I am considering a manual transmission. One of my friends own a 1994 V6 Camaro... he has manual and easily beats me. I have more HP, more torque, but he keeps beating me off the line. His car has no mods, just a plain stock V6 Camaro with 160 HP. From what I see here, manual transmission give you a good edge. Is this true? Is there a good reason why I should stay with my automatic transmission? I could never get the facts I needed, so I turned to you guys.

BTW, my car is entirely stock. Getting K&N filters and an airfoil in a few days, but that's it for now. Will eventually get a cat-back system in November. Saving up for a new engine.
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1989 IROC-Z Convertible
305 TPI automatic
White with black top
Mods:
None to date... Working on it!!!
My webpage: http://mindspring.com/~humvee

[This message has been edited by Humvee (edited September 19, 2000).]

 

If you are planing on a performance motor you are going to want to stick with your automatic. A well working auto will always beat a manual through the gears. But if you want a manual you are going to want to go for a aftermarket 5 speed or a new 6 speed. The stock five speeds are not very strong. I cant even beleive you are getting beat by a V6!

 

Stock for Stock manuals are better. Once you get into 10 second cars, turbos and pro-built autos then the manual is at a loss.

Convertibles are just plain HEAVY and most are pretty slow. Being that it is a convertible you won't be putting a killer motor in there unless you want to end up dead so if I were you I'd switch to manual. A manual is MUCH lighter (especially the 5 speeds) than an automatic. If your friend did the skip-shift mod (if it was there in '94) he can hold his V6 to much higher RPMs and he may have better gears in the back. 700-R4's don't have great gear ratios either. The the huge gap between 1 - 2 is often complained about. Moreover, you can keep it in OD at WOT and if you're freind is beating you in top end that is why (and the fact that even with lock-up TQ's mechanical coupling is much more efficent and will get a higher top-speed.

My personal opinion is to switch to a manual. They are much more fun and since you don't plan on (rather can't) going all out race on this car I'd switch to the manual. Powershifts and clutch dumps will make up for any of the convience losses of the auto.



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'84 Trans Am
Crate 350 - 4 bolt main, Holley 600 w/vac. secondaries now open element
T-5 - Stock with Zoom clutch and PP

 

85ZZ4TPI you dont need to put down V6s buddy. I got a V6 and Im very proud of it. And their not that slow. As far as getting a manual...I would stick with the automatic if you wanna go fast. Now if you wanna have more fun then get a manual. After all you cant chirp into gears with an automatic.

 

Monkie, bull ****. I run TCI fully manual 700R4 competition tranny and can catch rubber in third!

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84 Camaro ZZ4 with HOT cam. 1.88 60' (12.98 @ 105MPH E.T.)
Other Mods: You name it and I have probably changed it.

91 Firebird 5.0L TBI

ASE Certified Auto Tech
LIVE AND DIE BY THE ALMIGHTY BOWTIE!

 

you can lay rubber with an auto if you have a shift kit. I've done it. However, I'll stick with my 5-speed. On the street, you can't beat it.

 

you can lay rubber with an auto if you have a shift kit. I've done it. However, I'll stick with my 5-speed. On the street, you can't beat it.

 

you can lay rubber with an auto if you have a shift kit. I've done it. However, I'll stick with my 5-speed. On the street, you can't beat it.

 

Actually, the 700 is a great street tranny with a good converter. 1st gear has a nice stoplight-to-stoplight ratio, and that coupled with a decent converter and a TPI car can make for a pretty quick car on the street. I love racing manual guys and startling the $hit out of them when I go a little sideways on the 1-2, and listen to them bitch afterward about how they 'missed a gear'. Sure buddy. I never miss gears in my auto - and this is coming from me, a former die-hard manual guy. Autos aren't quite as much fun, but the consistency factor is definately there, and autos also have better low-end pickup due to the torque multiplication from the converter. It's like having slightly better rear end gears vs a manual car with the same rear end ratio.

And to the guy getting beat by the 3.4L V6 5 speed: Your car definately has problems

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91 Trans Am WS6
5.0 TPI auto
Flowmaster 3" 2 chamber catback
Trans Go shiftkit
2000 stall converter

supposed 'peanut cammed' car (yeah, right)

MoreMoodThatMod

 

Stick with the auto for peformance. With my auto I could get 5.5 0-60 times all the time on street tires, now after converting to stick I get 5.7 to 5.9 0-60 times, hard to launch with out wheel spin. My best 1/4 mile time with my G-Tech is 14.06, now with the stick 14.35. I think the auto takes better advantage of the TPI low end grunt then the stick does but I'am going to try shifting at a lower RPM and see if that helps.

But if your like to be in control of your car at all times, get a stick, also they are more fun to drive.


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89 GTA 350 5-speed
Jet hot coated SLP headers,flowmaster force 2,no cat's,SLP cold air,MSD 6al,jet chip stage 2,march pulleys,ported plenum,air foil,B&M ripper shifter,180 stat,alston SFC,spohn LCA relocation brackets,MAT relocation kit,free mods.

0-60 5.48s
E.T. 14.02@98.9MPH (corrected)