Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
If it could cruise at ~55MPH @ 2,100-2,400RPM I'd be happy. As it is, even with my tall tires, it is ~3,000+ at 55MPH and ~3,500RPM at ~65MPH. I often skip 3rd or 4th gear for upshifts.
I will consider a final drive swap if/when the clutch wears out. Dropping it from the 4.31:1 down to 3.58:1 (whatever the other final drive gearing is, on the automatic, I think?) would be ~17% drop in RPM, so 3,500 down to 2,900RPM, or 3,000 down to ~2,490 RPM would be wonderful.
|
Welcome to the crappy Toyota 5-speed club.
Final drive swap on these transmissions is not worth it I think, it's pretty difficult to remove them from the transmission, and the final drive gears themselves cost a ton of money if you buy them from Toyota. Supposedly, the 5th gear swap is not too hard to do though.
Another possibility is to find an old C160, but those probably are expensive as well.
Honestly, with your more efficient 1NZ, if you just have the 0.725 5th gear installed you'd be in pretty good shape already. One guy custom swapped a 1NZ into his MR2 for track use, had a turbo on it, and "overclocked" the ECU to overrev it, and was getting 40+ mpg without trying, with a 6 speed and 0.725 top gear.