Mechanical over-revving

[Adam]

Well, I know it's definately not good but I took my car out today and it runs stronger than ever. I know that it was definately an over rev(again) because I was at redline in 3rd at appox 100mph and I dropped it into 2nd! The back tires locked up and stutter skipped on the pavement and the engine went weeeeeeee. It sounded kinda like a super-bike for a sec now that I mention it. I guess these Flat 6 engines can handle quite a bit! If there was any damage I think it would be immediately apparent(bad noises and blinking lights etc etc). I think I dodged another bullet but I'm going to be more careful from now on and not try to be ultra quick shift speed racer boy. Thanks for the responses.

[Brucelee]

Damage is of course, a relative thing. Some damage is micro in nature and simply leads to issues down the road. Other damage is massive and immediate.

I am all for using the Box towards it strengths, as long as one knows that there is no cheating the laws of physics. You play, you pay!

But you seem to know that now and hey, who am I to talk???

[Adam]

Very true, anytime stress is placed on a part it could weaken it enough to lead to complete failure down the road. Sometimes it is more immediate and easily noticed. I remember reading an article in a magazine around the time the Carrera Gt was released. An automotive jounalist misshifted and over-revved the to extremely high engine speeds....to the tune of 14,000 rpm when Porsche checked the computer. The result was immediate engine failure. Hopefully if my engine ever gives out it will be within the next 5 and half years so it will be covered by my warranty.

[BuffaloBoxster]

Possibly not if you have a history of over-revving it

Be careful, and don't rush your shifts.

[ntmatter]

Here's a technique that I picked up when I was running my Viper at the track a lot - the Dodge gearbox was definitely suseptible to a 3-2 mis-shift:

Notice when shifting from 1st to 2nd to 3rd that your hand is held much like you're holding a soda can, with the top of your wrist pointing to the passenger window. When shifting from 3-4, rotate your wrist counter-clockwise about 90 degrees, so that your wrist is now positioned as it would be on a bike's handlebar. Rotating your wrist like this will make it nearly impossible to go from 3-2. Practice this in your street driving so it's second nature, so that if you're under the stress of hard driving and upshifts you don't yank the shifter towards yourself and grenade the motor.

A

[Adam]

Thankyou for the tip Andy. I will try that technique out. The 3-4 shift is the only one that gives me any grief. You think it would be the easiest too since it's just straight down...but like you said sometimes I have a tendancy to pull the shifter torwads me(to the left) when shifting quickly and the result is 2nd gear. I'm going to buy a B&M ssk soon as well so hopefully that will help. Less travel in the lickage means less of a chance to mess up I would think and hit the desired gear.

[donv]

Originally Posted by Adam

I'm going to buy a B&M ssk soon as well so hopefully that will help. Less travel in the lickage means less of a chance to mess up I would think and hit the desired gear.

Hopefully yes, but remember it will also take less travel to get into the wrong gear too...

[Adam]

Originally Posted by ntmatter

Here's a technique that I picked up when I was running my Viper at the track a lot - the Dodge gearbox was definitely suseptible to a 3-2 mis-shift:

Notice when shifting from 1st to 2nd to 3rd that your hand is held much like you're holding a soda can, with the top of your wrist pointing to the passenger window. When shifting from 3-4, rotate your wrist counter-clockwise about 90 degrees, so that your wrist is now positioned as it would be on a bike's handlebar. Rotating your wrist like this will make it nearly impossible to go from 3-2. Practice this in your street driving so it's second nature, so that if you're under the stress of hard driving and upshifts you don't yank the shifter towards yourself and grenade the motor.

A

Thankyou very much for the advice. I've been using the technique you mentioned by keeping my palm over the top of the shifter when shifting 3-4 and it is working much better. I think I was unconsciously putting my hand to the side of the shifter from time to time which resulted in the mis-shifts. Now I'm more aware of my hand position...particulary when shifting from 3rd to 4th. I'm glad I became aware of this before I blew my motor!

[ntmatter]

I started practicing this daily after I went from 3-2 at around 90 MPH at Thunderhill. The car went very sideways down the front straight, and all of a sudden the traction hooked up and I was moving toward a concrete tire wall perpendicular to traffic. I saved the car by inches, but since then have made it a point to rotate the wrist for any shift up out of 3, even in street driving. Actually, you could say ESPECIALLY in street driving; as with heel-and-toe, it's best to build the muscle memmory in daily driving so you don't think about it under stress.

A