It's an ignorant sounding question but I just wanted to know what powershifting exactly is. I used to drive FWD 4 bangers back home before I got my IROC. When racing I would usually shift with the gas floored and the clutch depressed about halfway. If the stick was stiff, I would momentarily back off the gas to shift. All of this was done very quickly and sounded like I wasn't using the clutch at all. We called it speed-shifting there. Since these were only 4 bangers, I never had to deal with a broken tranny. Even then, I was surprised that these things could take such a beating a still shift fine w/o extra effort. Missed a gear and over-revved plenty of times but never blew the motor either. I guess 4 bangers are darn near impossible to kill in stock trim.

Is powershifting the same thing? If not, whats the difference in shifting technique? Although I don't have a manual tranny in my IROC right now, I plan to get one as soon as the 700R4 bites the dust, and I want to know how I'll have to more careful with a V8.

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'88 IROC 305 TPI
Gutted airboxes
160 degree T-stat
Advanced base TPS voltage
Relocated IAT sensor
Momo steering wheel
Ram-air setup coming soon
Flowmaster muffler
Taylor SpiroPro wires
Accel cap and rotor

 

When you shift and "pop" the clutch and punch the gas at the same time making a good night burnout or chirp into the next gear.

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1992 Camaro RS 3.1L
T5 Manual 5 speed
Cold/RAM air intake
Z-28 Exhaust
8.5mm MSD Ignition wires
TB Coolant bypass

Soon to be a 3.8L turbo RS

AIM screen name - Stopsign696

Kills:

95 (****) Probe GT,94 Mustang GT,91 CRX (dont ask me why he raced me),2nd Gen Z28 (350) haha to you V8 guys!,1992 RS 305 TBI (good race),First Gen Integra, Old Escort LX
More to come

 

Actually, what you were doin' in the 4 banger is pretty much it, staying on the throttle and quickly clutching and shifting. Works best with a good rev limiter and practice, along with knowing that if you shift at redline, either your engine is gonna blow or you'll bounce off your limiter. With a quick-revving engine, this can be tricky till ya get the hang of it, but damn it sounds great!



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Dan Young
1995 Z28/M6
Groton, CT

1985 Z28/A4
(Prospective purchase)

 

My friend's Vtec Civic had a rev-limiter plus a really nice tranny too, so I never over-revved or missed a shift in that car, but the other carbed pieces of crap I drove powered by 1000-1600cc motors often spun past 8k rpm on a missed shift. My friend used to pull his '87 Mitsubishi Lancer (a.k.a Mirage) to 8k rpm regularly. It was only a 1300cc motor but pitted against similar vehicles it did remarkably well. The tach displayed only upto 8k rpm and I'm sure he often hit 9k or maybe more on missed shifts. He drove the car like that for two years then sold it because he was sure he would get killed racing it like a madman but ended up buying and building up the Vtec Civic he now has.

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'88 IROC 305 TPI
Crappy 700R4 slushbox
Gutted airboxes
180 degree T-stat
Advanced base TPS voltage
Relocated IAT sensor
Momo steering wheel
Ram-air setup coming soon
Flowmaster muffler
Taylor SpiroPro wires
Accel cap and rotor
Kills: '94 Z28, Olds Aurora V8, countless Mustangs, ricers, and others who thought they could trounce a 'lowly' 3rdgen.

[This message has been edited by 88irocz28 (edited January 02, 2001).]

 

It took me decades of driving lots of stick cars to discover that it is in fact possible to back off the gas between gears when driving it hard Now I get more life out of a trans! And I don't tear up as many rears either.

Seriously, "power-shift" and "speed-shift" are the same thing, namely leaving the gas floored in between gears. That lets the motor rev up and stores some extra energy in the flywheel for a fresh launch in every new gear.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."