Increasing top speed?
 

The topics of horse power and torque and how to increase those have all beaten down pretty hard, but I don't think I've seen a thread yet on how to increase top speed. Other than a simple gearing swap or engine swap, what can one do to increase the top speed in our vehicles?

Add power, longer gears and larger wheels.

Is it possible to add longer gears without making 5th and 6th worse than they are, and getting rid of how fun 1st and 2nd are?

Your top speed will be in 5th or 6th gear, those are the ones you need to make longer.

Yes, you can change individual ratios inside the gearbox.

Sweet! Tomei and I do believe cusco both make different final drives, never seen individual gearing though, any idea where to buy? Or can i tune the factory onee?

I wonder how often even stock speed of 145mph/233kmh can be used/reached .. and you'll definitely will have noticeable decrease in acceleration and fun in this relatively underpowered car to get to that top speed & to increase that single not needed bit. I can rather understand people doing shorter final drive ratio gears to increase acceleration & fun at > 99% of driving time at expense of that unneeded top speed. I bet that even people in countries with no speed limit on public roads like german autobahns rarely drive >200 on regular basis. Once to get a feel? Sure. Every day for hours at top speed?

I realize that I will probably never actually evem reach over 120mph but it's something that I would take great pleasure in knowing "hey, my car CAN do that", ya know?

sure your car can do it, but at what cost? IMO, it's not worth it. now if you invest that money into power options, you could hit a higher top speed than other stock 86's

Cusco do custom gear ratios however it is normal for those to be shorter for the above reasons. Lengthening the longer gear ratios and using larger tyres/wheels will require more power to reach the top speed. Not to mention the cost of opening up the gearbox etc.

A longer FD would be easier but then you take a performance hit in all gears.

As said above, it's quite a bit of cost just for something to brag about and never actually do.

6th gear maxes out at 180-ish. Once you have enough power to get to the top of 6th with good turbo kit... then you can think about contacting dodson or shep trans and they can make you a custom tranny and new rear end that will handle whatever you can throw at it.

You are probably gonna need better oil coolers, big brake kit, coilovers to lower the car, better tires, forged wheels. then pray the motor doesn't blow with repeated pulls.

@WallsAndFoundations: you'll be left with knowledge that your car now has higher top speed you will NOT be using .. for cost of much worse real driving performance all the time driving it you WILL see/feel. Should you?

To increase top speed you first need more power. When mine was stock I managed to get up to 147mph going slightly downhill, before heatsoak and probably had a slight tailwind as well

To increase top speed in this car, you might as well just spend money on a Mustang GT or a Camaro SS at the price point the FR-S/BRZ is. You can hit 145 mph 3-4 times before the FR-S does once without FI.

If you see some of the drag videos of the GT86 on the track running 10's, they barely can keep control of the car towards the end. It's so light.

/thread