Rear gears?

Thoughts on going from 3.23 gears to 3.73 gears?

What car do you have? You do not have it in your signature.

I need to add it. It's a 93 wagon

To get the speedometer to read correctly, you need to change the VSS gearing. The largest driven gear is a 45 tooth. You can also put a smaller drive gear on the output shaft. Changing the drive gear requires you to remove the tailshaft housing. Check transmissioncenter.net/product-category/gm/ they have a chart and calculator for gears and tire size. You will probably need to change the drive gear to a 17 tooth to use your current VSS drive. There are 2 variations, 1 for 40 plus tooth driven gears, and 1 for 39 and less tooth gears. The place referenced does not have the gears. You can get them from a speedometer shop. You can get smaller drive gears, but you may need the VSS unit for the 39 or fewer tooth driven gears. Dual exhaust and headers will give you about another 30 HP. I modified a trans crossmember to accept the dual exhaust on both of my OCCs.
Another way to correct the speedometer is with a square wave modifier. They are about $100. You input from the VSS, and output to the input of the control module under the dash. You can adjust it on the fly. A helper is required to adjust it on the fly. I have one in my 91 with the 454, and it works great. It saves you from removing the tailshaft housing, and even the VSS.
As far as gearing, there is not much difference between 3.42 and 3.73, but I like the rpm at cruise with the 3.42 gear better. Most of the people who go to 3.73 are LT1 powered. If I put 3.73 gears in a wagon, I would put an overdrive unit on the back of the trans. It would make it a 5 speed with a double overdrive.

Seems to me the square wave modifier would be the way to go. I would be going from 3.23 to 3.73. I was thinking you'd feel that vs the 3.42 to 3.73. I have 4.56 gears laying around lol. I wouldn't actually put them though. I do like the idea of double over drive

You are working with 180 HP, and 300 lb ft of torque, so you do not have the power of the LT1, and the return will be less. The headers and duals would make a noticeable difference with the shorter gears.
BTW 3.23 gears are 200 mph gears...6k rpm is 200 mph, although the engine does not have the power to get there.

I think it all depends on what you are trying to do. Stoplight racing, 3.73. Economy 2.53 and depending on how you want it to accelerate at different speeds someplace in between.

I went with the 3.23 to get some better acceleration than the 2.53 gave and to get rid of the constant downshifting at highway speeds. They gave me the 1700-2000 rpm range on the highways and freeways I was looking for and it seems to be the sweet spot for holding high gear, pulling well, and not being very noisy. This is my daily and hauler and we use it for weekend touring if we want to go out into the country for a ride.

I will point out, based on my 96 Buick that the change to 3.23 helped a lot in how it drove, but I went in and change the shift and lockup points for both up and down shifts and locks. That really help the driving as I could tailor the points to pickup a shift smoothly after right turns, for instance, or downshift soon enough not to bog at various speeds.

booster wrote:

I think it all depends on what you are trying to do.  Stoplight racing, 3.73.  Economy 2.53 and depending on how you want it to accelerate at different speeds someplace in between.

I went with the 3.23 to get some better acceleration than the 2.53 gave and to get rid of the constant downshifting at highway speeds.  They gave me the 1700-2000 rpm range on the highways and freeways I was looking for and it seems to be the sweet spot for holding high gear, pulling well, and not being very noisy.  This is my daily and hauler and we use it for weekend touring if we want to go out into the country for a ride.

I will point out, based on my 96 Buick that the change to 3.23 helped a lot in how it drove, but I went in and change the shift and lockup points for both up and down shifts and locks.  That really help the driving as I could tailor the points to pickup a shift smoothly after right turns, for instance, or downshift soon enough not to bog at various speeds.

The OP has a 93, and the trans is not controlled by the computer.