Say you are cruising along. about
60-70mph in 5th gear.. @ about 3.5K RPM
or so. Not sure.

Meanwhile some RICER pulls up and wants to play.
DO you down shift into 4th or 3rd gear????

Do you go 5th to 4th to 3rd?

Or 5th Straight to 3rd??

Or not go into 3rd at all?

I guess my question is. How high of an RPM
is safe to Downshift into.?? I am hesitant
to downshift into like 6K+..

Know what i mean????

Thanks

 

If you are mightyslash you don't downshift at all

 

What kind of a question is that? If you have to ask what gear to shift into, you probably have a lot more to learn about just driving a car. Next thing ya know, we'll be hearing you ask when you should turn your blinker on to make a right turn, 100 feet, 500 feet before the turn??? Come on man, use some common sense, your power band if stock turbos sequential will be around 4700, try to get just above that. 60-70 should be the very top of 2nd gear, so would it make any sense to downshift to 2nd, rev the engine to 7k, and immediately shift to 3rd? No, that Honda's not only gonna laugh at you, but you're gonna hurt your engine/tranny/car because I doubt you're planning on matching revs anyway. In that case, shift to 3rd, but damn, this question shouldn't have had to be brought up.

 

You might want to take into consideration the maximum speed possible in any given gear. In your case, downshifting from 5th to 3rd when your already going 70 won't yield much of an advantage, as you will probably upshift to 4th in just a second or two, not to mention that the RPM climb after such a downshift is impractical. The maximum speed in 3rd is around 90, so why waste time shiftng there only to shift out in only a moment? 4th is all you will need.

 

What are you talking about? Im pretty sure 3rd gear can go up into 100 but maybe Im wrong. With your mindset... you mine as well just stay in fifth gear since your going to have to switch into it anyways. I would definitely go into 3rd. It will pull much harder than if you only go down one.

BTW: for a ricer you probably wont need to downshift at all

 

At around 70 downshift into 3rd? I agree with evel333... If you slow down to around 45 mph, then 3rd would be a good option, but around 70 unless you rev match, going down into third will give you that "rev siezing" sensation. Drop down into 4th, you should be just below the power band and you'll have a longer stretch in 4th (there is a reason most dyno runs are done in 4th).

Here's a good thread on downshifting:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...threadid=68623

 

That thread just proved my point. Why wouldnt you want to sqeeze out the rest of the power in 3rd gear? If you are going 70 you have a good 30mph left in that gear. Why would you want to use the bottom of the 4th gear power curve when you can use the top of 3rd gear? Maybe Im just misunderstanding you..... but your not making any sense to me.

 

Note to self: Do not buy used cars from Ryan

 

I don't believe that cruising at 70 mph with little to no boost, slamming it down into 3rd with no rev matching which will be close to redline only to shift within a second or two into 4th is going to produce those "desired highway racing" results.

I would interested to hear someone talk about what that does to the engine as well. How about someone get out on the highway and do a few tests from 70 mph? I would, but I'm in the middle of tracking down a gas odor problem so my FD is sort of in pieces.

 

I didnt say slam it in with no revmatching. Also a second or two is a long time while racing. Why dont you just Start out in 2nd gear at the drag strip? This way you wont waste your time in first gear since it revs so fast. I mean come on man... thats what your sounding like.

 

Racing from a dead start and a rolling start are two different types of racing.

 

Like I suggested. Test it. Pick some reference points and time yourself. See which way will get you from point A -> B the fastest.

I never said one way was better than the other by fact. I just believe that downshifting into 3rd at that point isn't the best way. Usually you don't want to downshift INTO redline.

 

You will only be redlining if you downshift to 2nd. Trust me there is plenty of room in 3rd gear at 70. Obviously we agree to disagree. Anyone up for testing this theory and ending the debate?

 

@ 70, hell, even 80 I'll drop down to 3rd, rev matching of course, otherwise you'll drop way back due to your car slowing while it yanks the engine up to speed, in addition to it being pretty rough on the transmision!

There is a hella lot more power @ 6.8k in 3rd than 4k in 4th, look at any dyno graph for our cars!

Oh, plus you get that high rpm shift near the beginning of the race, probably about as your 1 car ahead of the riceboy and give him a nice show with a huge flame!!!

Even the stangs, vetts, etc seem to give up after they see flames shooting out my exhaust...

K

 

personally, at 65 I'll go to 3rd
at 70, i just go to 4th

very much faster makes 3rd to short to justify the shifting time, IMO.

 

My thoughts exactly. Common sense.

On this day, common sense was thrown out the window in favor of, mental retardation.

 

you guys are completely wrong,

I am an avid trouble maker on the highway.

EVERY OUNCE of third gear helps.

Even if it means if it's only for 10mph before an upshift, it is what you need to gain the advantage.

If you guys don't agree. Take it to the freeway and line up with another car at 70mph, honk 3 times and one person take off in third and one person take off in 4th.

i'll glady participate in a test for this to prove my point. Although I'd already know the end result.

 

considerign the car is stock goign into 3rd from 5th at 70 will be best. i cant belive some of you do not know where each gear tops out at, at 70 in 3rd you are 6k rpms if not less, 3rd gear tops aout at 98-100 mph. 70 mph is nowhere in redline. goign into 4th will putt strain on the motor at that engien speed which is not so good for the engine, you are putting strain ont eh bearings. i hope you are rev matching when u down shift. switchign into 4th is prolly better off if you some mods that shift your torque curve...but i am not 100% sure on this.

 

Well... I am going to say... in NON-SEQ dropping to 4th will get your *** laughed at. You have to go for it all and drop two gears. I was crusing at 55 and this GST eclipse came up beside me trying to rev. I dropped from 5th to 3rd, broke traction, and there was no more eclipse. After a while you will get a feel, for where your RPM range will set in what gear. As mike was saying 3rd will get you to 100... I cant get exactly to 100 but it is up there in the 80s or 90s.

Oh yeah ryan is a crazy driver I will give him that.

 

even if im going 80 i'll still rev match and downshift into 3rd. 3rd gear tops out at like 92mph @ 7500 rpm...once you shift into 4th you're still be very much in the powerband which will give you a good lead.

 

This is absolutely rediculous to have to discuss and even prove this on a board, but because "mental retardation" is what pisses me off the most about people, I am going to set up an "experiment" to give you some times, will post later tonight if I get time from working on 3 FDs...
Basic theory: If you are starting from a stop on a dragstrip, you start in 1st, then shift to 2nd, then 3rd, 4th... On your way up, God forbid you were to look at the tach and speedometer, or you'd see at the end of 2nd, when you're about to shift to third, you're at 68 mph (~8k redline, which is winding out a bit)...
ISUposs- "personally, at 65 I'll go to 3rd at 70, i just go to 4th"
I feel bad for ya man, this means you're gonna upshift from 2nd to 4th on the drag strip because it's wasted time to be in 3rd gear for so little time... Cars have separate gears for a reason, and that's to maximize engine power at different input/output revs. It amazes me that you find such fundamental misunderstandings on a board that is meant to ADVANCE knowlege of cars, specifically, RX-7s. Those of you in favor of 4th gear, be very ashamed...