So, I took the evo to the track for the first time this weekend. I've raced my trans am before, so not a track newb, but never in an evo before.

First off, I've never been to NED before, but i couldn't get traction for ****! My BEST run was a 2.1 60' and 13.0 @115 after coasting the last 400 feet cuz I ran out of gear on the 6speed and couldn't find 5th.

Anyways, awful 60' foots aside, on one of the last runs I got locked out going 3-4 (my tranny is always sticky between these gears, but i didn't think a rebuild was a priority) and after some fighting I got it into gear, except it was 2nd

I was shifting around 7500, but by the time i found a gear the RPMs had dropped and I saw the Tach hit ~8700 before i re-clutched. I figure worst case scenario is if I shifted at 7k, the car would have hit 9100 based on the ratios, but I know the tach didn't clear 9k.

Anyways, the car seemed to be running okay - no ticking/smoking/idle issues etc. So I checked it over and made another two runs and it moved fine. I drove it home and around town today and everything seems good.

Mods - Brian Crower springs and retainers, stock intake cam Helix 272 exhaust, ARP head and Rod bolts, stock bottom end.

Do you think this is a ticking time bomb, or did I escape damage hopefully? I don't know how accurate the tack is under those circumstances, but i'm hoping that the rod bolts and springs saved me.

Any advice/experience with this sorta thing, greatly appreciated?!

 

I've done shifts like that more than once (2nd-to-1st, 3rd-to-2nd, and 3rd-to-reverse), but I always got out of it quickly enough not to blow everything up. I'm still rocking after almost 4 years on the original motor and stock head with 400+ drag passes, so I wouldn't be too concerned unless you notice some symptoms.

 

moving...

 

i've done this on occasion and no issues so far. I'm pretty good about realizing it instantly and laying into the clutch.

 

Thanks for the responses, you've made me feel better about this. I definitely caught it immediately and clutched quickly, so hopefully I avoided any serious damage.

Looks like the tranny rebuild is going up on the To Do list though!

 

3rd to Reverse? ROFL Warrtalon!

 

Yeah, pwnt myself on that one - trying to shift on a hard sweeper. Luckily, it locked it out.

 

u should be fine i done that like twice but caught it sooner than 8700. only time i ever tried shifting into reverse and succeeded to a point was in an old altima that i was test driving for the shop i use to work at. Had just gotten out my a ix mr LOL so i assumed there was a sixth. ended up grinding a bit LOL.

 

if you can't tell if anything is broken right now, you escaped.

NED track prep strikes again!!!


you might want to try out a twin disk, if your shifting is an issue.

 

JEEBUS... buy a sequential, sounds like you might do better with one! If you're missing that many gears, you should seriously invest in some time to revamp your hand work or something. I mean we all make mistakes (I did 10,000rpm on a BMW S50-B30 motor, which is NOT made for much more than 7500rpm and it turned the pistons into meatloaf and welded all my valves sideways) but THAT many seems a little excessive. It is a MIRACLE that you haven't blown a motor or just destroyed your gear box. You must have some seriously fast reactions to pop it out before the clutch reengages!

 

Holy exaggeration, Batman. I have over 400 drag runs, over 200 autocross runs, and countless miles on track. If you know racing, which I would guess you do, then you know that shifting under duress at the limits of handling is quite difficult. If I shifted slower, I would obviously miss less shifts, but I'm not out there to lollygag.

3 mistakes is hardly "missing that many gears" and none of them were while drag racing (straight line shifting is cake). Fear you saying I need to revamp my hand work - that's some funny stuff.

 

What are you doing in drag racing Matt? Teach me how to launch.....

 

I'm just saying... if you were in my series and money shifted that many times, you'd have quite a bill. If you weren't cruising in an engine that can handle it, you'd have a smoke trailer behind your car most of the time. I appologize, I seriously won't go insulting people's driving styles, but you definitely listed all the mistakes you've made on shifting and made it sound like you're quite experienced in getting it wrong. If you don't want crap for your mistakes, don't LIST them on a forum. I'm also kind of tired and grumpy, so any other day I'd likely just pass over this with a chuckle.

And Boltz, if you say launch one more time... I figured I saw a mis-shift post and since I have experience in grenading expensive toys I'd check it out!

But on topic:
Leakdown and compression test is the best day of work you can do to make sure its all good in there. Not to scare you, but there is a chance that something is stressed or broken but hasn't completely failed yet. This happened to us at the last race actually. A fellow driver's mis-shift didn't seem to damage the motor until the next day when a piston skirt fell off. Its a very small chance, but I'd check it.

 

Well I have a stock motor/head and did no damage to my trans or clutch, so they weren't that bad, huh? I'm at 4 years now on that same motor/head in spite of TONS AND TONS of racing including some mis-shifts. You completely destroyed your BMW, so don't you get the feeling that my mistakes aren't nearly as bad as what you did? Plus, do you still not take notice of the hundreds and hundreds of runs of all types I've done with this car with still no work done to the head or motor? Think about it.

Also, go check out my shifting speed in my vids if you get a chance, and you might have a better understanding of my "hand work." You consider 3 times out of maybe 5000 race shifts to be "quite experienced in getting it wrong." I consider 4997 out of 5000 to be pretty decent.

 

I completely understand, and that's a testament to your engine and reactions to keep a motor like that in good health. I will admit that I money shifted the living hell out of my BMW motor, but that was the last real bad mis-shift I've made in my career. If I put it in the wrong gear, I don't let out the clutch. Shift speed is a topic for another day!

Again, I didn't mean to insult anybody really, I just keyed into your list. I would never LIST my shifting mistakes, especially a 3rd to reverse shift, if I was trying to keep people from analyzing my driving style.