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Alright so this might be a little lame... but I just bought a six speed and pretty much taught myself how to drive it, was fairly proud that I only stalled twice.... and now that Im getting pretty familiar with it after about a week or so of driving.... I am a little curious about where you usually shift. Nothing too special done to the car, but it does have a slight cam, aftermarket heads, and ported intake....
Be nice to the newbie please and Im talking purely about daily street driving.
I would imagine that where you shift when accelerating is not the same place you shift when cruising?
Meaning that while you might not usually shift while accelerating untill maybe 2200, you wouldnt stay in that gear cruising at that rpm.. right?
YES I shift on sound, but I have a habit of looking down occasionally just after I shift, to see where I shifted....
What Im particularly a bit lost on is.... should I be doing 70mph at 1600 prm in 6th? (and I mean its dead on 1600, I can tell that if I slow down to 69.9 mph it drops to 1500)
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Normal driving I have always shifted at about 2500 RPM's. I've always felt that on the highway in top gear at anything under 1500 RPM's you are "lugging" the engine. Over 1500 RPM's in top gear is what I like.
That sounds right, 1500 even sounds a little low for 6th... just didnt know it did highway speeds so low my auto would have been up to 2200 by 70.... if I remember right
so what about lower gears... am I right about cruising shift points vs accelerating shift points?
seems like if Im staying at these speeds I should be in this gear:
->15 shift to 2nd
->28 shift to 3rd
->35 shift to 4th.... but if I continue accelerating I wont shift to 4th till 40
->45 shift to 5th.... but if I continue accelerating I wont shift to 5th till 50
and again, dont like shifting into 6th untill 70 BUT 5th at 69 is 2300 and I feel funny about cruising at that speed or 65 is about 2100 which is the speed limit and that still feels funny
1500 sounds about right. You can get really good mpg on highway.
If you let it drop below much it will lugg down and you will have to
down shift. Have fun banging the gears!
When cruising, I usually shift around 2k. I don't tend to have a problem with "lugging" even at 1,000 rpm in 6th. The engine pulls smoothly, though not overly rapidly.