Engine braking
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
From: Louisville, KY
Engine braking
Hey...is engine braking good/bad/neutral on your drivetrain (manual tranny)?
It seems that under accel, the engine turns the tranny, which turns the driveshaft, which turns the big D, which turns the wheels...
If you let off the gas to slow down, it seems that the WHEELS are, in essence, putting a load reverse of the accel load on the D, which puts a reverse load on the shaft, which puts a reverse load on the tranny...
Are the components built to do this? I used to do this all the time...if you do it right, you don't need to brake around turns and such, you get to stay in gear, and you're all ready to accel halfway into the turn when you want to... But now I just got a new tranny, and I don't want to hurt it..
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91 T/A 305 tpi SD
STB, Airfoil, Hooker cat-back, pseudo-cold air to K&N, Accel coil, !cat, !smog pump.
The Wankel Rotary Engine - The replacement for displacement.
It seems that under accel, the engine turns the tranny, which turns the driveshaft, which turns the big D, which turns the wheels...
If you let off the gas to slow down, it seems that the WHEELS are, in essence, putting a load reverse of the accel load on the D, which puts a reverse load on the shaft, which puts a reverse load on the tranny...
Are the components built to do this? I used to do this all the time...if you do it right, you don't need to brake around turns and such, you get to stay in gear, and you're all ready to accel halfway into the turn when you want to... But now I just got a new tranny, and I don't want to hurt it..
------------------
91 T/A 305 tpi SD
STB, Airfoil, Hooker cat-back, pseudo-cold air to K&N, Accel coil, !cat, !smog pump.
The Wankel Rotary Engine - The replacement for displacement.
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 677
Likes: 0
From: Danvers, MA, USA
I don't have a T-5, I have a 700R4 w/ a shift kit. But I can tell you this: engine braking is designed into the Trans Go shift kit. At speeds below 30mph and while in D, the tranny holds 2nd gear, and when you let off the gas, it engine brakes. I've heard 'engine braking = engine breaking', but if that's so, then why does the Trans Go (the best shiftkit out there) have it designed into the kit?
When I drive around town at speeds between 20 and 40mph, I leave the shifter in '2nd', as 2nd gear is the most useful gear at this speed (1st winds out to quickly, and 3rd lugs the engine) and provides for the best throttle response. While doing this, engine braking inevitably occurs. I don't see why it would be bad, but like I said, I have heard that it can be. You can't even drive a manual car and not make use of it at least some of the time. I know I did when I had my old V6 5 speed Camaro.
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91 Trans Am WS6
Bright White
5.0 TPI auto
Flowmaster 3" 2 chamber catback
Trans Go shiftkit
2000 stall converter
supposed 'peanut cammed' car (yeah, right)
Built on Wednesday
When I drive around town at speeds between 20 and 40mph, I leave the shifter in '2nd', as 2nd gear is the most useful gear at this speed (1st winds out to quickly, and 3rd lugs the engine) and provides for the best throttle response. While doing this, engine braking inevitably occurs. I don't see why it would be bad, but like I said, I have heard that it can be. You can't even drive a manual car and not make use of it at least some of the time. I know I did when I had my old V6 5 speed Camaro.
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91 Trans Am WS6
Bright White
5.0 TPI auto
Flowmaster 3" 2 chamber catback
Trans Go shiftkit
2000 stall converter
supposed 'peanut cammed' car (yeah, right)
Built on Wednesday
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
From: OKC, OK
It won't hurt anything but the clutch. And that only happens when you're going 70 in third and to help slow down faster without braking, you down shift to 2nd. Ya, I know, stupid. But it makes the engine rev high and it is fun when showing off for a girl who doesn't know what is going on.
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91RS, 305, 5-speed, black with pearl white racing stripes. Not that it matters, but K&N airfilter and flowmaster exhaust
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91RS, 305, 5-speed, black with pearl white racing stripes. Not that it matters, but K&N airfilter and flowmaster exhaust
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