Hey,

Let's say ya wanna adjust your shifting so that you try to max out the acceleration you can get from your tC...

When do you shift? I'd expect there are personal preferences/styles etc, but are there guidelines, like, "stay in each gear till you get *a little* past the rpms where the torque (or maybe the horsepower?) maxes out, to give "space" for the rpms to drop a little while you're between gears, then shift to the next gear"...

That seems to make sense to me...but, assuming I'm close on that guess, would peak torque or peak HP be the thing to aim for in terms of a shift point?

 

i shift the way I would assume everyone shifts. Full throttle to red line and do it again the next gear...thats if your racing. I think its more important how fast you shift compared to when you shift.

 

exactly. Some dyno's show that max torque and max hp occur before redline, but that doesn't mean you shift at those points. You redline it all the time.

 

When you shift is very important, however for the tC (and most cars really) you want to shift at redline. If you shift right past your max power point, your rpm drops as you engage the next gear. You are then usually way below your max power point.

If you redline it, although your power has begun dropping when you shift, you are higher on your power curve as you start the next gear. This usually (and does on the tC) averages out to better average power output.

No matter what car you are driving, you have to consider both the power at the shift point as well as the power after the shift.

So, basically, as many have already said, shift at or just below redline for best performance

 

You want to maximize power. . . not torque, as in the end your goal is to create torque to the wheels, not to the flywheel. The gears are in charge of converting power into torque.

Shifting: it's different for every engine, every car, ever transmission, and every gear. The goal is to be in largest chunk of the highest power band. A good shift will occur after the peak, so that when the RPMs drop, you will fall below the power peak.

 

And you should wait 1000 miles before redlining it?? How bad is it to occasionally redline it after having it for 400 miles?

 

Dunno, let us know when you need the first rebuild

 

yea... I'm waiting until after my break-in period before racing my tC... =)

 

Redline it no more than like once a day. Accidental WOT's happen a lot especially on a new car lol. I freaking floored it right when I drove off the lot cause I didnt expect the throttle to be so sensitive after driving a beater. My car is at 2200 miles right now after about 4 weeks of ownership and she is running perfect. Just got an oil change today and it seriously feels better. Dont be too scared about the 1000 mile thing, you should be fine after 500 but dont race at all! Ive only raced once but that was at like 1200 miles, kinda scary cause I smelt a bit of burning but I always smell that and I am pretty sure its normal new engine stuff. Not like bad burning oil burning but normal hot to the touch engine burning. Sorry I have no idea wtf im saying.

 

How about this one, when I try to maximize my speed and downshift or something to pass someone on the freeway I'm fine and going...shift up to 4th and I get an odd sound from my engine (almost like the engine itself is torqueing and moving) and then the same thing happens when I get the engine up above 5k RPMs and shift to 5th gear...

It will also do this from a complete stand still at a red light with fast acceleration between the gears...

Anyone else get this?

 

wtf are u doing to your engine? are u skiping gears or shifting up to soon or sumthin?

 

yea man

 

A popping noise from your engine compartment, between shifts can be due to a loose or broken trans, or engine mount. Hopefully not though.

 

I'm not doing anything I've never done w/ another car...

Just down shifting on the highway when I go to pass someone..I only get the sound when I get to like 5k RPMs...

Same thing with starting from a stop...if I need to get going fast, 1, 2, 3, etc...no skipping of gears...

I should probably have it checked out...my friend who owns all kinds of sports cars, mustangs, vettes, Ford Lightning, can't figure out where it's coming from...he thought the engine was just torquing due to the engine be revved up and then let back down...

I dunno...

 

with the tourqe power band in 5th u prolly don't really need to downshift unless u reallly realllly wanna pass the guy super fast, but if u notice when ur going abuot 60-65 in 5th ur already at 3k so y not just stay in that gear. but check ur car manual... is says what the maximum speed should be in each gear, so if ur already above it in 5th, don't go back to 4th

 

unless of course your retarded

 

Yeah, trust me, I'm going like 60, downshifting to 4th shouldn't hurt the engine...

And also like I said, it can happen from a stand still at a red light. I've never redlined once since I got the car....