Transmission upgrades and retrofitts

[CrankyOldMan]

Originally Posted by 3cyltrbo

So, the way to eliminate the huge RPM drop between 1-2 and 2-3 is through a shortened final drive?

And to get me back to my super lower cruising RPM, a really tall 5th gear is the solution?

Would I end up right back where I am now for cruising RPM?. Even though this car gets sporadic use (its only got 15,000 total miles) , that use can sometimes include 14hrs in a day of highway driving while on trips. Its for this reason that I'm trying to have my cake and eat it to.

WC

It's possible to change the 1-2 drop using a Celica C56 input shaft. Can't recall the ratio that you get, but there's probably an old thread around here with that info. That's what I've done with my custom setup. 1st gear is a fixed point in time and space on all C-series gearboxes that I've encountered because the minor diameter of the pinion is basically the diameter of the shaft at that point. 2nd gear is also fixed to the shaft. There's a picture near the bottom of this post showing the anatomy.