<VV> gear ratio -- colons blow.

[Jim Burkhard]

Hey... Although the answer has been given, nobody helped out the 
poster (and future inquisitors) as to WHY.

1.  This is very easy to figure out on your own at swap meets or 
whenever you find loose sets lying about... you may kick yourself in 
fact. There's no need to look it up in a reference book as it is just 
grade school math...
2.  Count teeth and divide the # ring teeth by the # of pinion teeth. 
That is the ratio! ta-DAH!
3.  In this case, they made it even easier by stamping it right on the 
back:   36 teeth / 11 teeth = 3.27. No need to even count!
4.  Note the answer is NOT "3:27", but 3.27 (or more precisely 
3.27:1).  For some obscure reason (somebody help me out) lots of 
Corvair people like to stick colons in their axle ratios instead of a 
decimal point.  I've never noticed large fractions of other marque 
enthusiasts doing this, but I suppose some must. In any event, the 
colon makes no sense at all. Take it out and think about what the gear 
ratio really means (3.27:1 means it takes 3.27 turns of the pinion for 
the ring to rotate once), and it makes a whole lot of sense.

Happy Trails--
Jim Burkhard
Rustchester, NY
CORSA

Mike Moyer wrote:
> Hey found a ring and pinion (nice condition) set in a box when cleaning up stuff I recently purchased
>   Ring has gm 3861778     11:36     66  Stamped on back side.
>   What does that end up 3:55, 3:27?
>   It is a late model gear set I assume the 66 means the year.