3000 rpm at 65mph?

[96eclipsegsx56]

Is it normal to be at 3000+ RPMs at 65+ MPH in 5th gear?

 

[NeWyoRksPLaYaZ]

at 3k rpm I sit at 70. Maybe your different tire/rim size is throwing off your speedo

unless the awd tranny has a taller 5th gear?

 

[EclipseOwner95]

at 3k rpm I sit at 70. Maybe your different tire/rim size is throwing off your speedo

unless the awd tranny has a taller 5th gear?

Your FWD you have taller gears. Taller = Longer aka less RPM.

Is it normal to be at 3000+ RPMs at 65+ MPH in 5th gear?

OP: It's totally normal to be around 3k @ 65 depending on your tire/rim size.

I'm at about 68mph @ 3k with stock 16's and 225/50's

 

[96eclipsegsx56]

ok thanks guys...i have 18's thats probably why...just making sure

 

[smokeliss]

That's where my rpm's are at around 65mph 2g awd. Sounds right to me.

 

[lilbp12369]

With Factory rims my car at 70 was at 3100 ish. now I have the taller fifth gear and at 80 only at 2750 ish. Love the gas mileage on the highway.

Here is a good site to check the difference on your speedo from factory tires to what you have on there now: Tire Size Calculator - Compare Tire Sizes

 

[1990AWD]

With Factory rims my car at 70 was at 3100 ish. now I have the taller fifth gear and at 80 only at 2750 ish.

Wow that's quite a difference, I didn't think the Evo III fifth lowered it that much.

My 3000GT VR-4 is 2000 rpm at 60, 2500 at 75. hehe

 

[Abe'sGST]

With Factory rims my car at 70 was at 3100 ish. now I have the taller fifth gear and at 80 only at 2750 ish. Love the gas mileage on the highway.

Here is a good site to check the difference on your speedo from factory tires to what you have on there now: Tire Size Calculator - Compare Tire Sizes

Where did you get the taller 5th gear? I really want to get me one of them, I get cruising at 65-70mph at 3200rpms

 

[Redslayer]

With Factory rims my car at 70 was at 3100 ish. now I have the taller fifth gear and at 80 only at 2750 ish. Love the gas mileage on the highway.

Here is a good site to check the difference on your speedo from factory tires to what you have on there now: Tire Size Calculator - Compare Tire Sizes

Nice, my 225/40/18s are all within a half MPH all the way to 60 mph from the stock 205/55/16s

Speedometer Difference
Speedo Reading Actual Speed
20 mph (32.19 km/h) 20.17 mph (32.46 km/h)
25 mph (40.23 km/h) 25.21 mph (40.57 km/h)
30 mph (48.28 km/h) 30.25 mph (48.69 km/h)
35 mph (56.33 km/h) 35.29 mph (56.8 km/h)
40 mph (64.37 km/h) 40.34 mph (64.91 km/h)
45 mph (72.42 km/h) 45.38 mph (73.03 km/h)
50 mph (80.47 km/h) 50.42 mph (81.14 km/h)
55 mph (88.51 km/h) 55.46 mph (89.26 km/h)
60 mph (96.56 km/h) 60.5 mph (97.37 km/h)
65 mph (104.61 km/h) 65.55 mph (105.48 km/h)

 

[jpmxrider489]

I sit at 3k at 60. I thaught it was high at first.

 

[Boosted DSM 32]

Its just these cars only god knows why they are made to have such short gears but even at 3k or more we get around 29 so i cant complain... my mustang gt was at like 75 mph at maybe 2500 if that those 373's really lowered my cruising rpms

 

[1990AWD]

The rpms are high because it's a lose compression four cylinder driving down the highway, so it needs the rpm.

 

[WES_393]

Where did you get the taller 5th gear? I really want to get me one of them, I get cruising at 65-70mph at 3200rpms

I know Jacks Transmission installs them. It's a 10% taller 5th gear. So if your cruising at 60mph & 3Krpm, the taller 5th gear will cut it by 10% (3000*.10=300) so you end up cruising at 2700 instead of 3k.

Not worth $200.

 

[Abe'sGST]

I know Jacks Transmission installs them. It's a 10% taller 5th gear. So if your cruising at 60mph & 3Krpm, the taller 5th gear will cut it by 10% (3000*.10=300) so you end up cruising at 2700 instead of 3k.

Not worth $200.

Well $200 isn't all that bad I figured it would be more . Maybe one day when I take everything apart to restore my gst.

 

[EclipseOwner95]

With Factory rims my car at 70 was at 3100 ish. now I have the taller fifth gear and at 80 only at 2750 ish. Love the gas mileage on the highway.

Wow that's quite a difference, I didn't think the Evo III fifth lowered it that much.

My 3000GT VR-4 is 2000 rpm at 60, 2500 at 75. hehe

It doesn't, I'm just going to assume that his speedo is off, or hes running some unusually sized rims/tires.

