3.73 and A4 people take a look inside

[PiLOTLiTE]

When you installed the 3.73s how much sooner did the tranny shift? I'm going from 3.08s to 3.73s and I've heard that's about a 21% difference. So does that mean I'll shift around 5200rpm now?

Any of you have that SLP speed processor thingy to fix the speedo? How much do they charge for that?

[xjarayax]

ttt

[raxxus]

THe next mod i was thinking about was gears, I have 3.08 now :( Should I go 3.42 or to 3.73? What kind of gain would I expect about? Thanks!

[xjarayax]

Need someone to answer this

[Only4U]

well, i don't know, but i can say this from personal experience:

i got the 3.42s about 2k miles ago (lol, don't know exactly, odo is freaking off due to the gears!) and i had gone from 3.08s. shifts were fine and just like normal for a while. slowly they started getting rougher (earlier) and now they suck ballz.

RIGHT after i got the gears i shifted into 2nd about 5900 rpms, now it's about 5700; i shifted into 3rd at about 5600 rpms, now it's around 5300 (and this 2 to 3 shift is the killer when i race people, they always make up their lost space and gain some right here).

so i know for a while, you won't notice too much of a diff (well, it'll be a bigger diff with the 3.73s), but believe me, it'll get worse. the computer throws everything throughout the drivetrain 10% off, so something that plays a very small part in the tranny is getting thrown off 10% each time it does its job and eventually makes a pretty big deal and only gets worse.

don't go to 3.73s unless you can find someone to at least program your specs to 3.42s. shift points will not be good, except for the first 1k miles MAYBE, believe me; i'm quite disappointed in my shifts with 3.42s right now and looking for someone to solve my problems.

also, flywheel and clutch take damage when your car shifts early or late. a lot of people will try to prove me wrong, but i worked in a mechanics shop this summer and they say if the tranny doesn't shift proportional to the engine, you will wear out a flywheel and/or clutch and that will be a tranny rebuild in the future.

be careful with switching gears in an auto, it's got a lot more side affects than most people consider even thinking about.

[ August 28, 2002: Message edited by: Only4U ]</p>

[CamaroBill]

The SLP Speedometer Processor is only for V8 models (I found this out the hard way). They have a different wiring harness. I guess most people just live with the speedometer/odometer error. Mine is now 10% off because I have 3.73s and HPPIII set for 3.42s, the max that it will adjust for. The bright side of having HPPIII though, is that I can at least adjust my top speed limiter so that top speed is not affected.