pearl97

After reading the post on the manumatic mod: How many of you shift ur autos? People have posted on this before saying it will damage the tranny. Others say it is makes you slower/faster? (it feels faster to me to shift)

Someone that knows answers please help with these questions:

1.Will it damage the tranny to manually shift ur auto?
2.Does it make you faster or slower. 1/4 mile....0-60?

Thanx!!!!

96BLUMAX

iTrader: (3)

Damage not really. Help performance, not really. Now convert to 5speed, yes to help performance and usually never to hurt tranny.

MaxedOutOfCash

i don't think it damages to shift....i shift all the time, but i also take my foot of the pedal when going from 1 to 2, 2 to D...i think that might hurt the tranny...i don't know....i had a 240sx did for four years nothing happened....

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

I downshift to 2nd quite a bit when I need to scoot through traffic. Been doing it for 170k miles and my trans isnt dead yet.

96BLUMAX

iTrader: (3)

Wow 170K, thats awesome.

mintermman

96BLUMAX, I'm new to this, and i just inherited a spotless Automatic '98 GLE just weeks before i was going to purchase a '99 5-speed. Couldn't pass up not having payments, but figured i could put the downpayment $5-6k into upgrades on the automatic. Problem is i really want a 5-speed... how much for a conversion, and where do i go if you say it is realistic. Please help my dream become a reality. I do shift the automatic now, but only b/c i miss shifting on my old 5-speed.

deezo

iTrader: (3)

I downshift to hit my powerband depending on the speed. You don't have to do a tranny swap. I keep up with plenty of 5 speeds and even Sprintmax (whos 5 speed is really quick) is impressed with my auto. I drive the hell out of my auto when I get into battle.

96BLUMAX

iTrader: (3)

Price ranges from 500-3000 dollars depending on luck, parts, and if you do aftermarket or not. Email me and we can talk more.

DTR Maxima

ok guys, i have done some test with manually shifting and not, (race wise) and it seems when i manually shift i can pull upto 1/2 car length more. now my question is this... when you are manually shifting do you pull your foot off the pedal. well i do. it gives more of a manual effect, and it seems to put me in my seat a bit more, but if you dont take your foot off the pedal and shift, does it yeild the same performance? and is bad for the tranny to put your foot off while shifting and then slam it back on??

what do most of you do, when manually shifting??

just always been curious

Jime

iTrader: (10)

My auto stays in O/D at the track, I have never been able to run faster by shifting manually.

96BLUMAX

iTrader: (3)

I think the only way to get an auto to perform better is to either build the tranny with different gears or to increase line pressure. Just by manipulating the shifting, you wont get that much speed.

vsamoylov

If you turn of your overdrive, the revs are higher and you are then able to hit redline faster. The car seems faster when overdrive is off.

Jime

iTrader: (10)

When you hit the redline in 3rd and you are still not at the end of the track, you don't have much choice but to shift into O/D.

Yesterday I hit 5k RPM at the end of the 1/4 in O/D.

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

Cumalot

iTrader: (8)

Nope, I just leave it in Drive with OD on all the time.

deezo

iTrader: (3)

vsamoylov:

MaxKlinger

Can you really take an auto that far in third gear? Isn't that past the speed limiter (or maybe that's just on GXE's?) How fast would the car be going at redline in third with an Auto?

BadKarma99-4spd

iTrader: (4)

any particular reason you let off the gas to shift? does your auto shift too fast? wont letting off increase the delay between shifts?

i like to manually shift when racing due to the fact that you can control at what point the tranny shifts at instead of relying on throttle position, but i doubt that it makes much of a difference either way.

oh yea, and i can pretend i have a 5 speed

have fun

deezo

iTrader: (3)

Jim's car is a very fast modded auto. Close to stock auto's would be jumping into 3rd about 3 or 4 second before the end of the 1/4. Redline in 3rd is about 132 MPH.

