What is power shifting?

[1gspot]

in a car i drove once i tried that no clutch shifting and it was surprisingly easy and im not sure why. what i would do is rev up a gear and when in was in the top of the rpm range id pop it out of gear without pressing the clutch and then move it toward the next gear applying a light amount of pressure. the gears wouldn't grind for some reason and when the rpm match just right the light amount of pressure poped it into gear. kind of odd but worked well when my left leg was messed up

[Phunyguy]

still not good for the car.... i blew up 4th gear in my prior car doing that (91 Camaro)

[Darc Tangent]

Double clutching is for upshifting and downshifting. It's when you press the clutch in twice per shift. When upshifting you need to slow the engine down so it's speed will match the speed of the higher gear you're going into. You let the clutch out in neutral with low engine RPM to get the system in sync. When downshifting you need to speed the engine up so it's speed will match the speed of the lower gear you're going into. You let the clutch out in neutral with higher engine RPM to get the system in sync. Basically, for every road speed there is an RPM for every gear, the lower the gear the higher the RPM. Double clutching does not hurt anything. It's mainly used in vehicles with crappy or no syncros. Once you get good at double clutching you can shift without a clutch. You just pop it out of gear match the RPM and gently pull on the shift lever until it pops into the next gear. Double clutching is a slower shift that a regular single clutch shift. Power shifting is applying power before the shift is complete. You let the syncros do the work and the clutch will slip until the engine slows down or the car speeds up. It's harder on the car but faster for accelerating. Hope this helps!

BTW When I was a teen I was driving my '76 Civic and the clutch cable broke. I drove it straight to the garage without a clutch by clutchless shifting (and killing the engine with the key at a red light then starting with the starter, no clutch, at the green)

[civicracer9686]

I would have to say that I've never in all the reading and racing that I have done heard of double clutching for an upshift. I think its was skip where I was told its only for downshifting and they would prefer Toe/heel shifting so you can brake into the corner. It would be nice to learn if it gave me that little advantage. As for the double clutching being only used for truck and farm equipment, I think it is fine with your civic. I've had to rebuild for old and shitty syncro's I don't want to do it again. I have better things to spend my money on, so why not save that little bit of wear.

[Darc Tangent]

Yeah, the double clutch upshift doesn't make sense in a racing situation, as it's a slow shift. You usually only use the double clutch upshift when the vehicle doesn't have syncros (like a big rig). The heel/toe downshift is a great double clutch shift for racing that lets you apply the brake as you rev the engine up. It lets you brake while you shift and drops the RPM that you need to be at for the lower gear down. Cheers!

[Kven]

Originally Posted by Darc Tangent

The heel/toe downshift is a great double clutch shift for racing that lets you apply the brake as you rev the engine up. It lets you brake while you shift and drops the RPM that you need to be at for the lower gear down. Cheers!

to drop your gears while brake is applied just press clutch down! heel toe is not for just droping gears; its rev matching the gears to create a smooth transistion. you actually raise the rev it for the lower gear(by the time you probally get to the lower gear your rev might be too low) its easier to rev match it by lettin the revs go from a high rpm to a low one then from a low rpm to a high one(which would at like brakes). .if you were not to heel-toe, but just drop it 2 gears down, you will most likely break traction, and in a rwd car that would be how you would initiate the downshift drift(i think thats what its called).

[integra818]

You don't need to double-clutch on anything with synchros, most moderns day cars have transmissions with synchros so you can upshift WITHOUT double clutching. I thought I made it clear in my previous post, but I guess the noobs did'nt read through the whole thread.

[Kven]

darc tangent acknowledged that(maybe indirectly but he did in a way). im explaining the concept of the heel-toe; just for smooth transition, as rapid change in speed at the wheels will cause loss of traction(whether speeding up or slowing down).

[integra818]

Nah dude, I was talkin to the guy who was talkin about double-clutching, you know what you're tralkin about, the OTHER noob is a little lost

[civicracer9686]

Originally Posted by integra818

Nah dude, I was talkin to the guy who was talkin about double-clutching, you know what you're tralkin about, the OTHER noob is a little lost

Sorry man but I'm still gona stick with what I said before. Even if all modern cars come with it, doesn't make it useless. It does for a fact cut down on the wear of the syncro's

[itechengineers]

Originally Posted by edman24

powershifting in my circles is when you shift without using the clutch. at certain points in the rev range the gears will mesh together perfectly and the tranny will actually go into the desired gear without grinding. but this is extremely difficult to do correctly and very easy to f*ck up. you wont know at what rpm either until you try it and that would put immense amounts of wear on the tranny. although it might be slightly faster it is totally not worth the risk.

Originally Posted by 1gspot

in a car i drove once i tried that no clutch shifting and it was surprisingly easy and im not sure why. what i would do is rev up a gear and when in was in the top of the rpm range id pop it out of gear without pressing the clutch and then move it toward the next gear applying a light amount of pressure. the gears wouldn't grind for some reason and when the rpm match just right the light amount of pressure poped it into gear. kind of odd but worked well when my left leg was messed up

thats power shifting and i got it to work very easily for me... except in 1st gear = 2nd go up your good. on a bike its the same.... except when it comes down to 1st and neutral i wouldnt atempt the power shifting.

[edman24]

Originally Posted by itechengineers

thats power shifting and i got it to work very easily for me... except in 1st gear = 2nd go up your good. on a bike its the same.... except when it comes down to 1st and neutral i wouldnt atempt the power shifting.

thats good that it worked for you but was it under race conditions or just regular driving? try doing it when youre racing someone and you will more than likely hear some unwanted noises from your tranny.

[Kven]

it depends, ive never tried it but looking at how people do it youd have to wait for the revs to drop. that make take some patience, while using the clutch they just put it into the next gear with looking twice at where the revs drop.

[buildingmySI]

double clutching was used on older cars like muscle cars but is useless on hondas and cars like that

[itechengineers]

Originally Posted by edman24

thats good that it worked for you but was it under race conditions or just regular driving? try doing it when youre racing someone and you will more than likely hear some unwanted noises from your tranny.

heyhey, in relation to racing i do have track time and points on a track.. (sport bike/ricerocket) but i would never use power shifting on a track ( ... <---- thats my prefs); it was always under regular driving as myself being curious.