Quote:
Originally Posted by d0sitmatr
the closer/lower the aspect on the tire means more transference of road noise to the rims, which connects directly to the hub and so on and so forth + Mazda's are known for not using as much dampening in their vehicles, which isnt a problem for me personally, but some people dont like a lot of road noise.
my protege5 is in the same boat, our hwy speeds are 70mph and at that speed, my RPM's are at 3300-3400. far too high for my liking. I have little recourse but to go a couple exotic routes by using either a 626 LS (V6) transmission, which requires some machining work or look for a diesel trans from Europe that is a straight swap.
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I used to have a Protege (manual) too. I contemplated doing a 5th gear swap, but I never got around to doing the swap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by d0sitmatr
the Miata being RWD gives you an option that I dont have with my mp5 being FWD, which is you cna look at a different gearset in the rear pumpkin.
find out what your rear gear set is and go with 1 or 2 sizes smaller (EX: if you have a 4:44 rear, then look at a 3:11 rear) this itself will drop your RPM considerably. but you have to be careful not to go too tall as that in itself can affect mpg for the worse, by making the cars engine work that much harder to maintain speed.
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In Australia, the 2006+ Miatas have a 3.70 final drive ratio. In the US, 2006+ Miatas have a 4.10 final drive.
This thread discusses swapping a 4.10 into an Australian car that came from the factory with a 3.70. In the case of my car, I might want to swap in an Australian 3.70 to replace my 4.10.
I'm torn about whether I want to put a taller final drive ratio in. It's an expensive job, and it will make the car more sluggish off the line. The ideal situation would be to add a taller 5th gear while keeping the current final drive ratio (this also would be a not-insignificant amount of work).