Jarrid: Years ago in college I worked collecting trash (long before recycling:
I was a 'trash man'). I remember the Diamond Rio I drove. My point- you
mention an 8 speed, maybe the answer is to leave the Rootes four speed in place,
and add a two speed split rear! Thoughts? Bill
Jarrid Gross wrote:
> Ben,
>
> >In the Victoria British catalog, it shows some sway
> >bars and polyurethane bushings and adjustable shocks are available.
>
> First warning,
>
> VB knows nothing of what they sell, there IS a difference between
> the early and late sway bars even if VB says a single bar fits all
> applications.
> If you have a SIII then the only high performance sway bar that I know
> fits is the one that Sunbeam Specialties sells.
> I know it fits becuase I was one of several that helped get it developed.
> The bar is a 7/8 thickness, and from my experience made the car
> nearly nuetral from a heavy push beforehand.
>
> Dont know if VB knows anything about a "correct" bushing for sunbeam
> sway bars either, rootes was rather unconventional about the design
> and use of sway bars, and as such the sway bar bushing becomes nearly as
> important as the thickness of the sway bar itself.
> I felt that rubber bushings didnt do the job properly, so I made my
> own out of nylon. This makes a very big difference in the effective
> rate of the sway bar as it eliminates hysteresis and reduces rubber
> based impact on the effective torsion rate.
>
> As to shocks, they "VB" sell pretty much the same as the rest of the
> bunch, so no foul here.
> I like the action of spax, although I wish I could get a set of
> Koni's for my pointy fin.
>
> >Also, a 5 speed conversion seems to make more and more sense to me. I have
> >heard of using the Toyota 5 speed the most. What year and model Toyotas
> >have the best transmission ratios for the Alpine. When using this
> >transmission, what gears are you all using in the rearend? We have two
> >different ring and pinions for the car. And, what rpm do you run at 65 mph?
>
> I hope this does'nt offend the folks putting in 5 speeds into thier cars,
> but the toyota 5 speed ratios suck.
> They are just as bad as the rootes 4 speed, in in many cases worse.
> They offer only better final drive ratio (.8 typ) but big jumps between
> all gears. The celica supra ratios look best but these are more expensive
> and still a rather wide ratio.
>
> The car industry in general seems to have gotten the wrong idea about
> the purpose of more gears. They seem to be making taller final ratios
> but keeping the ratios very wide.
> Even the new 6 speeds in many cars are very wide ratio, with final drive
> ratios in the .6 to .75 range.
>
> Maybe when they get to 8 speeds the ratios will tighten up.
>
> Not holding my breath.
>
> Jarrid Gross
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