How to shift insight?

[olrowdy01]

Just do a proper double clutch shift and the synchronizing will be fine.

If you do it long enough you can even shift without using the clutch by the sound of the engine (assuming you have a sport muffler on the car).

Or even better my Lotus 7 replica has a GSXR-1000 motorcycle engine in it and I don't have to use the clutch at all for upshifts (of course it has dog clutches and NO sychronizers).

[freezin4]

"theaveng: I can very clearly hear the engine, and it does sound like it's doing 3000rpm."

First gear? With 3000 rpm? and the speedo reads 25 KPH? Doesn't sound right to me.

[Cobb]

My father use to just use the clutch for starting off in first, then use the throttle to shift by matching rpms and using light pressure for the next gear.

The people you see on tv grind gears in a stick shift just move the shifter without using the clutch.


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[biododge1]

lol..grind gears..Those are the ones that wish they could float em but cant!

[Eli]

I didn't notice anything off in the video I posted, but there are plenty of them on Youtube. It's not hard to get some of those Honda engines to 9-10krpm.

[Cobb]

Yeah boyz, get yourself a pistol grip shifter, mod the engine for ten g's and use all your force to position the shifter into the gear of your choice. Faster way to turn your tranny fluid brown and sparkles.


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[Klayfish]

I was just reading through this thread to see if it talked a lot about how to shift the Insight to obtain maximum mpg. With my current '08 Honda Fit, unless I'm in a hurry, I tend to go 1-3-5 and usually shift fairly early. Yes, it's slow that way, but it seems to help fuel mileage.

As for the high rpm discussion, the first car I ever bought new was a '96 Acura Integra GS-R. Redline was 8200 if I recall. It was a dog below 6000rpm, but did the Jekyl/Hyde routine after that. VTEC was pretty wild. Then I had a few MK1 MR2s, which could really sing. Imagine my dismay when I got a company car shortly after those cars...it was a 2001 Jeep Cherokee with the 4.0L. At 4000rpm it sounded like it wanted to self destruct.

[theaveng]

Wide-open throttle gives the best MPG until you reach 55 or 65 highway speed. And then cruise in 5th.

Originally Posted by spets

Keep the clutch down, but row through each gear.. If you go straight from 2nd gear to 5th gear, the synchro has to work much harder and will wear out faster than designed.

I guess I'm doomed then. I always skip gears. 2nd to 5th. 5th to 3rd to climb a mountain, and then back to 5th. 5th to 1st (after stopping).

Of course I match engine RPMs to wheel speed before shifting, so there's very little difference between the engine shaft and transmission shaft.

[olrowdy01]

Originally Posted by theaveng

Wide-open throttle gives the best MPG until you reach 55 or 65 highway speed.

In that case, in traffic, just leave the throttle floored and control your speed with what gear you're in.

Assuming the thread is how to shift AND get max/good fuel mileage:
No matter how you cut it, wide open throttle uses the most gas as the revs build up. And after you pass max torque the efficiency is going -down-. It just seems better to shift so the engine is always in the max efficiency area for best fuel mileage. Don Garlits might disagree though.

When I was driving to work everyday in traffic I used to get 50 mpg with my CRX by shifting below 2000 rpm and skip shifting a good bit of the time. My secret was to keep the engine rpm just below the max torque point (except in first gear where I usually go to 2500 or so rpm).

And then cruise in 5th. I guess I'm doomed then. I always skip gears. 2nd to 5th. 5th to 3rd to climb a mountain, and then back to 5th. 5th to 1st (after stopping).

Mountain?? What is mountain? We don't have no steenking mountains in S. Fla.

[diamondlarry]

A problem with using full throttle is that most cars go into open-loop and in that case you will use more gas because the ECU reverts to on-board fuel trim tables and ignores all inputs from O2 sensors. Those trim tables tend to run on the rich side as well. If you want to run a heavy throttle up to speed, I would say to stay at a load that will allow you to stay in closed-loop operation.