im a little confused on this topic...first of all i just came into the acura world and and second of all ive heard a million different ways to shift during racing or whenever....and i guess i know now cuz of all the comments about it, that gateshifting gives the best times....but im not quite sure of the term....i mean i know what the ss and just plain using d5 is but i dont know whats different when u gateshift.... please explain..i apologize for my ignorance

 

Gateshifting, as opposed to SS, allows the shift to engage in the VTEC range whereas the SS engages a little below that.

 

Pull the shifter all the way down and to the left into 1st. Step on the gas, when the RPM's hit ~6,800 shift to 2nd, and keep going up the gears like that.

 

Keep in mind...gateshift using gears 1 to 5 should only be done if your fully stopped. Essentially you can, on the freeway or driving, go down one gear. Like from 5 gear to 4th gear back up to 5th gear...but it's bad for your engine. It's safer to use the SS. Always practice before you do it for real.

 

but doesnt my 03 tl-p change from 1 to 2 automatically no matter what?

 

Only in SS. But to get over that...just floor the car and don't let up and it'll take it to redline before shifting.

 

technically shifting down to 4th then back up to 5th isn't really bad for ur engine.. u do it all the time when ur on the highway and u stomp on the gas and u feel it downshift and when u let off it shifts back up... its not bad, ur just telling the car when to shift by holding the gear there... basically u just waste gas...

 

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I'm not entirely sure about what I'm going to say next, but maybe someone can make sense of it. When you floor it and the car downshifts, it's the computer making the adjustments so that your engine can safely do it. But when you manually do it, and if your not careful about your rpms, speed and what not, you can potentially be doing harm. That's why the SS is the next best thing to gateshifting and a lot better than full automatic mode. I remember reading a newspaper article about shifting gears on an auto car while the car is in motion, not good for the tranny or something. But then again I could be wrong. I used to go from 4th to 3rd all the time in my old car and no problem...so I don't really know if there really is any damage done.

 

Okay this is really stupid of me guys but... Can one of you guys write down exactly at what RPM you shift into the next gear? i mean starting from 1st Gear all the way to 5th gear?
So at 1st gear you floor it until it hits 6,800 RPM, then 2nd Gear?, 3rd?, 4th?, 5th?...

Sorry for the stupid question but I would like to get an exact number for each gear in order to get Top Performance during racing...

 

and specify whether on a tl-s or tl-p

 

"Only in SS. But to get over that...just floor the car and don't let up and it'll take it to redline before shifting."

could you be a lil more specific...like all i know is that when its in ss u wont actually shift until it hits 3rd gear and then u shift from there...u said florr the car? from what gear or position? and then shift to what...? sorry sometimes i need **** to be right in front of face....thanks

 

In SS shift mode, the shift from 1st to 2nd is automatic. Well normally if your just driving, the car will autoshift you like before VTEC. If you mash the pedal down so that it can't go no further from a dead stop...the computer will allow you to run the rpms up to redline before it autoshifts to 2nd. Mashing the pedal isn't the best idea from a stand still unless you have very, very sticky tires...but then even so...because you loose traction and will spin your tires. What you have to do is modulate. Modulating is where you adjust how much power you apply to the pedal. So right off the line you won't want to mash the pedal, but rather bring it down to like 75-80% of touching the ground. And once your launched...floor the car and start shifting after your in second gear. Keep in mind if you don't have headers, you have to shift about 200-300rpms before it touches redline or else the rev limiter kicks in. Why do you have to shift so early? Because the SS technology in our cars lag by a good second. From the moment you push up to the moment the car actually shifts is 1 second. To put that in perspective, the M3 SMG cand do that in something around 0.005 seconds.

 

I redline 1st gear and it autoshifts to 2nd. I run the 2nd gear all the way up to right dead smack at redline and shift to 3rd...same thing all the way up to 5th...but you don't need 5th...it's just gas saver gear. I usually run up to 4th and stop there. I rarely use 5th because it's so weak. Also you can only shift at redline with headers.

 

well that is true... since ur ecu tells engine to safely do it... as long as ur not shifting into a redline area u r safe.. think about the o/d buttons that come on the other cars... u can push those buttons whenever u want.. it is preferred u do it when u climbing steep hills but u can techincally do it whenever u want.. its the same concept when u pull the shifter into the lower gear... instead of a button u have to manually do it.. the only harm is if u are shifting into a redline area... and u are partially right about shifting gears in an auto car while it is moving.. that only applies for 1st gear... since the gear is so short it can't handle the jump in rpm... shifting ur car into first while ur in second gear while the car is moving can be potentially fatal to ur tranny...
the reason i know alot about this is because i don't have the SS like u guys in my first gen... that and in my old cressida (supra engine swap) i had to gateshift cause i didn't want to spend the extra 2 grand to convert it to manual... if ur gonna gateshift just watch ur rpms and pei is right about the lag in shifting.. even when gateshifting shift about 1-2 secs before redline... unless u want to shift at redline don't hit ur fuel cutoff...

 

thanx a lot guys...