718 GTS 4.0 Gearing

[FC]

A lot has been said about the tall gearing in these cars. Reading stuff on rennlist, I found a few things I thought were interesting considering soon there will be 3 of us with these cars and let's face it, it's only a matter of time before lemming owns one.

First a cool website that lets you play with stuff:

https://www.blocklayer.com/rpm-gear

People gush about the DeMan regearing, so I am posting the following ratios for fun:

OEM:
Tyre diam 686
Ring & Pinion : 35 to 9 = 3.89
1st 3.31
2nd 1.95
3rd 1.41
4th 1.13
5th 0.95
6th 0.81

DeMan:
1st 3.31
2nd 2.176
3rd 1.579
4th 1.25
5th 1.04
6th 0.81

[FC]

First the stock GTS 4.0, then DeMan regearing.

[FC]

And for fun, the E46 ZHP gearing. What I find interesting is that 2nd gear is exactly the same on the stock GTS as it is on the ZHP. Also, 6th gear on the GTS is pretty darn close to 5th on the ZHP.

[JST]

Interesting; those graphs make it very clear why Porsche chose those ratios.

I haven’t driven a DeMan car, and perhaps it would be just as much of a revelation as everyone on Rennlist says. But I’ll say the gearing in this car doesn’t really bother me; it was plenty of power and if I hadn’t read the complaints on the internet I wouldn’t have even thought about the gearing.

[FC]

Originally Posted by JST

Interesting; those graphs make it very clear why Porsche chose those ratios.

I haven’t driven a DeMan car, and perhaps it would be just as much of a revelation as everyone on Rennlist says. But I’ll say the gearing in this car doesn’t really bother me; it was plenty of power and if I hadn’t read the complaints on the internet I wouldn’t have even thought about the gearing.

I haven't even driven the car, but the fact that it has the same 2nd gear as the E46 and E90 (and similar to other cars), it's hard to imagine that it would be problematic given the relative low weight of the 718 and that engine.

[lemming]

Originally Posted by JST

Interesting; those graphs make it very clear why Porsche chose those ratios.

I haven’t driven a DeMan car, and perhaps it would be just as much of a revelation as everyone on Rennlist says. But I’ll say the gearing in this car doesn’t really bother me; it was plenty of power and if I hadn’t read the complaints on the internet I wouldn’t have even thought about the gearing.

Because anti-fuel efficiency (Deman ratios)?

[Nick M3]

Is that the same hearing as the regular boxster? When I look at the chart, it reads like they just didn’t bother changing the gearing for the elevated rev limit. It’s kind of the equivalent of the S54 MZ3 vs. the S52. No one ever says the S54 MZ3 is slow, but it’s still a little weird that they didn’t gear it for the extra revs.

Edit: I see that the regular 718s rev nearly as high. I dunno. But the chart reads like it wants 4.45 or even 4.88 rear gear.

[JST]

Dropping the rear axle ratio would be a good and fairly easy fix but presumably would wreak havoc on fuel economy, especially at cruising speed. I’m not sure I’d want to trade low rpm punch for higher revs in 6th.

The DeMan regearing solves that problem at the expense of a big gap between 5th and 6th—and of course higher cost.

I appreciate the effort to do this and understand the potential improvements, I just don’t think it’s worth worrying about unless you have essentially unlimited resources.

[FC]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Is that the same hearing as the regular boxster? When I look at the chart, it reads like they just didn’t bother changing the gearing for the elevated rev limit. It’s kind of the equivalent of the S54 MZ3 vs. the S52. No one ever says the S54 MZ3 is slow, but it’s still a little weird that they didn’t gear it for the extra revs.

Edit: I see that the regular 718s rev nearly as high. I dunno. But the chart reads like it wants 4.45 or even 4.88 rear gear.

That's always been my position. Change the rear diff. But 6th is already geared like 5th in the ZHP and other cars. So that would make it a crappy(er) highway car if you want to cruise at 75+.

An alternative would be to go with the higher rear diff and swap out 6th.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by JST

Dropping the rear axle ratio would be a good and fairly easy fix but presumably would wreak havoc on fuel economy, especially at cruising speed. I’m not sure I’d want to trade low rpm punch for higher revs in 6th.

The DeMan regearing solves that problem at the expense of a big gap between 5th and 6th—and of course higher cost.

I appreciate the effort to do this and understand the potential improvements, I just don’t think it’s worth worrying about unless you have essentially unlimited resources.

Deman still has the too tall 1st. I'd pick that over highway cruise. But that's just me.