fakenhguy

Need some help. If I am cruising at 60mph on the highway and I want quick acceleration from here (I drive a manual)... what do I do?

jonztang

drop her into third, and press the first pedal from the right......

oh yeah, and hold on!

(safe to do, and VERY effective)

fakenhguy

thanks. Sounds dumb but didn't know if it was ok to do at cruising speeds. I saw someone post a thread that they dropped into second but that really seemed crazy to me???

jonztang

from 60 with the stock gears...(I am assuming 3.55, or 3:31's) you COULD do 2nd.....although it would be a pretty quick upshift to 3rd, but that would net you an immediate scream up to the top of the band. These engines are best when you are driving the car like you stole it.

It just depends: do you want some speed, or do you want to scare someone, including yourself!!??

Either would be ok.

theedge67

2nd would top out at around 60, so I wouldn't shift down to 2nd. It would be worthless. 3rd is what you want. Hit third, punch it, then go clean your shorts.

Grinder911

Clutch in, blip the throttle a little more than if you were downshifting to fouth and drop into third, clutch out then floor it.

If you do this quickly you'll downshift smoothly and take off quick without a major shock to the drivetrain.

If you want to make some noise and maybe shoot the rear end out a bit then clutch in, drop into third, clutch out and floor it.

My car has 3:55 gears and at 6000 rpm in 2nd I'm going around 69 mph so for how fast I'd have to shift into third it's not worth it.

fakenhguy

thank you

scramblr

Just don't hammer the gas pedal on a wet road when downshifting... Instead downshift, let the clutch out and then easy on the gas. Make sure the car is straight when doing this, i.e., not while pulling out from behind some one.

I pulled out behind a car one morning and there must have been some dew on the road (hadn't rained). Doing 45 and dropped it into 2nd as I was changing lanes...yeah, big mistake. Let's just say the other driver could see my pony on the grill at about a 45* angle through their drivers window. TSC kicked in, I straightened out the car and kept on going. That was interesting...

MustangLynda

Holy sh*t you mean I can go 0-60 in first and second gear without killing my car? I need to learn how to drive my GT! I've only had it one day, had a v6 before that and I would have never even tried that.

theedge67

Yep, 0-60 in just one shift Or, if you prefer...0-100 in just 2 shifts!!

StangMahn

"and clean your shorts" haha

yeah, a dowshift to 2nd wouldnt help much, but definately ino third if you really wanna get into it, 4th if you just want some acceleration

clockworks

Don't forget to rev match.

Hypothetical numbers... if you're cruising at 60 mph in 5th, let's say your rpm is 1500. Well, what would your rpm be in 3rd, but still going 60? Answer: much higher than 1500. The synchros are going to violently sync up your engine speed to the output shaft speed, which isn't really good for your car. Also, it jerks you forward in very sudden deceleration before you start to accelerate, which is counter to your overall goal.

kh765

I've been to 60 in second gear with my v6 without being too hard on her.

Paris MkVI

I think third gear at 60 should produce engine revs in the 2800-3000 range.

The brothers are right. If you are used to the older iron block pushrod engines, this seems a little scary. But the modular OHC design doesn't mind the higher revs like the pushrod engines did. The older 5.0 engines redlined at what, about 4200-4300rpm?

kevinb120

I have 3:55's and get get over 75mph out of it(raised redline). Leaving work, I run 2nd up to about 75, shift to fourth, and let it coast down to the speed limit.... At 60 on the dot its not in the perfect spot in 3rd, but thats the proper choice, 2nd is already dropping off peak HP at 60mph.

scramblr

Yeah, I was going to say that I can get well above 60 mph in second with 3:55s.