Wheels, tyres, gears and FDs !!

[Oz at work]

A strange title, its true but my question covers them all !!

Since I live in Jersey which has a 40mph speed limit (yup, its true) a mini capable of 130+mph is not really practical. Add to that, if the gearing is too tall I'd not be able to make decent use of the rev range in 2nd without risking my licence.

Firstly does any know if there are different FDs/closer ratios available in different boxes that I could keep my eys out for (oh BTW I also need a LSD as the roads here are full of slow tight corners that will happily spin away any power !!)

Secondly I reckon to keep the overall gearing down I ought to use 13inch wheels with 175/50s but cant help wondering whether there is a real difference in grip by using 14s with 195/45s

Would anyone like to offer both there experience of 13s and/or 14s for grip and traction and what sort of speeds are you seeing in 2nd gear at the red line ??

If its relevant I'm looking at using a 1600cc Vtec

[mikeb]

hello oz i havent finished my mini yet but i drive a crx which runs on 15s and will do about 65mph in second gear at 9000rpm

[mikeb]

so what does it do flat out in second?

[mikeb]

the engine is a standard b16a .on the rolling it produced 159bhp which is about right for the car .at 70mph the rev counter is on 3800

[mikeb]

i must agree with you the gearboxs are very high geared ,i though this when i first drove the crx ,but the rev range is so high it equals it self out .what ratio was the final drive on the diff you were thinking about buying from geoff

[mikeb]

i wouldnt bother sacrificing acceleration for top end cruising speed ,the vtec is still better than an a series on a motorway anyway

[Oz at work]

If anything you need taller gearing, due to traction problems! (certainly without LSD)

The problem is that the conversion is just not worth doing for me if the only gear I can make good use of the Vtec is 1st, I might as well put a 1430/1460 A series and enjoy the torque steer :evil: !!!!
if I can get gearing giving about 50mph in second at the redline that would be alright. A 130+mph car is no good where there is a 40mph speed limit !!!

And yes the LSD is a must for Jersey - lots of tight twisty roads !!!!! :D