BadKarma99-4spd: Letting up a bit allows the tranny to shift faster. Flooring it throughout the 1/4 mile run just spins the torque converter to high hell before it shifts.
In 1/4 mile racing you are going to floor it and shifting manually kills time if your not good with it.

Jime

iTrader: (10)

Yes it is way past the speed limiter, I had to do a mod on the ECU to fix that because I have a GXE. The speedo is around the 130+ MPH mark at redline in 3rd, but when you are running 22" tires the actual speed is just over 100 mph.

Deezo is right you do have to have a few mods to get there but one nice thing about mechanical and electronics is that there is usually more than one way to accomplish the same thing. Like the final gear ratio, its not necessary to change it, the same thing can be accomplished by reducing the diameter of the tires. Its also much cheaper.

Capitone

iTrader: (1)

I've been manually shifting since 40k, peeped a friend of mine in a modded I30 Doing it. I tried it once, and liked the feel, and have been doing it ever since if racing. Im currently at 122k and no problems. Had a scare once, but turned out to be low on transmission fluid (my fault, had recently flushed fluid). Whether or not it makes a difference in preformance has been a debate on the org for some time, but its your car....do what you like. I choose to take the "risk", and haven't had a problem, and feel that it DOES make a difference. But thats my opinion.

I know what you mean about taking your foot off while shifting. I know very little about how gears and such engage, but I always thought the reason for the "torquey" feel is because the pause allows your gears to connect more solidy, While shifting without taking your foot off doesn't. Im told that even automatics have clutches so this may not be too far off. Im sure someone more mechanically inclined can Confirm or disprove this, But that is just how it "feels" to me.

dpassino

here's my take on this... I am not a car buff, but this is personal experiance... I am probably going to get yelled at for this, but it relates to the topic...

My friend and I were on a private road and playing around. He is a majorly modded civic (yeah i know) any way.. he toasted me a couple times. at least by 1.5 car lengths. I decided to try to manually shift my auto.. this is what I did...

o/d off
Start off in 2nd gear (to about 3000rpm) foot off pedal
drop it into 1st (to about 6000rpm)foot off pedal
bump it up to 2nd (to about 6000rpm)foot off pedal
put it into d until about 80mph
o/d on (you will feel a extra jerk of power rev up)

and go....

When i did this the first time, he beat me, then i got used to it and owned him by 2 car lengths or more the last 3 times.

this was all legal by the way, we were on his fathers property in Vermont, Private property. It was a freshly paved road to his cabin up there.

FOBulous

i dont get how you did all that if your "foot off pedal" the whole time?

GeezHezFast

I think he meant it as the " clutch in and gear change " type of thing.

costcowholesale

iTrader: (12)

I drive around in 1 in parking lots

sometimes in 2 in heavy traffic (rarely)

under 30 mph I usually keep O/D off

I never manual downshift only manual upshift/hold gear.

chris j vurnis

You can make an automatic fast, but nothing beats the fun factor of driving a 5 speed.

Jime

iTrader: (10)

Actually, beating all the 5 and 6 speeds with an automatic is much more fun than driving one.

† ErV †

too much 5spd ego around here

personally i keep it in 2nd sometimes because i dont want it to upshift when i let off the gas. It is way annoying. never mind that stop and go traffic can easily run me up into 4th when i could have stayed in 2nd the whole time. i save 2 shifts per stoplight. a month that's about 1200 shifts for me.

fyi i can't prevent it from going into 4th (overdrive) so pressing the button isn't an option. yes i need a new transmission..

JSutter

iTrader: (46)

If i want to go fast i shift but 85% of the time i keep it in drive w/ O/D
off i hate 4th gear its only good crusing on the high way. I thought redline in 3rd was 122mph (read that some where) i love not having a speed limiter but ive never gone faster than 3rd redlined, im not that crazy. That let off the gas between gears is dumb, i know some one who killed thier auto that way. Wrong forum but 3rd gen autos haul a$$ they seems way faster than mine after 100.