The Ford Barn

tubman · 12-29-2024, 09:13 PM

Zephyr gears were designed to be used with some sort of overdrive and require a low rear end ratio (4:11 and 4.44 were common) to be practical. You have to remember that all Ford transmissions are 1:1 in high gear. Running these ratios on the highway without the benefit of an overdrive requires the engine to run at higher speeds than normal to maintain the desired cruising speed. If you have a light car and and engine that is modified to run at these higher revolutions, you can pull off using Zephyr gears for all around driving. Otherwise, just getting the car moving off the line and cruising at normal highway speeds is uncomfortable.

In the current situation, we do not know enough about the O/P's vehicle to give a good answer. What is the current rear-end ratio? Does it have any sort of overdrive setup (maybe a Mitchell or a Columbia) now? What modifications (if any) have been made to the engine? If the O/P has just an "ordinary" car and expects the installation of Zephyr gears to be some magic performance enhancement, the answer is most likely "NO". Top speed will be the same and driveability will suffer.

12-29-2024, 09:13 PM	#9
tubman Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Minnesota, Florida Keys Posts: 12,139	Re: Zephyr gears Zephyr gears were designed to be used with some sort of overdrive and require a low rear end ratio (4:11 and 4.44 were common) to be practical. You have to remember that all Ford transmissions are 1:1 in high gear. Running these ratios on the highway without the benefit of an overdrive requires the engine to run at higher speeds than normal to maintain the desired cruising speed. If you have a light car and and engine that is modified to run at these higher revolutions, you can pull off using Zephyr gears for all around driving. Otherwise, just getting the car moving off the line and cruising at normal highway speeds is uncomfortable. In the current situation, we do not know enough about the O/P's vehicle to give a good answer. What is the current rear-end ratio? Does it have any sort of overdrive setup (maybe a Mitchell or a Columbia) now? What modifications (if any) have been made to the engine? If the O/P has just an "ordinary" car and expects the installation of Zephyr gears to be some magic performance enhancement, the answer is most likely "NO". Top speed will be the same and driveability will suffer.