As far as I understood it, you simply dont take your foot of the gas when you press the clutch, then you change gear real quick (before revs get to high) and dump the clutch again.

If you have an aluminum flywheel etc you better be real quick and have a smooth shifting trans or you are going to hit the rev limiter hard.

 

Putting the throttle to the floor and leaving it there while banging through the gears just below redline. This causes the engine RPMS to rise very quickly during the split second that the clutch is disengaged.

It is also one of the best ways to trash a transmission - particularly the weaker of the T5's.

 

Hey Kevin, Power shifting is a manual technique the minimizes the time the clutch is disengaged. During that ever so brief period, the gears are changed. So, that said, Rpm's up dump the clutch. At the shift rpm of choice, quickly and precise timing, the clutch is depressed, shift to 2nd, then slip your foot off the clutch ( to the side). Now, all of this is done w/o removing your foot from the gas! Do it correctly, and even the best of autos are hard pressed to accelerate quicker. Miss a gear, well then you may break something. There's enough power at play in most cases to break something big. Most streeters don't do this unless they are very practiced, very rich, or very stupid. I used to do it whenever I could as a teen. Guess which of the three I was??????

 

Hey Kevin, Power shifting is a manual technique the minimizes the time the clutch is disengaged. During that ever so brief period, the gears are changed. So, that said, Rpm's up dump the clutch. At the shift rpm of choice, quickly and precise timing, the clutch is depressed, shift to 2nd, then slip your foot off the clutch ( to the side). Now, all of this is done w/o removing your foot from the gas! Do it correctly, and even the best of autos are hard pressed to accelerate quicker. Miss a gear, well then you may break something. There's enough power at play in most cases to break something big. Most streeters don't do this unless they are very practiced, very rich, or very stupid. I used to do it whenever I could as a teen. Guess which of the three I was??????

 

Same as everyone stated above. It's not that difficult and I never broke anything, but I'm experienced and I shift fast. I had an 87 GT that I always power shifted. When I bought the car it had 66k on it and the previous owner had just put a brand new transmission it it, and as far as I know it was the stock T5. It had 152k when I sold it and I never replaced the clutch and the transmission was still good. It ran low 13's off the bottle and low 12s on the bottle. I have no idea how much HP, I never had it dynoed.

 

never broken a tranny, but destroyed many U-Joints (thankfully)

 

Powershifting is something you do when someone else is paying for the repairs....

 

If you want to learn, practice at low RPM then gradually increase as you get the hang of it. You don't fully depress the clutch pedal when you shift, but quickly press it in just far enough to release the pressure as you push or pull hard. Practice just the 1-2 shift at first as its the easiest. You won't believe the difference in acceleration and you should only leave a few feet of gap between black marks on the road when you get good.

 

Best way to practice is with a rental car!

 

Ah, yes. Nothing handles like a rented car.....

 

So what is it called when you shift without the clutch? I used to be able to do that in my VW Bug.

 

So what is it called when you shift without the clutch? I used to be able to do that in my VW Bug.

"getting religion" if done above 5500rpm

[ May 14, 2004, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: mikee ]

 

I used to be able to rev match well enough in my BMW M Roadster (think Z3 with balls) to just not use the clutch. Only had the car about 50k miles, but never had a clutch or tranny problem as a result. Current M5 is too finicky on the rev match, and spools up and down much more quickly, so I'll just go back to using the left foot. At least the first 50k miles of clutches are free.

I also used to powershift my 993GT3 regularly, right up at the 8000rpm redline. I averaged about 25k per clutch in that car, with the Getrag 6-speed. I think typical usage expectation for a clutch wasn't much higher anyway. Might as well enjoy it while you drive it.

 

Powershifting typically does not involve the clutch at all. Remember the old pistol grip hurst shifters in the Mopars? The long handles and grip helped you to forceably change the gears.

My dad's a retired Chrylser engineer; he used to put the cars nose first into the side of the building and powershift through the gears until the transmission blew - over and over. Ah, the fun of being in the transmission lab!

It's the influence of non-drag racing needs that moved us to the shorter "snick snick" style shifting using the clutch.

On sportbikes, you can get an air activated shifter. At the set RPM, an air activator powershifts for you - no clutch. The better systems will kill the engine for some hundreth of a second during the process.

 

Power shifting is great! Nothing like the sound going down the drag strip! I used to power shift my '65 Chevelle all the time and it worked fine with the Hurst Competition Plus shifter. I never had any trouble with my '67 Sunbeam Alpine, or any of the Datsuns that I had. For some reason I can't power shift the T-5 in my Mustang worth a damn. I don't know if it is because the tranny is a worn-out-POS or what? I've even got a Steeda shifter on it, re-built the tranny, and still no luck. :-(