I head somewhere that its bad to skip gears when downshifing ie: 5th to 3rd. Is this just a myth?
-Thanks

 

LOL - only if you skip too many! You want to watch your rev's so you don't over-rev your engine (that would be bad).

I skip gears all the time when both upshifting and downshifting. The nice thing about having lots of gears (6), is you can always find a good ratio for the situation.

 

I concur. While the 6-speed Getrag has dual cone syncronizers, you can still skip gears according to the driving situation...should not be a problem at all as long as you don't severely over rev the engine.

The MCS Getrag gearbox is one of the most forgiven manual trannys I have ever owned.

 

>>LOL - only if you skip too many! You want to watch your rev's so you don't over-rev your engine (that would be bad).
>>
>>I skip gears all the time when both upshifting and downshifting. The nice thing about having lots of gears (6), is you can always find a good ratio for the situation.

what do you mean dont over rev your engine.

 

>>>>LOL - only if you skip too many! You want to watch your rev's so you don't over-rev your engine (that would be bad).
>>>>
>>>>I skip gears all the time when both upshifting and downshifting. The nice thing about having lots of gears (6), is you can always find a good ratio for the situation.
>>
>>what do you mean dont over rev your engine.


It means to shifting to 2nd or 1st gear while going 70MPH...you get the drift?

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but skipping gears is OK. As stated before just make sure you don't force the tranny into too low of a gear. The gates are pretty close on a six speed and even closer if you get a short shifter. I haven't driven the MCS's six speed that much, but I've owned two vehicles with close spaced six speeds. I'll give you an example of what can happen:

Say you're in fifth or sixth gear and you want to knock it down a couple of gears before entering a slower corner or the guy next to you needs an attitude adjustment. :smile: I would prolly shift it down to third (making sure to rev match). If you're not careful instead of going into third you could accidentally shift into first. Some trannies will put up a fight, but if you're persistant you can get the tranny into first. If successful your engine will be over-revved. You may get some valve float and subsequent piston/valve interaction (um..not good). You could also throw a rod or a number of other ungodly things to your car. A few years ago I owned an S2000 and there were numerous people blowing up their engines/trannies when they over-revved. It's easy to do so be careful. :smile:

 

The engine has a rev-limiter that cuts fuel if you get the engine rpm's too high.

However, if you were cruising in 6th gear and shifted into 1st gear, the momentum of the car would force the engine way beyond its redline, causing your engine to probably blow up.

Back on the subject, I skip gears all the time. My favorite is when accellerating onto the highway. I'll accellerate through 3rd gear and then drop down to 6th for cruising

 

andylee97

WELCOME!! You will learn a lot on this site.

Earl

 

>>what do you mean dont over rev your engine.

Do you understand the concept of a tranny? Here's a crash course. Your tachometer shows you the RPM of the engine. That rotational force is input into the tranny. Through a multitude of gears the tranny converts that force into something you can use. Say for example in first gear for every 5 rotations of the engine the output of the tranny (input to the wheels) may only turn once (5:1). As you move through the gears the engine RPMS-to-tranny RPMs will vary. Sixth gear may have the engine turn 2 times and the tranny once (2:1). The reason why you have individual gears in a tranmission is for torque/speed multiplication.

OK, say you're in 6th gear and your RPMs are at 5000. Remember the ratios I just mentioned (2:1) so in this case the wheels are turning at 2500 RPM. If you shift to 1st gear the tires will still be turning at 2500 RPM (the mass and momentum of the car will ensure that) but now the engine is forced (by the tranny) to run at 12500 RPM (5:1).

2500 RPM (tires) X 5 (gear ratio of tranny for 1st) = 12500 engine RPM

The redline for a MINI is less than 8000 RPM. So in this example the engine is being forced to run 4500 RPM past it's redline. One word comes to mind.... BOOM!

 

>>Back on the subject, I skip gears all the time. My favorite is when accellerating onto the highway. I'll accellerate through 3rd gear and then drop down to 6th for cruising

Yep that's me.

 

My MCS has two gears.
Fast and
Fastest.

otherwise known as
Loud and
Redline.
Yikes

 

thanks you all for your input i thought so, but i swore i heard it some where.
maybe it was a dream
well thanks again

 

You'll wear your syncro's more, if that's what you heard...
if you skip a gear downshifting double clutch it.

5-N-3 or 5-N-2, etc.

