Tiger gearbox performance.

[michael-king]

I was looking at the road test articles of the Tiger I & II in the gold portfolio book the other day and specifically the 0-60 times. I was wondering how much difference the 289 made vs the fact the MKII used the wide ratio gearbox.

Driving the tiger round the streets the long first blunts intial acceleration due to the long gearing, i wonder what/how much of a difference the wide ratio box makes off the line.. and what a wide ratio box would do for acceleration times in a stock MKI vs the MKII times?

 

[Cal44]

Michael,
I prefer long gears (wide ratio) in the Boss 302 and the Tiger, saves on shifting all the time.

 

[67 Tiger]

Its been 20 years since Ive driven my car but I remember how fast my car would jump across the intersection. I have the wide ratio trans. Even with the 288 rear It was quick off the line. The motor IS a 302, but it was built in the 70's (no aftrmarket heads) 302 4V heads, Holley 600, crane Boss cam, club headers. Back then, a number of the members I met at club events, agreed the wide ratio was the hot set-up, for acceleration.

 

[Maliburevue]

Ultra Wide Ratio Toploader

I converted my close ratio toploader to a wide ratio setup and kept the 2.88 rearend. I went one step further and put in a 2.90 first gear from David Kee Toploaders in place of the factory 2.78 first gear. This makes for a great hole shot while keeping down the highway rpms, easier on the engine (mechanical leverage) and less shifting around town. I will eventually change my 2.88 rearend ratio to a 2.72 for lower rpms and better gas mileage on the highway. This will still give me a comparable 2.74 first gear with a 6% overdrive. As nice as a 5 speed might be, this setup a LOT cheaper, the toploader is unbreakable and there is no cutting of the transmission tunnel.

 

[michael-king]

I guess the posts reflect the centiment that the wide ratio box would have made a decent difference in the low end acceleration. I wonder if there is any comparative data out there. I would love to know what difference the 'box made vs the 289 as most of the credit for the MKII's acceleration improvement seems to go with the 289, as opposed to the significant change of the gearing.

 

[hottigr]

Something else to consider...if the road tester kept his foot in it until almost 6k, you could do 0-60 without a shift in the close ratio box- check out the mph/1000 rpm from the workshop manual (close vs. wide):

First gear- 10.31 m.p.h. vs. 8.61 m.p.h.

You're going to need a shift before you hit 60 with the wide ratio trans- not necessarily so with the close ratio trans- just one more variable to consider when looking at the data from the different road tests...

 

[michael-king]

Something else to consider...if the road tester kept his foot in it until almost 6k, you could do 0-60 without a shift in the close ratio box- check out the mph/1000 rpm from the workshop manual (close vs. wide):

First gear- 10.31 m.p.h. vs. 8.61 m.p.h.

You're going to need a shift before you hit 60 with the wide ratio trans- not necessarily so with the close ratio trans- just one more variable to consider when looking at the data from the different road tests...

Driving style was a big variation, if you look at the range of times for MKI's they go from 7.6sec to 10 for the 0-60. The slower times are likely the ones that got on the gas hard off the line, the 7.6 time the article talks about getting off the line with moderate throttle and flooring it once the car is under way to limit tramp.

Also you would have to be a brave road tester to take a stock tiger beyond 5,250.. apparently thats when things started to go wrong fast so i would guess the testers changed up early, one test mentions that there was little gained taking them to the redline. i'm guessing they were changing into 2nd around 45-50mph.