I know and deeply appreciate the time Mike D. is putting into the Gen 3 and especially now that shipments are nearing. Fantastic job! I don't want to take any more time from his busy schedule but I do have what I think is an important question about our gearing.
The "elephant in the room" I am inquiring about involves the gear ratios I am reading whenever a Gen 3 debuts. The recent Apple Gen 3 (impressive!) has the 385 ratio as do other Gen 3 cars so far. Shawn at MoDy just inquired about the Flat Out Gen 3 car also as to its ratio that Mike drove at Laguna Seca.
My issue for anyone obviously to help us out on is that if the current Gen 3 cars out testing are using the 385 ratios, what are we learning about our trannies that will have to keep the current ratio when we switch to the Gen 3 powerplant? Seems to me that the CSR cars should be running the current ratios so we know any issues with what we will be dealing with. Thanks for any input and help.

Mark--I can tell you that the car I have has been running the stock 3.62 ring and pinion with great success. The talk about changing the ring and pinion wasn't because of reliability, it was more performance and availability based. We have a couple thousand miles on our car without issue.

I could add about 50 cents to this but I'll keep it to .2

Our Gen3 when first assembled had the .362 We ran it at NHMS and Lime Rock with no problems other than gear selection was a bit tricky. 3rd gear was to high and 4th gear was to low in some corners at both tracks. 2nd gear would spin the tires all the way up the hill at NHMS unless you drove a 1/4 throttle and slowly got to full.....gen2 cars were quicker up the hill.

Our 3rd outing was at VIR and we lost 3rd gear the 1st session out with one of our board members behind the wheel on approx. lap 4 so we did not get much input from gearing or handling there.

We have since rebuilt the transmission and installed the .385 as it has been run elsewhere with good results. The drivability of the 385 is much more like driving the gen2 car as far as gear selection goes rather than what I explained above. It is also a current production ratio which means availability of something we cant get any longer......the .362

I would really like to see the option of going to the .385 revisited by the powers and more input from the community as to what everyone really thinks.

I will be suggesting a transmission rebuild to anyone that has us convert their car that has more than 10 events on their current transmission. To upgrade to the new ratio would be approx. 400.00 over the cost of doing a normal transmission rebuild. It only make sense as everything is apart to rebuild the transmission and start fresh-

Shawn Morrison

I have stated my opinion elsewhere, but I am in agreement with shawn, in that while doing the gen3 switch, rebuild the tranny and add the ring and pinion that makes the car most useful/fun. Saying this in spite of just having skinner rebuild my box last month. Just my .02.

I have to admit I have been a proponent of keeping the existing R&P as I thought it would be an impossible task to launch a product of this nature from a supply chain perspective of having to retrofit transmissions. I also have no experience with the driving characteristics of the Gen3 and can only go by the comments I've heard from the people that have. Shawn certainly has cut to the quick on this issue and his opinion as a CSR should be seriously considered.

To reinforce Shawn's position, last Saturday I talked with a driver who drove the MoDy Gen3 car at NHMS. He said the car was oddly geared and likely 3rd gear could be used for almost the entire track. I also recall hearing that the Gen3 gearing was in between at Lime Rock Park as well. While I am not a big advocate of upping the cost for a Gen3 conversion, if keeping the existing R&P diminishes the result of the final product, staying with the .362 R&P would be a shame considering the work put into this project by everyone.

Having come from a gearbox change class (as in FV) I hope to never to go back to having to swap out a transmission to be competitive at any given track. Therefore if the .385 is the right choice based on opinions of those that know, let's figure out how to make that happen and do it in such a way that we have parity in performance.

Jim Regan #862

I also want the 385. I think the Enterprises board and Erik were influenced in to making the wrong decision of staying with current R&P, by people who only considered the upfront $$$, not considering the long term $$$ and not even considering the drivability of the car. Foolishness!

Wade White

I have to ask what would be the total cost of everything that would be needed for the conversion to Gen3 including the 385 gear and transmission rebuild? Approximately.

I agree with Wade. I have to get my transmission rebuilt when I do the Gen3 conversion (it was last rebuilt three years ago in 2011)...so I am already in for $2500 so adding the 3.85 R&P will add about $400 bucks to the bill. Given that most Gen 3 conversions are taking the opportunity to do a complete frame up rebuild of their cars, the cost would be in the noise. Says a retired guy on a fixed income.
The vocal minority pressed to keep the 3.62 gear to reduce up front conversion costs. I just hope they don't whine about the R&P like they do about the new rain tire. I would hate to rebuild my transmissions only to have to redo them to change the R&P at a later date after more drivers have Gen3 experience.

Fred,
Kit cost plus shipping. Transmission rebuild approx. 16-1800. New ring and pinion 400.00
Of course if youre having your car converted by someone then there is that fee as well.

If the R&P is as much an improvement as it seems, and if the eventual upgrade to the new R&P is deferred a reasonable amount of time, say five years after the full Gen 3 switchover (2022?), we are going to have a long time to regret this! I'm in favor of the upgrade (and will cross my fingers that I get two more seasons out of my current trans).

All that being said, is there some show-stopper reason that cuts the other direction that we're missing?