Shifting at red line doesn't make for smooth shifts if that is what you are after. It comes down to the situation you are in.

 

If you have a stock ap1 your tach is 200 rpm off on the high side. Your hp levels out around 8350 rpm. (really 8150). The trick is to get out of the high rpms with no hp gain and into a higher gear while staying in vtec.

If you can drop your vtec rpm engagement a bit, that helps keep you there when you shift. A VAFC will do that. It may also help you get an increasing power curve over 8350 I don't know, I've never used one.

With an SC, I ended up dropping vtec to 4400 as it gave a better power curve on the dyno. This eliminated a problem I had at autox where boost and vtec occurred at the same time as I came out of a corner. I've wondered how the turbo guys handle it when they autox as their power comes on sooner.

fltsfshr

 

live life a little rev it a bit more hehe...

 

I wouldn't say the power comes on sooner in a turbo. These conditions depend on the size of the turbo and the efficency of the turbo & engine.

However, the power is more 'abrupt' in a turbocharger, which makes it tricky. The power delivery of a SC is more linear.

 

I shift whenever I feel like it (isn't that the point of owning a manual tranmission? )

I have hit the rev limiter once in my s2k and that was in 2nd gear; other than that, I shift when the tach is right around 9,000.

 

Unless I have someone tailing me or some lost riceboy looking for his daddy, I usually like to shift before 6k. Going 30 mph in 2nd with the revs up higher can be kinda loud if I'm in LA traffic.

Call me a heretic, but I don't usually like to draw that much attention especially on the surface streets... with a stock exhaust as loud as ours, it's gonna draw some looks and not always from hot girls. With my luck, the looks that I get will be from a popo and I know they won't hesitate to stop me and ask me for my number... drivers license number.

City driving - I'll shift at about 4k
Riceboy evasion - Redline, baby!!

 

I normally shift right before it blinks but when i drive more aggresive i might let it blink twice before i shift

 

When driving in the city I usually shift at 2500 to 3000 rpm so the revs come back to at least 2000 rpm in the next gear

When driving a little more like the car wants to, I usually shift right before VTEC to keep that pleasure for special occasions. Most of the time, this way is fast enough to let the others well behind. And then the fun part is that you even didn't have to touch VTEC to do the job

When going for my own pleasure, I usually shift between 8000 and 8x00 rpm to still leave some undiscovered territory untouched in my mind

So no red blinking tacho yet

 

 

Supposedly you can gain back the 20 hp after 8350 with the VAFC. 00/01 owners typically get 10-15 midrange, 10 peak, and 15-20 after 8350 due to their very conservative ECU tune.