Ron O posted:Al, I had that combo in my IM and I didn't like it one bit. With the long .82 3rd gear I found I couldn't find a 'sweet spot' when driving around the 80 kph (50 mph) mark. It was too high for 3rd and too low for 4th.
Also, I found the rpm drop, when shifting from 3rd to 4th, to be annoying, unless I revved the crap out of 3rd gear.
^ that one.
I had the .82/3.88 and wanted to love it (really I did), but just couldn't, for all the reasons Ron gave. You'd be surprised how many times you are called upon to drive 50-60 mph.
That stupid gear was what sent my little train off the rails around the bend where nobody could see me. I so wanted it to work, and I felt that it was a matter of too little torque (in a 2110 with an FK43 and good heads, mind you).
vwracerdave over on TheSamba told me I didn't have an engine problem, I had a transaxle gearing problem. It made me mad so I built the barroom brawler 2332. It was still funky to drive 50-60 mph.
Swapping the .82 for a .89 with the 3.88 was really pretty close to perfect, but I wanted to be daddy long-legs, so I ended up splitting the difference with a .93/3.44. Now THAT'S a perfect highway gear, and with a 2276 I can pull off 50-60 mph easily in 4th.
... but honestly the .89/3.88 is probably better for 99% of the guys out there. It's long enough for a highway, as long as you aren't driving 85+ MPH for thousands of miles at a time.