Well, Ive never really owned an automatic car. I was with my friend last ngiht who has 2001 Mutsang V6. I told him to launch it, but honestly had no idea, never having an automatic. I formulated hte idea of holding hte brake, rev up to 5k then shift into drive. To my surprise, he actually did it and it wasnt much of a launch at all, after driving 50 feet the car had 3 loud clunks. I just left after that cuz we werent doin anything. Could this **** up his car?

 

Well is he had it in neutral and dropped it into drive than that can mess it up.

If you really want to launch an auto, just hold the brake in drive and push in the gas, the car won't go anywhere as long as you are pushing the brake pretty good. I have tested doing this on a G-Tech and I actually ran a little bit quicker not too much though. :/ I launched it at like 3,500 RPMs

Also what you can do is pull up the e-brake and press the gass then let the ebrake out, but doesn't work as good.

 

I was wondering how could it mess it up, and what would mess it up? Good suggestions on the other techniques.

 

Automatic transmissions have something known as their stall speed which is the engine speed at which the torque converter actually transfers power from the engine to the transmission. When you forcibly shift into drive with the car revved up, you are risking premature wear of the transmission components. By far the easiest way to launch an automatic car is to take your foot off of the brake and put the pedal to the floor. In general, you will need to replace transmission components if you want to engage the transmission at a higher engine RPM. More can be found at the following link:
http://www.bankspower.com/Tech_understandstallspeed.cfm

 

Neutral drop will put a much harder strain on your trans and stall converter. Not a good idea at all. Better to hold the brake with the left foot and stomp on the gas when the light turns green.

 

Powerbraking (Holding brake, and gassing to the stall speed of your torque converter) will give you slightly faster launches as long as you do not have traction control. They do have a down side though.

In an automatic transmission the hotter the fluid gets, you lose some performance in the shifts after you are moving. So when power braking you want to time it so that the car does not sit at the stall speed for an extended period of time before you launch. With drag racing on a tree, and a little practice you will know how long your car takes to reach that stall speed, and the best launch is one where your revs are climbing toward the stall speed, but you release the brake just before you get there. Sitting in a fully stalled mode (for more than a second or two) and then stepping off the brake will make the shifts to 2nd and 3rd mushy, where your opponent can then then drive around you. It is better to lose a fraction on launch but have strong shifts down track, than to have a good launch that is wasted, when you lose time at each shift.

This is just my opinion, but I have drag raced automatics in imports and domestics, and the shift strength and precision loss due to overheating the fuild is consistant for both types of cars. High performance racing transmission fluid can help alleviate some of it, as it breaks down less when really heated up, but it is not some magic cure all.

 

if u neutral drop a automatic car u can literally send your tranny through the front of your car out onto the ground, ive seen it happen

 

yeah dude, better off just stomping on the gas!

 

Congratulations!
You just blew your first Ford tranny and never sat in the driver's seat.
He can expect to pay near $3,000.00 with labor.
BMan

 

my friend has a v6 stand auto and he just slams the gas and chirps through 2nd at least... and he has no mods at all..
BTW, with a mustang you cannot hold hte ebrake and launch... ebrake holds back tires!

 

yea it really sucks for us autos

 

I'd say just slam the accelerator to the floor and yeah.... Off you go...if you do it fast enough and dont ease it on the revs can get pretty high before the ***** actually kicks into gear (at least when I took out a 1995 3.0L Auto Magna).

Revs come up, then it kicks in maybe a second later... you can do the same thing from 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th.... almost feels like its got a turbo if you imagine enough.

 

1. Hold down brake pedal.
2. Engine revs should equal at most (4 * idle rpm) or (redline rpm / 3), whichever is less. Do this just prior to launch.
3. Let off brake pedal and accelerate as appropriate.

 

You'll break your hydralic linkage on your auto tranny if you neutral drop.

Don't power brake either, it doesn't work on 4 cylinder engines. It only works if you have enough power to do it. What you'll find out is when you power brake on a small engine car is that the RPM wont go up that high.

You let go of the brake and stand still. Then you just punch the accelerator. Tires spin and there you go.

 

I'm not sure I've ever seen a "hydraulic linkage" in an automatic, but I sure wouldn't try to launch an automatic by dropping it into drive. My cousin ate 5 Powerglide transmissions and 7 differentials doing that in a 1966 Camaro SS (he was a slow learner).

I don't think you gain much by power braking either; my 540i had enough torque to PUSH THE LOCKED UP FRONT TIRES ON DRY PAVEMENT, but with a GTech the 0-60 times didn't improve by more than 0.05 seconds. Don't do it folks, it's not worth it.