Quote:
Originally Posted by JimRockford
Such a racetrack shifting style on the street may be costly without any benefit other than admittedly awesome snap crackle pop noises.
Its best to use brakes not clutch/gears to slow these cars on the street - unless you are descending a steep grade. Consider to stop downshifting to second like that? If you must do it do it maybe try it more slooooowly (?) - to give the 2 plates more time to match speed - shifter will engage easier?
Staying in 2nd gear in stop & go traffic can be fun and save on clutch - 2nd is good from a stop to about 75 mph .
rock on.
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When you downshift the clutch isn't slowing you down unless you are using the clutch very poorly. The gears aren't slowing you down either, at least directly. What's actually slowing you down when you downshift is the compression of the cylinders which provide back pressure at idle or low throttle settings.
Personally I downshift all the time as I'm matching my gear to my speed and RPM. While I'm not downshifting for no other reason than slowing down, I am downshifting as I slow down and using that back pressure to manage the energy. I get that people say not to do this for whatever reason, and maybe they have some experience that I don't. But I learned to drive with a clutch and was taught how to downshift and in my 40+ years of driving I have never had to change out a clutch or transmission with probably a million miles or more with a 3rd pedal. With automatic rev matching it makes it even less of an issue if it ever was one.
The other thing to consider is with the LT4 is high manifold pressure at low RPM isn't a good thing. So if you don't downshift, but punch it in a high gear, low speed, you aren't doing your engine any favors. Can this actually cause damage to the LT4? I have no idea, but I do know it's a huge issue with aircraft engines that use forced induction.