Is there a way to change the gear ratio on a 4kq?

[Tyson Varosyan]

Inspired by local Audi club members I am seriously starting to think about a
plan to take my '86 4kcsq to the land of 300+ HP. The problem that I am
struggling with in my mind are the extremely short gear ratios in the car -
designed for rally on a 115hp engine. I am used to the performance of my
3000GT VR4 - 45mph 1st, 82 in 2nd, 130 in 3rd, 148 in 4th and a 200+ 5th
gear. Before you ask, I have been up to 164mph and the car was still going
when I let off.

In a light 2800lb car 300HP would top out the first gear before the turbos
would even kick. As it is, bone stock, I can redline the first gear in less
than a second. Nearly tripling the HP, the 1st gear will become useless and
I would like to keep to at least five practical gears.

Being an AWD car, there is quite a bit of monkeying that will need to be
done if a tranny from another car was to be put in. I have heard that this
has been done, but the gear ratio differences seem to be too nominal to be
worth the hassle. Has anyone tried to just take the stock tranny apart, use
a gear puller to pull the gears and change out the ratios? Placing a larger
gear on the input shaft and a smaller set on the output side should have the
wanted effect without having to mess around with the differentials. At the
very least, I would like a top gear that can reach 140-150mph at 5000-6000
RPM.

Ideas?

Tyson Varosyan
Technical Manager, Uptime Technical Solutions LLC.
tyson at up-times.com
www.up-times.com
206-715-TECH (8324)

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