OK, so I am abit conservative about taking it to the rev limiter. I have come close to the red line, but haven't actually experienced the limiter in action. How will I know when I have? Recommended gears for trying it? You know, they use to preach to us never drive your car that way, it's just hard to take it to the limit without fear of damaging the engine.

 

Put it in first gear, take off normal, get to about 25 mph and step on it. Don't let off until your going 41 mph. You'll be addicted! Please post afterwards.

 

But it's n ot bad for the rotary engine correct? I always though it could handle a lot more RPMS then 9.5k.

 

yea it feels like it could rev at least another 2k past 9500

 

someone give this guy a link to the movie where those chumps took an old rx-7 to about 9000 RPMs and held it there with NO OIL, and NO RADIATOR CAP. How long would you guess the engine lasted? 2 min.? 5 min.? 10 min.? It lasted something like 20 min.

 

Won't your automatic shift for you if you get too close?

john

 

When you hit 9500RPM you just stop accelerating. Nothing bad happens to the engine when ya do so. That IS why it's there, to protect the engine. Now if your doing 9000RPM in fourth and shift into second, then your asking for trouble.

 

I tripped the rev limiter today for the first time (4000 miles on the car). I was testing out the "L flash" and was accelerating at full throttle in first when I my radar detector went off and I took my eye off the tach. Looked back at it and I was already at 9500; the engine immediately lost power. It was obvious that the rev limiter had taken hold. I instantly lifted the power and all was normal in the next gear.

It goes up so fast at high revs that you can't look away. I appreciated the protection. You can't miss it.

 

for the most efficient use of hp/tq, you should be shifting at peak power. it should come at around 9k. any further than that and only time is being lost.

 

as for the question, does the automatic transmission shift if you take it up to the limit, no, if you are in manual mode, it actually lets you run it up there.

 

Cool :D :D

 

I too was afraid of the rev monster... a month ago. Having "accidentally" maxed the revs a few times the fear is gone. My trade-in was a 268,000 mile '91 Explorer. Much more than 5k revs would have dismissed that old truck from school. My '69 Mustang is a different story, It's a torque monster that will let me wring the occasional 7k rev out of it, but it sounds like all hel is breaking loos in the process. The RX8 hits 9k effortlessly anytime. It's a thing of beauty! Embrace the rev monster!

 

The engine may be fine with it, but that is a lot of stress on the transmission gears and bearings and on the differential. The tranny certainly won't fail on you, but you are cutting down on the lifetime if you keep it at 9K for extended periods of time. That said, I can't wait until I've broken in my engine and I can test out the redline

 

Pff. Did you make that up yourself or do you have proof the tranny can not take 9k? That is what gears are for. As long as you are shifting smoothly you will not have a problem.

Personal experience on the track tells me this car loves redline and to stay up high all the time. Of course, it also tells me you burn a quart of oil in one day and get 8mpg. :D

 

Not true.

Witht the way the torque curve works, and the resultant drop in RPMs fromgear changes your always better changing up as late as possible.

Because the power after peak power to the rpm limit is more than in the next gear at lower rpms.

But hitting the rpm limit is no fun and never the quickest , so timing it right is the important bit.