Where would your shift point be?
I datamastered a few (50) runs last year. My car shifted out of 1st at 6100 and ended up around 4500 in 2nd.
My tq conv is showing a stall of around 2700.
Looking at his dyno curve at 6100rpm you are at about 420hp and if you shift to 4500rpm you drop to 360hp......if you don't shift and wait til 6400rpm you will stay aroun 410-420hp vs th 360-370hp you would have if you shifted...
Math works for me????
At any mph what gear gives you the most horsepower....pick this gear....if you have 420hp at 6100rpm or 360hp at 4500rpm it is clear it is not time to shift unless you are running into redline considerations..
At these rpms I would think the tranny is pretty well into lockup??
Last edited by LT4BUD; Mar 2, 2006 at 01:52 PM.
Looking at his dyno curve at 6100rpm you are at about 420hp and if you shift to 4500rpm you drop to 360hp......if you don't shift and wait til 6400rpm you will stay aroun 410-410hp vs th 360-370hp you would have if you shifted...
Math works for me????
At any mph what gear gives you the most horsepower....pick this gear....if you have 420hp at 6100rpm or 360hp at 4500rpm it is clear it is not time to shift unless you are running into redline considerations..
At these rpms I would think the tranny is pretty well into lockup??

When I say the math doesn't work I mean where the rpm is going to end up after the shift. An auto has slippage in it and isn't fully locked. From first to second should be 53% of the rpm, but it isn't going to be. My point being is if he shifts out at 6400 he isn't going to drop all the way to 3500.
Unless he changed his lockup, it probably is happening well into 3rd gear as well.





Unless he changed his lockup, it probably is happening well into 3rd gear as well.
Any shift before 6000rpm(your hp peak) will result in going to a lower horspower, no matter what the new rpm is since it will be less than 6000...
Between 6000 and 6400 the only way you could shift and not loose power would be if your rpms only dropped a few hundred rpm...look at say 6200.....the only window of rpms where the power is equal or greater is between about 5600 and 6200.....you will certainly drop way below that which will result in a significant power drop....
Your optimum shift point is 6400+, since ANY shift point below that will result in a power loss....
Any shift before 6000rpm(your hp peak) will result in going to a lower horspower, no matter what the new rpm is since it will be less than 6000...
Between 6000 and 6400 the only way you could shift and not loose power would be if your rpms only dropped a few hundred rpm...look at say 6200.....the only window of rpms where the power is equal or greater is between about 5600 and 6200.....you will certainly drop way below that which will result in a significant power drop....
Your optimum shift point is 6400+, since ANY shift point below that will result in a power loss....

My motor is a stock 90 short block and I am making peak power around what rpm you are but I am a little bit scared that I will create 8 single cylinder junk piles each yielding 43ci if I push my motor to 6500.
To me it looked like you had a peak hp of around 59-6000 so that's why I originally said 6500.
I would shift when my shift light comes on .If you spin the tires at launch then you will be beyond your power curve.The motor will lose power and it takes more time for it to recover.
Check the track and see what the tires will hold and fudge the shift up or down by 3 to 500 rpm's.
T=F*d
F=m*a
then
a=T/(m*d)
where a = acceleration
T = torque at x rpm
m = mass of car
d = effective torque multiplication ratio (requires gearing and tire size)
Of course a can't be greater than the amount of friction your tires can provide times the ratio of the vehicles weight on the rear tires.
Or I could be full of crap, I'll leave it to you to figure that out.
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I would shift when my shift light comes on .If you spin the tires at launch then you will be beyond your power curve.The motor will lose power and it takes more time for it to recover.
Check the track and see what the tires will hold and fudge the shift up or down by 3 to 500 rpm's.
Simply put: Choose the gear that gives you the most horsepower for a given speed. In this case you will also have most torque vs speed at the wheels.
Don't shift until you will have more or equal hp in the next gear, unless you redline first.
...
BUT
a well designed car will have the gearing matched to the output of the engine. Again, that's why the S2000 can almost keep up with an early C4, even though it has less than half the torque, it has been geared to take advantage of its ability to reach high RPMs.
Torque area under the curve is what really accelerates you, HP is the hedge to simplify the relationship between torque and RPM.
Simply put: Choose the gear that gives you the most horsepower for a given speed. In this case you will also have most torque vs speed at the wheels.
Don't shift until you will have more or equal hp in the next gear, unless you redline first.










