Please help settle this debate!!!!

[BigSnake]

This is a pretty stock Viper... filters, tubes, deleted rear muffler...

Sometimes, it won't find 3rd or it grinds going in.

The transmission has been rebuilt several times. The clutch and pressure plate, etc., replaced as well...

however, sometimes/most times when going 80mph in 6th, 5th and sometimes 4th, it grinds into 3rd or doesn't find 3rd at all...

 

[joe117]

The clutch may not be releasing completely. Make sure you are pushing it all the way in. If you do the engine speed matching thing, it will surely make it perform this downshift better.

 

[toddt]

At 80, third gear is the right gear to pick. As the above poster said, rev the rpms, then drop the clutch all at once.

The car will appear to leap ahead, and you will quickly become a point on the horizon.

Friends who've seen me do this all say they have never seen anything like it.

If you slow down to 60, second gear is even more impressive.

 

[Snake Bitten]

Fifth to third, with a little bark of the tires, is one of my favorite pastimes!

 

[Kurt 97 GTS]

Third should work just fine. May try fourth and see if that works?!

 

[BigSnake]

Here is the situation:

You are driving your Viper on the highway. You are cruising in 6th gear travelling at 80mph.

The RPMs for 6th gear at 80mph is about 1700. You find yourself in slow moving traffic or in the mist of Klingons admiring your car a bit too much and you want to "get away" from it all...

THE QUESTION:

Can you downshift your Viper to 3rd gear from 6th travelling at 80mph? Will this damage the transmission?

Going to 3rd gear at 80mph would increase your RPMs to about 4200.


What gear should you downshift to from 6th to have a nice quick acceleration WITHOUT worrying about damaging the Viper?

What do you Auto Cross Viper drivers think?

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Yes you can downshift from 6th to 3rd at 80, but be prepared to take off like a rocket.

I wouldn't worry about downshifting. These cars are tracked regularly and hold up quite well.

 

[99 R/T 10]

at that RPM and speed, I would guess you have 3.73's in the rearend. Still should be ok.

 

[Tiepilot]

BE sure to rev up in the 4 grand range before letting out the clutch.

 

[joe117]

80 at 1700 sounds more like 3.35 to me. When I had 3.07 I think 80 was about 1500 or so, but anyway, that's not the question. If you are right when you say 3rd at 80 is 4200, then you could be in 3rd at 4200 and still have about 1000 rpm to gain. Now, to get it into 3rd while going 80, you need to push in the clutch and blip the engine up to about 4200 before you put it in 3rd and let out the clutch. If you don't do this, the car will need to drag the transmission up to speed through the transmission synchronizer ring. This is a skill that any road racer will have mastered and he will do it while stepping on the brake with the other part of his right foot because he will only be doing this when entering a turn. You could just jam it into 3rd but that's not the way a good driver would do this. The jam method could also make your tires break traction if the road conditions were marginal.
Practice matching the engine speed to the speed it will be turning in the lower gear after the shift. It will become second nature and your synchronizers will live a long and happy life.

 

[Bonkers]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Snake Bitten:
Fifth to third, with a little bark of the tires, is one of my favorite pastimes!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Gerald, as soon as I get the SnakeFever down and develop some kind of makeshift patience you come along and remind how close I am to getting my car.

I am so gonna kick your *** at VOI8....

 

[Snake Bitten]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bonkers:

Thanks Gerald, as soon as I get the SnakeFever down and develop some kind of makeshift patience you come along and remind how close I am to getting my car.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<FONT size="4">Glad I could be of assistance! </FONT s>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bonkers:

I am so gonna kick your *** at VOI8....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<FONT size="4">You better start working out NOW! </FONT s>

 

[Tom and Vipers]

6th to 3rd is a ratio change over 3 times the change from 2nd to 3rd, so you will get 3 times the wear as a 2-3 or 4-3 shift.

If you do it quickly and force the shifter, you get more wear.

If you do it with your fingertips, you get much less wear.

I don't do this.

First, I never drive in 6th when I am around traffic. It is not safe if you need to make a quick decision. The denser the traffic, the lower the cruising gear. Of course, 5th is big improvement over 6th.

 

[joe117]

No flame intended... but.. The little bark from the tires when you downshift is really poor form. I'll bet that any driving school instructor would try to cure you of that before moving on to anything else.
There is a thread somewhere above about a student driver who put his car in the wall after a downshift. This wreck was caused by something like the bark you are talking about.
If you make the bark on the upshift, that's not so bad.