I have a 1992 RS, TBI 305 with whatever automatic transmission that come with the car. Would it be safe to shif the car into 2nd gear from drive when on the highway going about 60mph?

 

Ya know? I have a fear about accidently doing that in my cars. I remember when I shifted out of overdrive once on the highway to pass a car. My cheap little escort doesn't have the power to accelorate at 70mph in overdrive, and I have to drop it down to drive. I accidently pulled the shifter too far back once, and barely got it back into drive before the tranny caught gears. Lets see, 70mph with a gear that redlines the car at 35mph? I don't think my engine will live long if I do that.

I don't have my GTA running yet, but I still wouldn't want to shift into 2nd at highway speeds.

 

It depends on the gear ratio in the rear end. You likely have 3.23s. I've seen 70 mph downshifts to second in a 91 RS 305 with a 700R4 trans, but I've also seen the tach on that car roll right on past 7000 rpm with no lag. Also automatics usually have by-passes in them to keep them in a higher gear when a lower gear is selected but the output shaft speed is too high. I've encountered this on my car shifting down to 1st at about 40mph, it waited for the car to slow down a bit before dropping to 1st.