Manual Shifting an Auto...

Hey to those that race their cars...Has anyone been able to prove an advantage to Manually shifting the LT1 automatic vs. Letting the tranny do the work, as far as ET I mean...

You will get much better results just leaving it in Drive or overdrive and this is especially true of a 94 + LT1 auto.

Agreed.

Let it shift for you. The computer knows best.

i also have a questin, is it better in a 700r4 to leave it in Drive or over dirve?

over drive for cruising,drive for flooring..

so when i go to the track, i will put it in just drive? it only goes to 3rd in drive right?

With an auto, I have heard to just put it in OD.
Just make sure you aren't WOT when it shifts into 4th gear.

Try both at the track...see if either way is better.

why not WOT in 4th?

the 700R4 is set up so itll never go to 4th WOT. its just basically a 'cruise on freeway' gear to get better gas mileage, and anyway in the quarter mile you will never hit 4th gear, never need to hit 4th.. and with the throttle wide open it will never shift into 4th.. you have to be partially off the throttle, at most 2/3rds (i think it was) for the transmission to hit 4th

Is there a way around that and make it shift in 4th, wide open??

im sure there is, because i think the only thing that keeps the 700R4 from shifting into 4th WOT is the tV cable, connected to the throttle. so if you can make it seem (to the transmission) that its NOT WOT, then it will probably shift into 4

however i heard its really bad for you to be driving fast in OD, thats why all cars only have one OD.. (less then 1:1 ratio).. just to get better fuel mileage

If I pull mine down to 1st, it'll shift at a higher RPM from 1st to 2nd than if I left it in 2nd, D or OD

well i got on it the other day and i think it was in 3rd doing about 85-90 and it was about to redline, so i was wondering why it did not want to shift, so all i have to do is let off a little then hit it again?

no, the min you get on it again it'll down shift and you'll be stuck in the same gear..you have to keep the throttle at whatever position you had it when it upshifted.

so what about the track? if i take off WOT and 3rd tops out at about 90 how will i get to 4th? will a shift kit help this?

i dont think its made to hit 4th on the tracks..cuz its what it is, 'overdrive' not 'drive' its just to give you gas mileage

MmmHmm.. Overdrive is too weak in any transmission to be hot-rodding, IMO..

EDIT: I've always wondered..Why not make OD a 1:1 ratio, and just change the rearend gearing. I've always been taught that any overdrive generates more heat, transmission or otherwise... Opinions?

You guys do know when you place a gear indicator in Overdrive it isn't actually in that gear til it hits that shift point, right?

gear indicator?

You guys do know when you place a gear indicator in Overdrive it isn't actually in that gear til it hits that shift point, right?

Yes...I don't speak for others, however.

*brain farts* wait, you mean gear indicator as in when the stick is in [D] right? cuz i knew that.. lol

*brain farts* wait, you mean gear indicator as in when the stick is in [D] right? cuz i knew that.. lol
:lol: Yeah, thats what I meant. Overdrive is what the car should always be what the car is in unless you don't want it upshifting to that gear. Under WOT conditions the car will run out 3rd gear anyway, so there is no difference if you had it in overdrive or plain old drive.

I would say that you would want to shift the 700r manually. Your transmission will want to shift into second before its time because of wheel spin. So your basically trying to pull from 2nd which doesnt work very well.

I wouldnt think that you could top out 3rd. I have about 2 to 3k rpm more to go at the end of the quarter with 3.23's. I would just hook up a different tach to your car to make sure that the stock one is accurate if you have a thirdgen because they are known to be off. I'm actually working on a write up that I was going to send to formula about how I fixed my tach because it was saying that I shift at 6000 when it was actually around 4500. :)

shift kits are designed to give you more solid quicker shifts they wouldnt have any effect on the od problem. to be honost i wouldnt try to use od while racing there is a lot less to this gear compared to the other three and will go out a lot faster. unless you feel like replacing trannys left and right. which if you have that kinda money then you might consider these options. one change the gear in the back to a higher gear. you wont have as quick of a take off but you will get more out of the gears you got. or two have the tranny rebuilt with new first and second gears that are longer so you wont have a chance to rap out in third. or just get a manual!!! theyre a lot more fun anyway.

The LT1 Camaro's tranny is a 4L60-E, it's fully electronic. It shifts when the p.c.m. tells it to. The third gen's tranny is the old 700R-4 (4L60) which uses the t.v. cable (kick-down) to control operations.
IROC and Corvette 700R-4s had a different valve body and do shift into 4th gear at w.o.t. to obtain high speeds (intended for road racing). The Camaro/truck/car version will always have a forced down shift into 3rd at 2/3 throttle. The early stages of the dreaded speed limiter. The only way around that problem is to set it up as a manual shift, then it will shift into what ever gear you put it in.

Topped out at 90mph in 3rd gear, are you sure? What gears do you have? 6K rpm at 90mph would have to be at least a 4.20/4.30 gears. It might be red lined in 2nd at 90, but no way in 3rd.
To answer your original question: Yes, pull it down into 3rd if you're playing around or racing. Let the computer/tranny do the work and concentrate on driving the car. It also activates an additional forward clutch pack in the tranny when it's in "D", so there's less chance of slipping/burning the main forward pack. Also the pcm learns your driving habits and tunes (sort of) the car to you. I have heard of people disconnecting the battery over night, reconnecting it, and then driving the car aggressively. They said that the car performed better. Then again, with o.b.d.2 electronics, the battery shouldn't be disconnected unless only necessary. So you might check into that more before trying it.

It is a fact. A car with tall gears (3.42:1) will always be faster than the same car with low gears (4.56/5.30:1) that uses an over drive gear at mid track. An over driven gear uses torque to send torque, so it's less efficient than a 1:1 gear.
The taller gears might be slightly slower out of the hole but will always be faster at the top end. Running that short of length at that slow of speed in an over drive gear will slow you down.

If you want to rebuild your tranny often, then you should let it shift into 4th gear at wide open throttle.
Same reason you don't want to shift into 5th gear at WOT in a M6.

Don't shift into any gear lower than 1:1 at WOT.


Corning...while you may get higher RPM's if you manually shift, I bet you are a touch slower doing it yourself. The cars programming is set up at the optimal shifting points.
Unless you are modded a bunch.