A smaller ratio (4:1 and down) will yield a higher speed in 1st and the rest of the gears.

A bigger ratio (4:1 and up) will yield a slower speed in 1st and the rest of the gears.

Rally cars normally run a ridiculous high ratio to keep the revs in the power bands.

ok, bear with me here, the ratio is basically the size of the diff gear that turns the axle that turns the wheel.

does a smaller ratio turn more than a bigger one?
what does a bigger ratio do?

A ratio is a ratio, on a LS unit or a open unit, my plan is to get to more or less 80km/h in 1st, the reason for the 3.64 unit and not something close to 3.89 that is standard on the B140 SA Utes.

Whtat difference does the ratios on the lsd do?

Finnaly i've been able to source my BMW E30 LS in the correct ratio of 3.64.
Now I can finally start designing this suspension.

The diff feels nice and solid with no play.

Let the fun begin.

So true on a race track where the smooth surface is controlled, the live axle performs as good as IRS when properly set up.

For your average street with potholes etc, IRS is "better" for a smooth ride.

I purchased the Hubs, Hub Carriers and CV's.
Luckily these uses Lobro joints which is far easier to work with than the old cv joints.
The Hub Carriers also have 2 bolt holes for mounting a caliper, which will help a lot. I will be using VW Rabbit rear calipers, it think I will not even use these mounting holes as I need to design and lazer cut some other brackets for the rabbit calipers.

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I had a chat to a few Race Car builders in Cape Town regarding the pros and cons between Live axle and IRS. All of them told me the live axle is better, but once I asked them why they say so, all of them said Live axle is easier to setup and almost all IRS setups that does not work is due to guys running way to much spring rate at the back. It was quite interesting that all of them mentioned the same thing.

I hear you, just would me a big pitty to do all that work to have it perform worse, the IRS lotus guys get slaughtered by the live axel guys, they always seem to have a battle keeping it under control.

Rezlo no, the pick up's primary role is getting food at the shop that does not fit in my backpack when on the bike and driving Gymkhana.

Never really thought about it in that way, probably the reason for that being that we have a MK2 Escort build for the track.