Anyone saying its "not worth" $225 for the taller 5th is on crack, ESPECIALLY if you drive your DSM a lot, you'll easily make up the initial investment in fuel savings within the first 6 months.

Per Jacks website

EVO 3 5th Gear

STOCK 5TH EVO 3 5TH
RPM SPEED SPEED
8000 183.51 200.35
7500 172.04 187.83
7000 160.57 175.31
6500 149.10 162.79
6000 137.63 150.27
3000 68.82 75.13
2500 57.35 62.61
2000 45.88 50.09
1500 34.41 37.57
1000 22.94 25.04

 

[DeadlyScone]

Doesn't having these cars rev'ed at 3k on the highway cause accelerated engine wear? like say you take a 5 hour trip at 3k @65MPH.

 

[PurpleHazel]

I've never gotten used to this. I'm still convinced its going to explode when I take it on the highway.

 

[DeadlyScone]

^ 1+ i don't like having my car up at there either. I've looked at other cars, even newer cars on the highway and they sit right around 2700-3000. I usually remember that to make me feel more comfortable

 

[EclipseOwner95]

I've never gotten used to this. I'm still convinced its going to explode when I take it on the highway.

^ 1+ i don't like having my car up at there either. I've looked at other cars, even newer cars on the highway and they sit right around 2700-3000. I usually remember that to make me feel more comfortable

You guys must have never owned/driven "performance" hondas with short geared transmissions.

My daily driver is a 2009 Civic SI Sedan. Crusing on the highway at 80mph its at around 4300 RPM. Took a while to get used to, but I guess when it rev's to 8500 stock it doesn't seem as bad. Even turning that high of an RPM it somehow still gets 30mpg so I don't question it.

The old GSR's & EM1 SI's transmissions are geared even shorter. A friend of mine's turns around 4000 @ 70 , and around 4500 @ 80 haha.

 

[lilbp12369]

It doesn't, I'm just going to assume that his speedo is off, or hes running some unusually sized rims/tires.

Anyone saying its "not worth" $225 for the taller 5th is on crack, ESPECIALLY if you drive your DSM a lot, you'll easily make up the initial investment in fuel savings within the first 6 months.

After reading this I wanted to get what you said about speedo being off since I know I am not running abnormally sized tires (245-40-17) I know there is a slight difference but very minimal. Compared to link and saw the same thing for speed but did notice that my rpms on the tach were about 100 rpms lower than what I was logging.

Is there a difference between the FWD and AWD numbers with the evo 3 5th gear swap. I know that those numbers you quoted are for the awd trans. And the awd trans already has the a taller gear ratio than the FWD. I haven't found anything on this but haven't had much time to look.

 

[cliffkemp]

According to the calculator, with stock tire/rim combo, you will get around 22mph/1000 rpms. This is normal and these cars were made just before the time it was normal to go 70 on the interstate. Back then, the speed limit was just 55 (most did not go that slow though)

With the 14b, this meant that at 55, you were within spooling range of the turbo but, was not unbearable and you were close to max tq on or off spool. This is why it got decent mpg based off, then, 'highway' speed. Todays limit of 65 to 70 throws it off.

For those that run stock, it means that if you use cruise, the car seems jumpy cause it is high enough in the rpms to produce spool quickly and your cruise is constantly fighting. Check the 'speed in gears' calculator to see how fast you are going with any combo of tire/rim that you may have.

The only time your speedo is fairly accurate with a stock set up is just after you get new tires. After around 15k miles, you are going slower than the speedo says and this is designed, by the way. The faster the odometer can put miles on the car, the faster the warranty goes.

As for the short gears go, anyone that owns an RX8, knows that it has some of the shortest gears known in any car. I have one and going down the interstate at 80, I am pushing around 4k rpms. 1st gear in the dsm's are short, almost as short as the rx8 as it will do only 40 or so but, at 9200 rpms. My talon/laser will do around 35 at 7500 so they are pretty close.

 

[Boosted DSM 32]

even though there made to rev high on the freeway it always makes me uncomfortable haha i always find myself cruising at like 55 so my rpms are at like 2500 and im getting passed like im standing still its just something that ill never get used too and i NEVER drive somewhere far away because i feel like me riding at 3500 rpms im getting like 10 mpg but actually im getting 28 idk its weird

 

[ShadyGST]

10% taller 5th gear for 200? That is not right, the labor alone is more than that.

 

[lilbp12369]

Just to update this come to find out the reason why my rpm and speeds vary so much from what you are seeing is that I have the 16% taller fifth gear installed so my numbers of 60 mph at 2100 ish is correct. Have verified not only with link but with gps as well.

 

[knochgoon24]

And a note:

Those wondering why their speed hasn't changed with tire size changes, the speedo is just based on a reading of the transmission output speed. It's calibrated for stock size tires. If you put bigger tires on it, it will still read the same speed, but you'll be going faster. Check with an external method (GPS or radar gun) to be sure.