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Driving An Auto Like A Stick

2317 Views 20 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  cincyses
Hey guys I know this has probably been covered a bunch of times but I am still sorta new.

I was wondering, in say a race situation, that if I started my car in D1 and started going and just shifted at redline or before, then up to D2 and then to D, would this hurt my car? Cause I tried it a little last night and was like *insert strongbad voice* "holy craap!". I felt that if I had raced my car against my car on regular automatic shifting that I would have beaten it. Any input, thoughts, suggestions?

Thanks
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G
it wouldnt hurt it at all as long as you dont hold the red line. Shift it right, and it should be fine.
I do it all the time, except its kinda tedious with me because my car is a column shift. I only have 1, D, and OD, so I have to start off in 1st, shift up into D and then back down into 1, which allows me to shift into 2nd. Then from 2nd I shift into D for 3rd, and then into OD for 4th. Life would be so much simpler if I had a floor shifter. <_<
if your gonna do that you need to shift before redline at like 5500rpm. that keeps the car in sink witht the gears. If you wait to the redline the car will hold it for about a 2seconds before shifting into 2nd. I've shifted both ways at the track and leaving it in D was always faster. So it's not worth it, but it's fun to do. And as long as you keep off the redline it can't do any real damage.
Before I had the chip in the car, I would always manual shift it. I just hated how the stock shift points were so early and caused the next gear to start too low in the powerband. Like the others said, time it right, dont let it hit redline, and it will make for a nice sporty shift.
i had to do that once.....not anymore! now its clutch..shift..chirp:D
Thanks guys. Yeah I wasnt redlining it, just shifting where it felt like it was natural for the car.
dont mean to stell the topic at hand but i read a while back about someone who would turn the od off up till around 35 or so and then put in back on. what does this do exactly and does it hurt the car in any way???
Putting off OD until 35 won't hurt the car. It just delays it from shifting too early. It's suppose to shift into OD at around 35-45 anyways.
my car shifts into OD right at 35 under low throttle
I would not make a habit of manually shifting your A/T without first installing a shift kit, and then, *only* when you *really* feel the need to beat somebody that you're sure you can beat.

Obviously you'd be doing this at a time and place were others are not at risk.

Most A/Ts, and especially the Tarii are designed to shift softly. This is done by allowing the clutch packs to engage slooooowly and geeennnnntly, like you should on a date.

This means prolonged friction and increased heat (a bad thing, in *this* case anyway) and ultimately premature (a very bad thing) wear on the A/T.

Adding a shift kit usually increases fluid pressure and makes the clutches lock up much quicker. The upside is quicker engagement and less slippage and less wear. The down side- firm to hard shifts that can be annoying to some drivers and most passengers.

There are different levels when installing these kits- towing, street/strip, and competition are three more common, general terms, increasing in firmness.

Once in a while, sure, why not. On a regular basis, get a shift kit.

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yeah I am not going to do it anymore......I was doing a hard accel and shifted from one to two. I thought I had done it at the right time, as suggested above around 5-5500 rpms. And as I shifted, it sounded like someone that drives a stick shift shifting without the clutch. I could hear my car screaming like WTH are you doing! so yeah...no more
Originally posted by 9824VDOHC@Apr 28 2004, 09:26 AM
Hey guys I know this has probably been covered a bunch of times but I am still sorta new.

I was wondering, in say a race situation, that if I started my car in D1 and started going and just shifted at redline or before, then up to D2 and then to D, would this hurt my car? Cause I tried it a little last night and was like *insert strongbad voice* "holy craap!". I felt that if I had raced my car against my car on regular automatic shifting that I would have beaten it. Any input, thoughts, suggestions?

Thanks
My car only has D1
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Let the car shift into second then pull it back to D1. This will hold it in 2nd until you shift to whatever it is you have next.....
Ok Paul, let me know if this is right. I have a 99. My gear selection is as follows:
P R N OD D 1
If I start in D and let the car shift itself into second gear, then I push the shifter into 1 it will hold second gear out as long as I want? I have been afraid to try this as I do not want the car to attempt to downshift into first while I am going around 35mph.
Yes. The PCM will not let the car go into first when above a certain speed. After it has shifted to second then drop it down to the 1 and it will hold second.
Ok awesome, thanks. B)
my 96 vulcan has only 1 D and OD.
is it just a 3 sp?
No, it's not a 3 speed. It's a 4-speed. It just doesn't have a selection for 2nd gear.
another term for shift kits are stages, Stage 1, firms up the shifts a bit, stage 2 firms up the shifts alot more, possible to chrip the tires on WOT, stage 3 is a race kit, it's total manual shifting, the transmission won't s*** wutomatically, and will give you instant clutch lockup..... aka it'll feel like you took your foot off of a clutch pedal too quick.... aka whiplash
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