the lower the gear ratio 3.73 or 4.10s the faster you will exelerate higher the slower 3.30 like our stock 05-06 autos so by upgrading to 4.10s we will be faster but shift ewarlier and have a lower top speed.
hope that helped you at all. later somebody will give you a link that wll explain it alot better than me.-jim
06-29-2006, 06:41 PM
#5
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Langley, BC Canada
Posts: 537
RE: Some questions I have
Very interesting about the gears, thank you. I was wondering if gears are something I would get any benefit from. I don't race, but I like having acceleration available when needed.
Basically, I seldom get my car into 5th. Pretty sad, but I rarely go above 75mph because of traffic. Would 3.73's give me better acceleration? I'm thinking if I had shorter gears, I'd use 5th gear more often which might even give me better mileage (???).
Ken
Basically, I seldom get my car into 5th. Pretty sad, but I rarely go above 75mph because of traffic. Would 3.73's give me better acceleration? I'm thinking if I had shorter gears, I'd use 5th gear more often which might even give me better mileage (???).
Ken
06-29-2006, 06:41 PM
#6
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Laredo, TEXAS
Posts: 6,054
RE: Some questions I have
ORIGINAL: CMCs05pony
Headers are sets of tubes that feed exhaust from each cylinder into the exhaust pipes. Horsepower gains for our v6 with headers alone are small. but they're still pretty cool!! people change to headers for increaseed exhaust flow, but again... the stock ones on our engine are well designed and adding headers to say, a dual exhaust setup won't add much hp... maybe some volume to the exhaust note!
Heads are basically the "covers" for the cylinders on your engine. the combustion takes place inside the cylinder, below the cylinder heads.
Gears...
The engine feeds its rotational power through the transmission and into the driveshaft. The driveshaft connects to the pinion gear in your rear differential. The pinion gear drives the ring gear sending power to your wheels. Gear sets are numbered with ratios... a 3.73 gear set means that the ratio of turns from the pinion gear to the ring gear is 3.73 to 1. A "shorter" gearset has a higher number. (ex 4.10 is shorter than 3.73) Shorter gears will increase the number of rpms of the driveshaft required to produce a certain rotational speed of the wheels.
example. in 5th gear at 60 mph... 4.10 gears will have your engine running at a higher rpm than 3.73 gears. Both 3.73 and 4.10 (the most common ratios available for the 7.5 inch Ford rear dif) are shorter than stock, which I think is around 3.5. The different gear ratios basically serve the purpose of getting you into your engine's powerband faster.
Headers are sets of tubes that feed exhaust from each cylinder into the exhaust pipes. Horsepower gains for our v6 with headers alone are small. but they're still pretty cool!! people change to headers for increaseed exhaust flow, but again... the stock ones on our engine are well designed and adding headers to say, a dual exhaust setup won't add much hp... maybe some volume to the exhaust note!
Heads are basically the "covers" for the cylinders on your engine. the combustion takes place inside the cylinder, below the cylinder heads.
Gears...
The engine feeds its rotational power through the transmission and into the driveshaft. The driveshaft connects to the pinion gear in your rear differential. The pinion gear drives the ring gear sending power to your wheels. Gear sets are numbered with ratios... a 3.73 gear set means that the ratio of turns from the pinion gear to the ring gear is 3.73 to 1. A "shorter" gearset has a higher number. (ex 4.10 is shorter than 3.73) Shorter gears will increase the number of rpms of the driveshaft required to produce a certain rotational speed of the wheels.
example. in 5th gear at 60 mph... 4.10 gears will have your engine running at a higher rpm than 3.73 gears. Both 3.73 and 4.10 (the most common ratios available for the 7.5 inch Ford rear dif) are shorter than stock, which I think is around 3.5. The different gear ratios basically serve the purpose of getting you into your engine's powerband faster.
06-29-2006, 06:44 PM
#8
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 204
RE: Some questions I have
ORIGINAL: Ken Rogers
Very interesting about the gears, thank you. I was wondering if gears are something I would get any benefit from. I don't race, but I like having acceleration available when needed.
Basically, I seldom get my car into 5th. Pretty sad, but I rarely go above 75mph because of traffic. Would 3.73's give me better acceleration? I'm thinking if I had shorter gears, I'd use 5th gear more often which might even give me better mileage (???).
Ken
Very interesting about the gears, thank you. I was wondering if gears are something I would get any benefit from. I don't race, but I like having acceleration available when needed.
Basically, I seldom get my car into 5th. Pretty sad, but I rarely go above 75mph because of traffic. Would 3.73's give me better acceleration? I'm thinking if I had shorter gears, I'd use 5th gear more often which might even give me better mileage (???).
Ken
shorter gears like 4.10 will improve your gas mileage when driving around town, but would hurt it slightly if you do a lot of highway driving because the engine is in top gear and running at a higher rpm than it would be with taller gears like the stock ones. from the description you gave about your driving conditions, I would def. go for 4.10's... you'll get that extra acceleration you're after.
06-29-2006, 06:44 PM
#9
MF Administrator
Join Date: May 2005
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 8,191
RE: Some questions I have
CMCs05pony did a great job answering your questions. For most cars, the stock exhaust manifolds are small and restrictive, so replacing them with headers will allow those engines to breathe better for add'l HP. Our Mustangs (4.0L-V6) have fairly good exhaust manifolds, so the gains are not as high.
To elaborate a bit on gears. Keep in mind a 10-speed bicycle. The low first gear allows you to climb a hill alot quicker, but it has a limited top speed. If you try to start up a hill in tenth gear, it will require you (the engine) to work alot harder to get going. A car's rear-end gears function the same way. A gear ratio of 4.10:1 allows the car to accelerate quicker than a 3.31:1 gear, but running at 55mph your engine will be at higher RPM's with a 4.10:1 gear ratio than a 3.31:1
EDIT: Wow - you guys posted quite alot while I was typing!!!
To elaborate a bit on gears. Keep in mind a 10-speed bicycle. The low first gear allows you to climb a hill alot quicker, but it has a limited top speed. If you try to start up a hill in tenth gear, it will require you (the engine) to work alot harder to get going. A car's rear-end gears function the same way. A gear ratio of 4.10:1 allows the car to accelerate quicker than a 3.31:1 gear, but running at 55mph your engine will be at higher RPM's with a 4.10:1 gear ratio than a 3.31:1
EDIT: Wow - you guys posted quite alot while I was typing!!!