85 Riviera
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2002
First, this is not a turbo car. This is a stardard rivi that has been modified. It is powered by a 403 cubic inch oldsmobile with a 214/224 camshaft, 2400 stall, edelbrock intake, ported everything, modified trans, and a bunch of other junk but anyway who cares...
Since alot of people are always asking if the 3.15 to 3.36 ratio swap is worth it...
onward with my review (with a wild twist at the end)...
I installed the 3.36, took me 4 hours total in the florida heat to get this thing in. The 3.36 is not that much shorter (ratio wise) than the 3.15 but it is indeed shorter. With the 3.15 I would cruise at 67.5 MPH at 2000 RPM's, with the 3.36 I am at 2200 RPM's at 67.5 MPH. With the 3.15 I would go into 3rd at 70 MPH under WOT, with the 3.36 I see 3rd at 64 MPH (shifting at 5200 RPM's)
Traction.... I have modified the front end to hook as well as possible and the car has 235/55/16 tires (stock wheels would never hook)!. The 3.36 is harder to hook than the 3.15, even though I can get it to hook through 1st gear, it is on a fine line and any bump on the road can cause the wheels to break loose. I guess that means the 3.36 was a improvement, as the 3.15 was more tractable.
The nice thing about the 3.36 is when you upshift, with the 3.36 is closes in the gaps between the gears, so going to the next gear doesnt feel like it is having to reach too far or pull from too low of RPM's.
I would say its faster, maybe not by much. Although the 3.15 was pretty solid and fast, I think the 3.36 just has an extra edge. I wouldnt be afraid to use the 3.15 if I built so much power that traction became a big problem, but for now the 3.36 is working for me. Nice thing about the 3.36 is I can build the engine up even more without worring about loosing torque (from larger cams, intake and so on).
Now heres the funny of the day...
I was testing my car out on a very wide city street late last night to see how it would pull out of a red light. I looked beside me and this guy in a little honda was looking like he wanted to test me (people see a big blue Riviera as a easy target). Although I didnt care about him as I knew he wasnt even going to be able to hang, I was really only testing and didnt care about the car next to me. Light turned green and I feed into it as fast as traction would allow. The Honda beside me tried but was not even a issue. as I was going through my gears WOT I looked in the rear view and seen the lights of a F body just 3 car lenths behind me. I was like "ok maybe he's into this like its a race".
I backed off the throttle at 70 MPH (no need in going to fast on a city street). The minute I let off, the F body behind me turned on its LIGHTS!. That car was a state trooper (great). He was behind me at the light and followed me all the way through my little wide open blast.
He pulled me over, walked up, he said "what were you doing back there".
I responded "I just installed a new final drive and was just testing to see how it would pull out of the hole".
He said "well I could take you".
So I said "you think so?"
He said "Im in a camero"
I said "yeah thier pretty fast"
Then he said " No really though, I had to go wide open just to barely keep up with you, but you wasnt gonna leave me"
Then he said "I dont feel like writing a ticket today, I'd say your final drive is doing fine so drive safely from here out"
I said " Yes Sir!"
Thats such a wild story that my wife thinks I made it up, but it sure enough it did happen. I know that trooper enjoyed the race LoL!
Since alot of people are always asking if the 3.15 to 3.36 ratio swap is worth it...
onward with my review (with a wild twist at the end)...
I installed the 3.36, took me 4 hours total in the florida heat to get this thing in. The 3.36 is not that much shorter (ratio wise) than the 3.15 but it is indeed shorter. With the 3.15 I would cruise at 67.5 MPH at 2000 RPM's, with the 3.36 I am at 2200 RPM's at 67.5 MPH. With the 3.15 I would go into 3rd at 70 MPH under WOT, with the 3.36 I see 3rd at 64 MPH (shifting at 5200 RPM's)
Traction.... I have modified the front end to hook as well as possible and the car has 235/55/16 tires (stock wheels would never hook)!. The 3.36 is harder to hook than the 3.15, even though I can get it to hook through 1st gear, it is on a fine line and any bump on the road can cause the wheels to break loose. I guess that means the 3.36 was a improvement, as the 3.15 was more tractable.
The nice thing about the 3.36 is when you upshift, with the 3.36 is closes in the gaps between the gears, so going to the next gear doesnt feel like it is having to reach too far or pull from too low of RPM's.
I would say its faster, maybe not by much. Although the 3.15 was pretty solid and fast, I think the 3.36 just has an extra edge. I wouldnt be afraid to use the 3.15 if I built so much power that traction became a big problem, but for now the 3.36 is working for me. Nice thing about the 3.36 is I can build the engine up even more without worring about loosing torque (from larger cams, intake and so on).
Now heres the funny of the day...
I was testing my car out on a very wide city street late last night to see how it would pull out of a red light. I looked beside me and this guy in a little honda was looking like he wanted to test me (people see a big blue Riviera as a easy target). Although I didnt care about him as I knew he wasnt even going to be able to hang, I was really only testing and didnt care about the car next to me. Light turned green and I feed into it as fast as traction would allow. The Honda beside me tried but was not even a issue. as I was going through my gears WOT I looked in the rear view and seen the lights of a F body just 3 car lenths behind me. I was like "ok maybe he's into this like its a race".
I backed off the throttle at 70 MPH (no need in going to fast on a city street). The minute I let off, the F body behind me turned on its LIGHTS!. That car was a state trooper (great). He was behind me at the light and followed me all the way through my little wide open blast.
He pulled me over, walked up, he said "what were you doing back there".
I responded "I just installed a new final drive and was just testing to see how it would pull out of the hole".
He said "well I could take you".
So I said "you think so?"
He said "Im in a camero"
I said "yeah thier pretty fast"
Then he said " No really though, I had to go wide open just to barely keep up with you, but you wasnt gonna leave me"
Then he said "I dont feel like writing a ticket today, I'd say your final drive is doing fine so drive safely from here out"
I said " Yes Sir!"
Thats such a wild story that my wife thinks I made it up, but it sure enough it did happen. I know that trooper enjoyed the race LoL!