For shift ups, same thing 2-N-4.

but it won't really prematurely wear the syncro's even if you
dont double clutch unless you jam the lever into the gates.

 

>>My MCS has two gears.
>>Fast and
>>Fastest.
>>
>>otherwise known as
>>Loud and
>>Redline.
>>Yikes
I thought this was an informative thread
I have been skipping gears for many years and never had a problem

On the other HAND-riding around with may HAND resting on shift **** cost me
a rebuild of trans. in my 124 spyder

 

>>LOL - only if you skip too many! You want to watch your rev's so you don't over-rev your engine (that would be bad).
>>
>>I skip gears all the time when both upshifting and downshifting. The nice thing about having lots of gears (6), is you can always find a good ratio for the situation.

Yeah, I always use "heel and toe".
My goal is to get silky-smooth sfhit down.
That's fun.

Happy Motoring!

 

You should always match your revs when you downshift. You can't always "heel-toe" b/c a good deal of the time you'll downshift without using the brake. But you can always match RPMs. And if you do, there's nothing to worry about. You'd be crazy to go through every gear on the way down!

 

>You should always match your revs when you downshift. You can't >always "heel-toe" b/c a good deal of the time you'll downshift without using the >brake. But you can always match RPMs. And if you do, there's nothing to worry >about. You'd be crazy to go through every gear on the way down!

 

Whenever I have accidentally started downshifting into first instead of third, I noticed that there was resistance, and I haven't accidentally downshifted into first except at relatively low speeds (say, below 30 mph). I've been driving my Lucy (MCS) since July and I still have a hard time downshifting sometimes. I usually drive in heavy traffic and it's very difficult to maintain concentration on all the cars around you AND the rpms AND the gearshift. Matching rpms is especially difficult because Lucy's clutchpoint both very narrow and is pretty much at the top of the clutch's range of motion. I don't know if such a high and narrow clutchpoint is normal, but that clutchpoint was very difficult to get used to. (I don't know if clutchpoint is the right word ... wherever it is that the engine is engaged on the range of motion of the clutch. I know what I'm talking about, I just don't have the technical vocabulary! )

MINIangelD

 

I am a frequent heal and toe'er and double clutcher.

why?

Probably because I watched the movies Grand Prix and Le Mans way too many times as a kid and as an adult.

Also, I do like to be able to approach a corner quickly and get the car in the next gear without unweighting it at all. So, I do it for smoothness and weight transfer reasons.

Someone posting on this thread mentioned how it saves wear and tear on the synchros. True. But, what in the heck is it doing to the throw out bearing? By trying to save the synchros are we wearing something out sooner than you would get with just normal wear and tear?

 

>>Whenever I have accidentally started downshifting into first instead of third, I noticed that there was resistance, and I haven't accidentally downshifted into first except at relatively low speeds (say, below 30 mph). >>

That's a good thing. You should feel resistance. Never slam it into gear.


>>I've been driving my Lucy (MCS) since July and I still have a hard time downshifting sometimes. I usually drive in heavy traffic and it's very difficult to maintain concentration on all the cars around you AND the rpms AND the gearshift. >>

That is something that you just have to practice at. After a while it becomes second nature and you automatically know how much to blip the throttle to match revs. You have to develop a feel of the car.


Matching rpms is especially difficult because Lucy's clutchpoint both very narrow and is pretty much at the top of the clutch's range of motion. I don't know if such a high and narrow clutchpoint is normal, but that clutchpoint was very difficult to get used to. >>

Not positive about the MCS (mine is lost somewhere between here and Southampton), but most (if not all) hydraulic clutches are adjustable. You really don't want the clutch to begin to disengauge too close to the top of the throw. If set up that way the clutch may never fully release which will wear out your throw-out bearing and clutch/pressure plate. Every manufacturer has different specs. You can usually feel the slack in the throw before you actually engage the clutch master cylinder. You should see a metal rod extending from your clutch pedal towards the firewall. Usually the rod is threaded into the pedal and locked down with a nut. You can loosen the nut and adjust the rod. I wouldn't suggest you adjust it. Rather take it to the dealer and have them adjust it for you. Tell them that you think the clutch may be slipping due to the clutch engaging too close to the top of the throw.

 

I jump gears all the time. Just yesterday I'm in 6th on the freeway and come up to a car wreck, I went from 6th to 2nd as the traffic was backed up and going slow.

You can do it, just don't red line it by missing the gear, like when you want to go to 6th and you hit 4th - ouch!