6th gear swap?

[redpoint5]

I drive a 2006 Acura TSX 6-speed manual, and the car has among the lowest Cd I've seen (.27). When I bought the car, I was thinking that with 6 gears, the top gear would be very tall and good for highway travel. The reality is that it's geared very low and has close ratios. At 70mph, I'm doing 3000RPM, which seems a bit high.

Is it possible to swap out only my 6th gear so that I can accelerate quickly in the first 5 if I wanted to, but shift into 6th to cruise efficiently? If it's possible, how difficult would the job likely be?

At 70mph, what RPM are you running?

[cfg83]

redpoint5 -

(this is all just guesswork)

Without knowing, I would suspect a gear swap is dependent on what Honda/Acura vehicles use the same tranny. If it's an "Acura-only" tranny, then I doubt that a tall 6th gear exists. Assuming a taller 6th gear does exist, you probably would have to drop the tranny. There is a micro-chance that you could swap the gear without dropping the tranny :

Saturn S-Series 5th Gear Swap

I am running around 2460 RPM at 70 MPH.

CarloSW2

[some_other_dave]

I run 3500 RPM at 70 MPH. Not good for fuel economy...

-soD

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

At 70mph, what RPM are you running?

2500rpm on three cylinders.

Lately Honda and most other manufacturers have been gearing their cars like yours, so they feel responsive on the highway and you don't have to downshift for ridges and hills. I guess they think folks who buy a brand new stick shifted car are after sportiness, not economy.

Is swapping a gear really that easy? I wouldn't mind having a backwards 2nd gear in place of my 4th. That would give me 2000RPM at 70mph, which would be okay in the winter when I can't lean burn at those speeds anyway.

[some_other_dave]

"Mista Bone" on the Honda boards is regarded as a D-series transmission guru. He tells me that you cannot swap the drive and driven gears to give you "inverted" gear ratios. Which is too bad, because an inverted 2nd gear sounds very attractive for MPG...

-soD

[dremd]

Any Idea what transmission is in the TSX?
Good looking cars, friend of mine has a Type S fun.

I'm just under 2000 at 70 mph.

[Ecobalt]

Get bigger diameter tyres. Ok, I am half way joking.

[Big Dave]

You don't even want to know what RPM I'm turning @ 70MPH.

Front wheel drive is not amenable (as a rule) to gear swaps.

[dremd]

In SOME cases FWD gear swaps are easy, first that comes to mind is the 5 speed VW box.
To swap the 5th gear you don't even have to drain the fluid out! Basically jack the car up only on drivers side (sloshes fluid over to passengers side) remove wheel, side cover (6 13mm bolts) and there is the 5th gear set right in front of you.

However in many cases, no so easy . . . .