Okay, newb here... After doing several searches that yielded nothing better than threads about hats and the merits of the "stook" moniker, I resign myself to being flamed for asking a question whose answer HAS to be right under my nose somewhere.

I'm simply looking for a listing of speed at redline for each gear of the car (I just acquired an '02, which is designated as an AP1 model, right?). I just want to know the highest speed at which I can safely downshift to the next lower gear without over-revving. A simple bit of information, and particularly critical for a car like this, that needs to be kept at high revs. It's got to be available in a very obvious place... so...

Go ahead, show me and the world what sort of 'tard I am...


Thank you in advance.

 

search for my posts b/c i made a thread about this a while ago, i'd link u if i had time, ltr

 

Simple rule of thumb: if you're above VTEC engagement (~6Krpm) in the higher gear, don't do it.

Not exact, but good enough for most purposes. There's generally no point in downshifting if it will bring you close to redline anyway.

JonasM

 

The Reverend's Garage

Use the S2000 gears button at the bottom of the page to automatically input your AP1 ratios. I don't know if you can find out which point you redline in a lower gear... but this will get you started.




Look at the graph... it will tell you which mph is the max you can downshift.

 

:agree: with JonasM.

But here's an approximation: 1- 35MPH 2-65MPH 3-90MPH 4-110MPH 5-Don't need to worry about..

 

Well, since shifting at 9k=6k at the next gear (or there abouts) you can check reverend's garage, but the rule of downshifting only if you're below 6k is the way to handle it.

 

If you're in VTEC, don't downshift. If not, go ahead. That's my basic rule.

Also, I'm 99% certain the owners manual lists the maximum speed possible in each forward gear. I'd go out to the parking lot and grab mine from the car and look it up and type it out here for you... but I don't feel like it. Do it yourself

 

Wow, according to that I can go 47.9mph in reverse!

 

Honestly, it all depends on your experience with the car, and this applies to any car.

To be very safe and carefull, do what iamhomin (although 65 mph for a 3rd-2nd downshift is VERY high and not that careful and 90 mph for a 4th-3rd downshift is also cutting it close ) and mbilderback have said. Once you get the feel of the car you will not need to worry about asking a question like this becuase you will know yourself when to do what.

 

Thanks for the replies. The VTEC / 6K guideline seems to make the most sense, and the Reverend's Garage calculator shows me just what I wanted to know. BTW, the max speeds are not shown in my owner's manual. There are some super-conservative "recommended" shift points but no maximums for each gear. Curiously, the manual does advise that one should be sure that a downshift won't put the revs past 9k, but offers no information on how to make that calculation.

Having just got the car, I want to take it out to an autocross soon. I haven't autocrossed much in the past couple of years so I'll have all synapses occupied and want to have a good sense of when I could/should shift down to first gear.