Questions about shifting... - Honda Prelude Forum

LUDExCONDUCT · 02-03-2005, 11:10 PM

Ok...let me start out by saying "I suck at shifting." I was on the freeway the other night around 2am. I was cruising about 80mph w/ no one around. Couple minutes later I pass up a mustang going around 70-75mph. Looked like a '97 mustang NON-GT. Couple of seconds later he did a little racer fly-by. So I decided to give chase and downshifted to 4th. It was a futile effort though as he eventually stayed ahead and just kept walking.

So basically I need some advice. Was downshifting from 5th to 4th going 80mph the wrong thing to do? Should I have gone from 5th-4th-3rd? Or straight from 5th-3rd? And yes I rev-matched when I downshifted. Someone teach me some shifting skills since I don't really race!

What gear is good to downshift to...and from what speeds?

.::flame suit on::.

Auto|MaG · 02-04-2005, 12:53 PM

I know in 4th, 5500 comes at 85mph. If youre a slow shifter you probably would not have done better shifting to 3rd, since youre only going to be there for a second before going back to 4th again. I probably would have just gone to 4th as well.

But I could be completly wrong as well

The Oreo · 02-04-2005, 01:42 PM

3rd tops out at about 95mph.. u should have thrown that bish into third... rev matching it of course..

LUDExCONDUCT · 02-05-2005, 04:30 AM

Thanks for the help folks. Do you guys know what speed each gear tops out at?

The Oreo · 02-07-2005, 07:33 AM

1st- well i have reached 40mph, but a safe speed would be 38

2nd- 65mph

3rd- 95 mph

4th- 125-127mph

5th-??? i have reached a little over 150mph.. now when i say a little i mean a little... like 151

Initial Lude · 02-07-2005, 08:04 AM

yeah.. i agree. 3rd gear. u would have got a punch on the stang.

LUDExCONDUCT · 02-07-2005, 12:47 PM

thanks for the info folks. Wish me luck for next time.

krazyshane · 02-09-2005, 01:52 PM

Good luck James... Nothing more exciting or rewarding then sticking it to a Stang owner

Emerald99 · 02-09-2005, 03:41 PM

yep, now the stang owner's telling all his friends he raped a lude, good job sucking.

, just kidding! just take it to 3rd next time and revmatch, you'll be straight

shortysm22 · 02-09-2005, 09:19 PM

yeah, like what eveyone said, shift into the right gear and revmatch, try to be careful. Practice a bit if you need to in lower speeds and then try it out on the highway.

LowFlyin' · 02-09-2005, 09:41 PM

Shifting to 3rd wouldn't have done anything but make your car louder...especially if you have a stock Lude with no fuel adjustments. 80mph would be just under VTEC engagment, and the H22 is pretty torquey as it is. ...but, you should have raped the V6, especially at highway speeds. You sure it wasn't a 4.6L?

PretecSH · 02-09-2005, 10:48 PM

also when highway racing:

Watch the 3rd to 4th shift! When trying to shift quickly, you could very easily misshift into 2nd, bending valves and costing a couple thousand. Just a word of caution for you. Do a search on how many people have misshifted on this site alone.

The Oreo · 02-10-2005, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LowFlyin'

Shifting to 3rd wouldn't have done anything but make your car louder...especially if you have a stock Lude with no fuel adjustments. 80mph would be just under VTEC engagment, and the H22 is pretty torquey as it is. ...but, you should have raped the V6, especially at highway speeds. You sure it wasn't a 4.6L?

Shiet i dont know about u, but when i drop my car into 3rd at 80 it's close to but below 6,000 rpms... my car doesnt just get loud and sit there.. it moves out..

and no i dont have any big time mods.. actually i wouldnt call it an engine mod at all..

(type S intake) But it was one of the best things to ever happen to my engine since the aem cai and short ram i had

:edit: it's a little above 6,000 rpms.. tested it last night..

LowFlyin' · 02-10-2005, 03:51 PM

My car pulls just as hard in 4th at 80 as it does in 3rd at 80.

The Oreo · 02-11-2005, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LowFlyin'

My car pulls just as hard in 4th at 80 as it does in 3rd at 80.

at 80 third is not wound all the way out tho so why not make use of it.. then shift to 4th at 95 mph??

LowFlyin' · 02-11-2005, 08:49 AM

Because...in a stock Lude, you are making more torque at 5500rpms than you are at at 6800rpms. You might gain just a hair if you go from 3rd, but when you shift to 4th you'll lose that hair.

Plus, once you go over 7000rpm (stock), you start losing both HP and TQ pretty rapidly. Before I did breather mods and VAFC tuning, the only time I redlined was on the 1-2 shift so I could stay on the Hi-Cam. ...after the first shift, I went up to 7400 on the tach and shifted from there.

The Oreo · 02-11-2005, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LowFlyin'

Because...in a stock Lude, you are making more torque at 5500rpms than you are at at 6800rpms. You might gain just a hair if you go from 3rd, but when you shift to 4th you'll lose that hair.

Plus, once you go over 7000rpm (stock), you start losing both HP and TQ pretty rapidly. Before I did breather mods and VAFC tuning, the only time I redlined was on the 1-2 shift so I could stay on the Hi-Cam. ...after the first shift, I went up to 7400 on the tach and shifted from there.

i never lost anything when shifting from third to 4th..

but then again i shift quickly.. only thing i lose from 1st to 2nd, and 2nd to 3rd sometimes is traction.. chirps almost everytime..

but like i said before people have their own techniques and styles they are comfortable with.. I probably would see this loss in hp/tq if my car were on a dyno (from 7,000 rpms to 8000) but i sure as hell dont feel it..

LUDExCONDUCT · 02-12-2005, 03:28 AM

Update: Just got home a little while ago. I was driving on the freeway again w/ no cars around. Once again minding my business cruising around 80mph. After a little while another stupid damn mustang pulls up. (no ricer fly by this time) I checked out his badging it's another non GT 96/97 stang. The bastard starts taunting me by getting on and off his gas. So I said to myself, "ah to hell with it"...then pumped the gas pedal twice to let him know I was ready. We cruised at 80mph for another 3-4 seconds then I hear him downshift. This time around I let this stang have it. I rev matched it and dumped it to 3rd. Since he gunned it first he was ahead of me by just about 1/2 a car length. Then I shifted from 3rd - 4th, and by the end of 4th gear I had about 2 car lengths on him. Shifted to 5th and let off at 120mph then slowed back down to 80mph. The mustang pulled up next to me and gave me a

sign and got off at the next exit.

YAY for me!!

I redeemed myself

If that was a 97 or so GT how different would this outcome be?

fittyonefitty73 · 02-12-2005, 06:51 AM

^^^same, that generation GT unmodded is pretty slow. I think the 5 speed only ran like 15.0 or 15.1. so if it was an automatic then you woulda walked em. good kill JP. when are we gonna run?

LUDExCONDUCT · 02-12-2005, 07:41 AM

When you get your car fixed foo!! Is it running now or is it still out of commission?