Project Lope GEARS AND MORE

[89crownlx]

O.K. hello all my panther brothers, Hi I'm Jon nice to meet you been here a lil while used to be on cvn but thats another story any how the tech??
I have a 1987 Crown Vic lx, haha my names is 89crownlx because I used to have an 89 GM so yeah I flubbed when i signed up lol.
Heres my question(s)
I am going to start working on my 87 a little at a time project lopo or lope as I refer to it, my first thing is going to be rear gears, and then trans,motor suspension etc,for now Im going to wring out the lopo to see what it will do with better supporting components.
So my gear questions are as follows please if you have gears chime in and tell me your experiences with them.
As I plan on upgrading the entire drivetrain I am really looking to install some 4.11s I'm kinda go big or go home guy, what I would like to know is how will my AOD respond to these gears?? how will it shift? what rpms do you think it will avg in OD?
Like I said this is all parts to the big picture I will either mod the AOD or replace it with something eles eventually I really cant wait to get the 2.73s out I need some freaking off the line accelartion.

[89crownlx]

Oh my bad I will get some pics this week I hope since it finally stopped raining here.

[jayh]

if you are go big or go home, get a 4.30 or 4.56.

first things to address are probably headers, exhaust, and cam

[1980c10]

+1 on the gears and defietly ditch the stock lopo cam

[89crownlx]

O.K. let me restate that a little I get excitable, I have owned cars with gears and mods like a 5.0 stang with 3.73 but it was a stick, I have not put gears in anything with an AOD so I didnt want to go to big but hell ya 4.56 sounds good, I just didnt want to go to steep as the AOD shifts and ridiculous low speeds stock anyhow.
So who has gears? how does your car shift? and what rpms are you running?
I know tires size etc play a role in it right now I got stock size tires.

[sly]

my bone stock (save dual exhaust and cold air/mild ram intake) 88 MGM had the AOD upgraded to the wide range gears... it seems to shift a little early into 3rd, but other than that it feels like I'm running 4.10 gears getting out of the hole, but feels like 1.73 (or some such extra long in the tooth gearing) at highway speeds (downshifts on overpasses with the AC running). The rear is actually 2.73. If I had it to do over, I'd leave the stock gears in the trans and put some 3.73 gears in the rear, and just update to HD clutches/TC/OD for longevity. I wish I had the $$$ to throw a BOSS 302 or some such in there to really get the meat out of the trans I have now, but meh.

[Brandon]

Back when I had my grand marquis I had ran 3.73 gears in it. I enjoyed it. It turned up a bit higher in overdrive and sounded cool if you was outside and heard the car. You'd think it was a mustnag coming down the road, but of course I did have flowmasters on it. The car did okay off the line. i mean it was better and could instantly tell the difference from the stock gear. But it was still a big car with the lopo.

[BGoins12]

Since you guys are talking about gearing.... I'll chime in....

I was considering 4.10s, but should I go with 4.56s? If you look in my planned mod thread, you'll see what I am doing.

/endpartialhijack

[merc91]

3.73's are the way to go. maybe 4.10s but 4.56 on these cars would suck.

I've got 3.73's and trac lok and love it, it comes out of the hole good but doesn't over rev on the highway and still has its good power range at higher speeds.

[89crownlx]

Since you guys are talking about gearing.... I'll chime in....

I was considering 4.10s, but should I go with 4.56s? If you look in my planned mod thread, you'll see what I am doing.

/endpartialhijack

No worries on hijacks I like an open discusion, right future mods, I plan on an explorer motor H.O. cam and spring upgrade and a t-5 or moded AOD with shiftkit stall upgrades, so if I went 4.11s it will get the lopo into its torque band faster, not sure whats the peak torque rpm on a lopo? anyone know?
oh and my 2.73 rear is trac loc but I plan on rebulding it when I do the gears, is it true you can add clutches to it for a firmer grip?

[Freshmeat]

No worries on hijacks I like an open discusion, right future mods, I plan on an explorer motor H.O. cam and spring upgrade and a t-5 or moded AOD with shiftkit stall upgrades, so if I went 4.11s it will get the lopo into its torque band faster, not sure whats the peak torque rpm on a lopo? anyone know?
oh and my 2.73 rear is trac loc but I plan on rebulding it when I do the gears, is it true you can add clutches to it for a firmer grip?

I agree with the above poster that 3.73s are plenty. I'm going 4.10s but this car will end up not being my DD so I can get away with that. 4.10 should be as tall as you go for a street car.

The SO (standard output) motors have all their torque by 1,900 RPM.

You can add clutches during the rebuild to make it firmer... From the factory it looks like:
steel-clutch-steel-steel-clutch-steel-steel-clutch-steel
When you rebuild it go:
steel-clutch-steel-clutch-steel-clutch-steel-clutch-steel

[merc91]

yeah my trac loc has carbon fiber clutches and its an 8 pack vs the standard 6 pack and its well worth it for the locking "posi" power in the rear end...that and 3.73's and you'll be a happy guy. Be-ond 3.73's you just need more motor.

[jayh]

it all depends on the combo and it intended purpose

[P72Ford]

I have 3.73s; more than enough for a driver.

4.56 is a track gear unless you have a steep overdrive.