Papapump51

Just wondering if it is ok to do this in my 8, when I had my Z28 and would be going down the road off stop and I would reach the speed limit by 4 gear already, so what I would do is shift in to the highest gear to start cruising.

Does anyone else do this? or do you just go through all the gears all the time, I would think it would be fine considering if you are in traffic and coasting you put it the according gear to your speed.... just thought I would throw this out there.

toxin440

I'm pretty new to the use of a manual tranny, but I go from 4th to 6th occassionally, my reasaon for it, is when im "driving with spirit" and get up and going really fast, there is no need for 5th if im already doing the right speed for 6th cruising

Or, when i drop to 4th on the highway to pass some asshat doing 50, once I get around them and wanna go back to cruising ill shift straight to 6th because its just smoother and easier.


Jeff

lefty63

Yes, that's fine to shift from 4th to 6th, I sometimes shift from 2nd to 6th. Of course the rmp's are about 8K in 2nd when I go to 6th

Papapump51

good deal, I have been driving sticks off and on through out my driving career and was just asking since the 8 is such a special machine making sure she can handle it...and from what I have heard the only thing this car can not handle is a short trip

lefty63

I also forgot to mention when making a major jump in shifting you will have to let the rpm's fall befor completing the shift. An example would be when I go from 2nd to 6th at 8K I will let the rpms fall to about 2500 before letting out the clutch, so just try to match the rpm's to gear.

Papapump51

yeah I let them drop as well , I should be doing something now...umm oh yeah working...but 8 chat is more fun!

rx8wannahave

I do that almost all the time, it's OK and by cruising in 6th you will save the most gas. If I'm going 44+ mph I'll be in 6th...when cruising that is.

josh989

I've gone first to sixth. no problems

lefty63

Yea, I have done that also (1st to 6th), I was just stating that if you need to speed up quickly to a higher mph and get the top rev for the day 2nd to 6th is a good choice.

xrider01

i almost always go from 4th to 6th. nothing has ever happened. i was actually wondering this myself a while back, but didn't want to start a thread because there's always somebody that says something along the lines of "use the search tool".

lefty63

Yea, skipping gears is a very old practice. I wish we could float the gears in the 8, I have managed to do it a few times, but will get the ocassional grind so I just skip it. I drove a 18 wheeler for 10 years and rarely used the clutch except for taking off of course and climbing very large hills or moutains. There's nothing more aggrivating than to miss a gear and spend the extra time getting up the thing and maybe going 10-20 mph because of a missed 1 or 2 gears.

JRichter

Ditto.

cleoent

hmmm... i didn't even know there was a 5th gear... lol.

5th gear has to be the least used gear ever. I'm never in 5th. NEVER.

xrider01

5th gear does have some use if you're going like 130mph and still need to be in the powerband

Raptor2k

I often skip 5th as well, it won't hurt. However, I use 5th when I'm cruising at 35 or 40. I don't want to bog the engine down...cruising at 2000-3000 rpms will get you the best gas mileage.

Coop '04

[QUOTE=Papapump51]Just wondering if it is ok to do this in my 8, when I had my Z28 and would be going down the road off stop and I would reach the speed limit by 4 gear already, so what I would do is shift in to the highest gear to start cruising.

The Z28 6 speed will actually force you to skip shift. It has a lockout. This "feature" allowed them to improve their gas mileage ratings. Most people added a resistor in line to defeat the solenoid because they didn't like the car telling them where to shift.

Avalonstar

Thanks for the tips guys, started using this technique today, makes it seem a lot easier on the car and my arm.

1.3L

Granny shifting is fine.

1.3L