As for me, i usually shift right on the 9, but as i watch more s2000 vids, i always see the driver shifting alil higher... shifting until the red light lits up...

Lol do you guys shift the same way?

 

Yes!
A nanosecond,before the cutout kicks in.!!!

 

Taking a 9000rpm motor to 9200 while not much more than 9000 causes even more stress on the already stressed components. I guess these motors can take it though from what i've read.

 

i try to shift at the same time the red light would come on. thats the best results I have gotten

 

I shift when the yellow thingy hits the five. I've heard stories about a wonderful land called VTEC just beyond the 6 grand mark... but as far as I can tell, they're just fairy tales ^_^

 

When I run the car to redline (usually at least a few times every time I drive the car) I shift as close to the point where the flashing starts as possible. Sometimes I get one flash. When autocrossing I may get a couple flashes, and when the car was stock there were a few times when I banged the rev limiter. I've also banged the rev limiter once since the FI install, in third gear (!), and that's a mistake I don't want to make again.

Running the stock motor up against the rev limiter briefly doesn't do the motor any harm, though it's best to shift before that point. The tach actually flashes to tell you when to shift, so the flashing doesn't mean that anything is getting overstressed.

 

So when it flashes it didn't hit the rev limmiter yet? I thought when it flashed it was saying "too late buddy, try again next time" I never actually pushed it past 7900-8000 RPM (MY05), I didn't want to hurt my baby!

 

This argument of "where to shift" seems to come up in all cars...it kinda all depends on what you're trying to do. Some people swear by dyno charts and power curves to see where the ideal point to shift is...i have a friend with a 450whp Cobra and he shifts well before the redline in his car, due to less power being made in those higher rpms. However for autocrossing late shifts are often better just solely to keep the revs as high as possible and avoid having to drop down a gear in the middle of a turn. I personally think that shifting right before the light blinks even once is a good spot for general driving (if 9000 rpm can be considered general)....

 

You are doing no harm, even by hitting the rev limiter. Why? Because it's there so that you don't cause harm. Taking it to 9200 rpms isn't going to hurt your car, just do it only when you're trying to drive fast.

Oh, and make sure you have plenty of oil in the car.

 

^ I can only agree. A REV limiter is there to protect the engine from overreving, on most cars it does so by cutting fuel or/and sparks so once you reach the maximum allowed RPM limit on a car, the engine stops running faster and you are safe.
I shift @ 5K rpm the whole day and let it bling twice only when it's on. If you don't have a cat, try to let it bling 3 times just to hear some pump gun action :-) (unburned fuel exiting trough the header and igniting)