Great posts, and super-cool project, Michael. I love your attitude and your desire to jump in and get all techy.
@JMM (Michael) posted:Hey @Stan Galat, what calculator are you using that makes those nice plots?
I use:
http://www.teammfactory.com/calculator
You need a Flash Player to get the graph, and you'll need to plug "0" in for 5th gear. I just snip the screen image and save it as an image in order to repost it. Here's your graph:
Generally, you'd be looking for even spacing 1-4, or for the gaps between gears to get narrower, but with the available mainshafts and the desire to stick with a 3.88, it's just not possible. Weddle makes a 3.11/1.86 mainshaft that moves second up ever so slightly-- if they made something in the 1.60 range, it'd be perfect, then you could use a 1.09 3rd and it'd be perfect (run the plots for grins, it's fantastic)
There is an "S4" mainshaft with a first gear, and a selection of 2nds (one of which is a 1.59). I'm nost sure what the story is there, but it may be for a different transaxle.
The good news is that your Subaru will have plenty of torque to pull anything you've got easily. You may find yourself looking for a longer final drive.
That whole gearset moved up to a 3.44 would fly.