Manual Tranny and Shifting...

Hey guys,

I have three questions I was hoping you can help me out with.


1. I have a 00' V6 Mustang and I was wondering how to determine the ideal RPM for each gear shift. Could someone either tell me or teach me a method for determining this?

2. When in a gear (1st, 2nd, etc...) could I just use the brake pedal without using the clutch up to a certain rpm or do I ALWAYS have to clutch in before I brake?

3. And lastly, if I am in second gear and I'm engine breaking to slow down to around 7 mph and the rpm falls to 1000, could I double-clutch to downshift into first or is there something else that I have to do?

Thanks a lot, and any help would be appreciated!

1 you'll have to find out the ideal spot on your own but basically put her through her paces and figure out where your dead revs are... usually after a point right before the redline the car isnt really gaining any speed or accelerating just revving out... you want to shift right at that point a good eye and butt dyno should be enough to figure that out

2 you sure can, it would suck if you had to push the clutch in every time you braked... just make sure you dont let the RPM's drop too low or the car will bog when you accelerate or stall out

3 ???? im not sure what you're trying to do there but if you're asking if you have to put the clutch in to go into 1st then yeah (you have syncros you dont need to double clutch unless you really want to)...

hope some of that helps

Thanks for your response!

1. Yeah, I'm definitely going to try that out and see where that spot is on my car.

2. Wow, that's a HUGE relief! I read a tutorial a long time ago on driving a manual transmission, and the author made it very clear that braking without first applying the clutch will damage your engine because you wouldn't allow the engine to apply the linear motion to the wheels and this would cause the engine to die or worse. At first I was a little skeptical, but didn't really question it all that much and always used the clutch first and then rev-matched. But after a while of learning about auto mechanics it just seemed unnecessary to clutch in every time before the engine idle rpm because the brakes would be absorbing the extra rpm's that the engine doesn't require to keep running. Thanks for clearing this up. LOL, to think, I was driving and constantly braking and clutching, braking and clutching, thinking to myself - hmm, I heard that driving stick was tough but I didn't expect it to be this tough?! :)

3. Sorry about this last one, I don't know what I wrote there myself. What I was trying to basically say was; if my rpm drops to around 1000 and my mph are at around 7 could I downshift from 2nd to 1st, or is downshifting to first prohibited in standard tranny cars? I read in that same tutorial that downshifting to first is absolutely prohibited and that it could burn out your engine.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help!

yeah when was the book written???.. it sounds like it was before they had syncromesh technology.. or its specifically written about dog box trannys

downshifting to 1st is fine, just do it slow and smooth.

Hey guys,

I have three questions I was hoping you can help me out with.

1. I have a 00' V6 Mustang and I was wondering how to determine the ideal RPM for each gear shift. Could someone either tell me or teach me a method for determining this?

http://www.arimport.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=416

If you want, like, the whole complicated mathematical way of doing it.

This was an online .pdf tutorial that I read like 2 years ago, although I'm not sure when it was written. But, it had, what looked like several screen prints from various other sources - books I believe, but I don't really know their date of publishing. Also, you mentioned dog box trannys. Could you tell me a little about them, I don't believe I ever heard about them.

mynismo: Great, thanks! Now its all comming together. :)

ldelaysionl: That's a very good explanation. I'm going to attempt :) calculating the shift points using that method. I found a website which has all of the gear ratios and the dyno chart for the 00' Stang V6, and if I don't screw up I think this will be a huge help, Thanks!

as far as i know (which isnt much) dog box tranny's have straight cut gears, as opposed to the helical (spelling) cut gears found on most cars

they're more durable but require all that fancy double clutch rev match technique you were refering to because most applications dont have any syncros... they're also well suited for powershifting as well (upshifting without a clutch)

Ohh, I see.

Alright, thanks for all your help.

anybody know of any good heel-and-toe downshifting tutorials out there, something i can read? or even a video to watch. or even just explain exactly how to do it (i know what it is =P)

also, what exactly is the benefit to this method, besides keeping the rpms in the powerband? (or is that the only reason...)

thanks guys

ummm power shift without clutch? I'm not going to help you pick up the pieces of that tranny. A powershift is when you don't let up off the accelator pedal.

yeah i saw what i wrote and was like "aww man here it comes" classic thinking one thing typing another...

to further elaborate i was thinking of a sequential dog box that a lot of rally cars use, though i do believe you could shift without a clutch (with no syncros to worry about destroying whats to stop you?) on a regular dog box though it would require skills in the area of rev matching and heel and toe

none of this has anything to do with powershifting though.. all that must of somehow blasted into my head while i was tryin to finish my sentence :lol2: thank god its the weekend.. sounds like im in need of a frosty beverage

you can downshift into first, i never do it, and for a damned good reason.

The only time I ever downshift to first is in a parking lot or something like that. It's almost never necessary though.