Jay Wellwood

In the 968 platform, with a 3 liter turbocharged motor, which would you choose:

944 Turbo 5 speed
968 6 speed

Pro's or Con's?

azbanks

944 turbo 5 speed. Longer gears. the 968 1st will be almost worthless.

For my 16 valve 3 liter turbo, I am going with a 944 turbo AOR 5 speed. I am replacing the 5th gear with a gear from an Audi 5000 diesel.

thingo

968- stronger, better shift, better spread and more gears, better diff.

V2Rocket

951 gearbox has really great ratios.
especially if you give it a tall 5th (.73 vs .83ish)
3rd gear is a weapon.

968 gearbox only really works for a 968, they need any advantage they can get (they feel slower than an S2 off the line from my experiences)

333pg333

Never had an issue with the gearing but we hardly engage 1st. The rest of the ratios are better than people seem to think. Ideal, perhaps not, but certainly not bad.

As for the gearchanging itself, I've never liked it as much as my old 5 speed but perhaps I've just got a dud gearbox. We've looked at servicing it but apparently the 'detents' are quite small...is the feedback I've received. 3rd gear has always been a bit of a bugbear for me. Especially when going fast in 5th and wanting to brake hard and downshift directly to 3rd.

As Rod points out, the LSD is bigger (G50) and there are more alternatives in gearing available if you wanted to change.

thingo

The shifting can be variable, it was great on my 968 box in the 951, but in the 968 I am driving now it is a bit ponderous. The 951 3rd is great on the road, but the stock 951 ratios are to high for any track I have ever run.

333pg333

I'd have to say the OP's context needs to be identified to give the best answer. I'd like to try a bigger bore torquey 3ltr motor with the stock 951 trans for a street car. Depends on what the car is being built for and how you like to drive.

Would have liked to try your old white one Rod. rip...

Dutch944

So.. Where are you getting this gear? And if you have one.. Maybe you have 2?

Jay Wellwood

Primary application will be for street performance.

Occasional canyon blasts will no doubt be in order as well.

ramius665

I'd stick with the 5 speed box then. Currently have a 951 5 spd and 968 6 spd, the 968 you're constantly rowing through the gears but with the 5 spd you can let it wind a bit more. For a turbo application, that means more time on boost before having to lift.

Jay Wellwood

Thanks for the comments and observations guys - truly appreciate you're insight.

azbanks

I am starting to search for these gears now. If I find more than 1, I will let you know.

Thom

For a street car I would definitely use a 951 trans. The NA 968 ratios are way too short IMO.

I run a 6 speed with taller ratios and it's the best for high a power 3L, but apart from the German Autobahn it's pretty much useless. There the best I got was about 180mph on the sat nav but could never find the room needed to go any faster even if the power was here.

rude944

I've thought about a shorter R&P in my 3.0 turbo build for my six speed at time of rebuild... Has anyone attempted this using off the shelf g50 parts? Rather than changing specific gears, keep the ratios and just make it go longer between them.

Reference, similar to OP, street car with some spirited DE and such. I do love the 951's third...

azbanks

A lot of racers have swapped in the shorter 968 R&P into the 951 trans but that makes it shorter between gears, not longer. More grunt and better acceleration at the expense of top speed.

I want to keep 1-4 the same but have 5th as a cruising gear.