coldtotouch said:
I heard from a first hand source this mod doesn't help much with gas mileage and takes away terribly from the power in 5th...
Hmmmm... My experience has been a bit different. Gas mileage: At my "normal" highway cruising speed of 80-85mph, with the air conditioning on, with two 250+ - pound guys in the car, AND our luggage, my 85 lb toolbox and a "spare" transmission that we were trading out with a customer along the way, we were getting around 42-46mpg highway.
As for the power loss, I wouldn't say it "takes away terribly" - more like it moves the power band higher on the speedo. How much higher? I can't say; I've always chickened out by the time I'm showing around 115-120mph on the speedo! Something weird does seem to happen with the power if you use the HF 5th gear with an Si final/diff. It feels a bit less powerful than a stock Si 5th, but it feels like it gets "on the cam" at around 95-100mph, and it
feels like it keeps pulling harder as the revs climb.
Still, I don't find the power in 5th gear to be sorely lacking for most situations. Places where I'd normally downshift a stock Si, I still do that; places where I wouldn't... I don't. There's adequate passing power in 5th gear at 75-80mph without downshifting, even with the A/C on.
Revs: It doesn't look like much on paper, but it's a BIG difference. It just might change your driving style. Like Charles mentioned, after years of driving Si's, where 80mph = 4000rpm, my "inner ear" just seems attuned to that frequency. With the HF 5th, I'll look down and find myself surprised to be cruising at close to 90mph!
Out for a drive today in my bone-stock '90 CRX Si, the stock Si 5th gear just felt
wrong. Maybe I've been driving the hybrid tranny too long, but the Si transmission just wasn't doing it for me.
All in all, the HF 5th isn't a HUGE difference - but in a world of near-three-dollar-a-gallon gas, even little things can help. And also, the way I see it, if I have the need to still be accelerating that hard by the time I'm into 5th gear, I'm already screwed, because the police radio call has already gotten ahead of me! Right, Mark?
Mike