When I'm trying to accelerate quickly (and shift smoothly), should I hold 1st gear up to a high rpm, or should I get out of 1st and into 2nd as early as possible? It seems that if I take 1st gear up high it takes forever for the revs to drop low enough for 2nd. Also do you guys use 6th gear around town or only on the highway?
I don't drive an STI, so I may not be the best to answer this, but I would think you should be taking 1st to around 6000 rpm, then shifting. Why are you waiting for revs to drop while accelerating. If you let the revs drop to much you will fall out of boost and that will make you slower. The higher the RPM the more boost you should be making so shifting high should be better. I would think that 6th gear would be primarily for Highway driving. 5th should be good for most normal city driving. In my WRX, I drive around the city primarily in 4th and 5th on Highways.
i am waiting for the revs to drop so they will be at the right level for 2nd gear with a smooth shift. if i try to shift real quickly, it is not smooth at all. maybe it is just my shifting, i haven't driven stick in 7 years and the only one i had before was a POS 84 Mustang 4 speed that was cheap and short term so i beat on it pretty bad. i don't want to beat on my STi.
I've noticed at least that my shift into 2nd goes a lot smoother if I shift out of 1st above 3500, if it's any below that the car bogs too much in 2nd. If I'm really gunning it I might shift at 5K, each gear in my tranny is almost exactly 1000rpm apart between gears, so it gets right back into the power.
so if i rev high in 1st, shift fast to 2nd, and get a jolt/surge forward, that is ok and isn't going to hurt the car in the long run? it just feels so violent if i don't let the revs drop.
I have your same issue jomotopia..... ask my wife LOL . I told her a short shifter would smooth things out. LOL ...
You shouldn't need the revs to "drop" to get into second gear at all unless you are trying to rev match on a down shift. You def. do not want to shift like you did in the 84 mustang! The subaru shift linkage prefers more finesse than brute force. I would assume this is the same across the spectrum (STi/legacy GT/WRX) If you're essentially re-learning to drive stick in an STi, than you are 1) lucky and 2) going to have to practice to become smoother.
awd/T combo is a bit more finicky than your standard rwd/fwd v8 or v6. patience and practice will be greatly rewarded though. i keep all my "town" shifts around 3k unless i'm feeling like i wanna have some fun. then anything goes.
It should come with more experience with the sti clutch and tranny, you will get used to it I can promise you that
i really doubt it... i know of people with a lot of power, pucked clutch and they dump at over 5k rpm when launching at the drag strip... genya did a near redline drop with his 450+ wtq STi and ended up breaking an axle... tranny is still fine
Uh...do you know if legacy trannys can take alot of 3000 RPM lauches....? Is squeling the wheels for a second good for a stock WRX tranny?
To clarify, it's me he was talking about. I was in the middle of no where, actually by the new Target and Home depot way out on the 1 laned part of 141. I was bored and stopped at the red light and there were no cars around. So i decided to practice launching. I revved up to about 4500 and when the light turned green i let the clutch in until i could feel it catch and my car started moving. After it caught a little bit i just let the clutch drop. my tires squeeled a littly bit and then i started going. Just a little bogging but i hear that if i dont floor it when i try to launch i wont bog as much.
the WRX tranny can't take the abuse an STi tranny can... i would recommend against high RPM dump launches in a WRX... i myself had launched my WRX numerous times at 6k rpm slipping the clutch (never dumping it) and never had transmission problems... but i have also known people who claim they have never launched but are having problems... its definitely one of the weaker parts on the WRX... although i believe the 06 tranny is much stronger than previous model years
There is a trick to being able to shift without letting the revs drop and making it smooth. You have to shift quickly rather than letting it drop any. that way as you begin to let the clutch out, the revs have dropped very little, and then by the time you let it all the way out, the clutch has smoothly let the engine begin pulling the car again before the its engaged all of the way, so that way by the time the clutch is all the way out, it doesn't transfer all of the power back to the wheels because most of it is already at the wheels. It requires a tiny amout of sliping that won't hurt your clutch... I hope this explains it clearly, this is just the way i do it and it works really well. You can shift this way while driving agressively or regularly and it works fine. The end result ends up being a hard pull, then another smooth hard pull beginning when you begin to let out the clutch and doesn't jerk and you don't feel any jolts... Let me know if this helps!
so you're saying i need to get the shifter in 2nd very quickly, and get the clutch up to the friction point very quickly, and then let the clutch through the friction point slowly (well, slower than i would for higher gears, but quicker than in 1st)? am i understanding correctly? what about the gas, should i get back on the gas before, during, or after the friction point, and how much? if i'm slipping the clutch a bit in 2nd and getting back on the gas at the same time, that is not going to wear out my clutch? also, i have trouble getting the shifter into 2nd quickly b/c it wants to wait (for the synchros i guess) and i don't want to force it. am i just being a wuss? thanks for the advice
It will wear out your clutch, slowly. You are much better off having to replace your clutch in a couple of years, than having to replace your tranny in a couple of years.
if that makes u a wuss, then i am a wuss too i dont force the car to do anything it doesnt want to do