Short gears w or w/o 4.55's

[jkjetski]

I wanted to hear other owners opinion concerning installing short gears with or with out 4.55 ring and pinion, I see the benefit of the short gears , but want to keep the freeway drivability.

 

[ChopsJazz]

The 4.55 is not your only R&P option. Many people feel that that is too tall for daily use and opt for the 4.23 R&P. I have also heard of many people just installing the short gears w/out any R&P change for highway cruising without affecting the final drive ratio. In fact, that is what I am going to do in about 2 weeks. I'll let you know what I think.

 

[David]

If I had it to do over again, I would get the short gears w/o the 4.55 R&P. The really big problem with the early tranny is the absurd 1-2 shift that drops you completely out of VTEC range. The short gears change that. I miss the easy 80mph cruise I had before the R&P.

Part of the problem with my car, though, is that it has a lot more torque than a stock one, so the R&P is really overkill.

ChopsJazz is right in that there are other R&P options. I believe the type R piece is also a drop-in swap and it is not quite as agressive.

 

[ChopsJazz]

I just spoke with Randy at RM Racing and he really dissuaded me from doing the work on the gearbox without the R&P. He too says that the 4.55 is too tall, but the stock 4.05 with the NSX-R short gearing would be a waste of money. I'm going to listen to Randy and continue to save for the R&P (the 4.23) and do all the work (gears and R&P) at once .