2 speed diff to help Falcon Gearing issues? - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

carazy · 04-15-2003, 19:57

Hey all not sure if anyone has noticed but the Focus St is advertised as having a six speed box. Thanks to the Adelaide car show I grabed some of the info on the car (as well as every Falcon thing I could get my grubby hands on!)
and discovered that the car infact runs a four speed box with a second gear on the diff. so the box runs like this
1st 4.410 diff of 2.87
2nd 2.670 diff of 2.87
3rd 1.330 dif of 4.24
4th 1.080 diff of 4.27
5th 1.330 diff of 2.87
6th 1.080 diff of 2.87

Now could something like this be put in place to allow a real normal/power button on a falcon?
Ie final drive of 2.77 for normal driving (making for around 1500rpm for 100kms and say 3.45 for sport mode? (my guesses are for what would suit a 6 btw)
Sounds like a great idea for me and would mean the ability to get dead sexy quarter miles but still have good normal drive economy.
2 speed diffs have been around for a milenia on trucks shouldn't be to hard to do.

Troutman · 04-16-2003, 03:11

I think something like a T56 with a short ratio (say, 3.45 or 3.7) would do the same job, as its 6th gear is still pretty tall. 1500 rpm would probably be too tall for highway driving unless it's an XR6T or something, and the extra weight and complexity of such a system would cancel any performance benefits.

Mr Jucy · 04-16-2003, 03:33

Maybe we should have a high & low range like 4WDs have lol
I am interested in the diff on the hi rise ute thing they are doing where you can lock the diff by pressing a button from inside the cabin that could be fun having a locker for the track etc & having an open centre for on the roads

carazy · 04-16-2003, 04:50

I'm hoping someone knows more about it.
Obviously it's seen as a useful advantage if it's been put on the ST Focus.
I'm not suggesting retro fitting this to an older car but perhaps an improvement to a BAII.

04-16-2003, 05:00

Hopefully this 6speed comes out in the new BAII ( GT )

Tote · 04-16-2003, 05:23

Mitsubishi colts had a similar feature in the 80s, two levers, one of which was a 4 speed gearbox, the other was an overdrive which you could use as a quick shift down for more power or shift up for economy. A lot easier to implement in a front wheel drive where the gearbox and diff are all in the one place but a bit harder in a Falcon I'd imagine.
Having said that there are aftermarket overdrives that would do a similar job available for landcruisers etc.
Regds,
Tote