The used of 2nd Gear!
- Thread starter R77F1
- Start date
Any speed you want but I would stay below the speed that the engine red lines in 2nd gear. The rev limiter does nothing when the car is pushing the engine. $$$$
Briank, I would like to clarify what I'm try to do here. I like to downshift to 2nd gear without damaging any thing when I want to pass someone quick. I tried downshift to 2nd when I was close to or about 60mph and it pulls hard with the vtec kick in. Can I downshift to 2nd gear in between 60+ to 80mph? Anyone had ever tried this sometime?
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Everything has been tried at least once :biggrin:. As long as you don't over rev the engine its OK but try to feather the clutch a little just give the engine a little break. There is a slight possiblity you could jump the timming belt if you instantly snap the engine up to 8000 rpm. People say its bad to let the car push the engine but the engine and drive line is much lighter and easier to move (turn) then the car.
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Why don't you just go out and redline it in 2nd gear and see what the speed is at redline, then you'll know to NEVER exceed that speed when downshifting. I don't know what you are passing that you need second gear at 60mph but to each his own. Just be aware that if you grab 2nd gear at a speed above redline and let out the clutch, you'll find out the meaning of "money shift" very quickly 
2nd redlines just a hair after 80mph, and v-tec kicks in right at around 60mph in 2nd. but before you downshift the car straight from 5th to 2nd at 70mph i would rev match the engine by reving it to around 6.5K than downshift to 2nd this way it won't shock the drive train as hard.
If you're doing 60+ and passing somebody, 3rd or 4th is plenty of gear for the open streets. The owner's manual has a table of max speeds for each gear and would probably give you an idea if going down to 2nd is even wise at that speed. As mentioned, you risk the "money shift" at that speed.
Miner
+1 Just be careful when downshifting to 4th gear as its easy to accidently grab second.
Thanks everyone for the inputs :smile:
FYI: My friend had a '96 NSX when he downshifted from 5th to 2nd gear while was doing 80+, the engine automatically shut down but when he shifted back to 5th gear, the engine started back up. I think it's great that our NSX has this safety to protect the engine. I'm just wonder if all years of NSX have this functionality in them.
FYI: My friend had a '96 NSX when he downshifted from 5th to 2nd gear while was doing 80+, the engine automatically shut down but when he shifted back to 5th gear, the engine started back up. I think it's great that our NSX has this safety to protect the engine. I'm just wonder if all years of NSX have this functionality in them.
This table shows the gear ratios and redline MPH for the different variations of the NSX gearbox.
81 MPH for a normal NA1
74 MPH for a normal NA2
81 MPH for a normal NA1
74 MPH for a normal NA2
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rev match the engine speed to second gear and off you go.
dont over rev and your fine.
does not matter if you downshift in to vtec.
i do it all the time.
i think you should drive around and pay more attention to your speed vs rpm range in each gear.
the best teacher is expereince.
good luck.
dont over rev and your fine.
does not matter if you downshift in to vtec.
i do it all the time.
i think you should drive around and pay more attention to your speed vs rpm range in each gear.
the best teacher is expereince.
good luck.
No years, he was just lucky.
yup, you should do gradual downshifts like down from 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd, this way you won't miss shift and if you can rev match perfectly it sound bad ass. of course if you need real instant power than yeah, throw a huge rev to match the speed of the engine to that mph in the desired gear and just downshift and it should be smooth.
So it's like 77ish or so for the NA1.5 guys, haha.
I have never heard of this happening.
He is lucky he didnt grenade his engine. There is no rev limiter for a downshift!Similar threads
