I was just wandering if it is safe to 'shift' a th350 manually.
Just drive in '1', go to 5000rpm then shift in '2', go to 5000rpm and then put it in 'D'.
Is it safe to do this, or is it a big NONO?

And if it is safe, should the gas-pedal be released when shifting?

Up shifting like that won't hurt a thing. No need to let off the throttle when shifting.

Ooooh no!!

Now he's went and done it!!

Next thing ya know, he will be thinking about jambing gears, ala four-speed stick!!

AND the tire cost will just go out the window!!

He, He!!

If he'd left that handle in DRIVE, he woulda never started down the path of becoming a true tire-burner!!!!!

pdq67

just dont start downshifting with it to slow down. only to speed up.
that is a NONO (seriously)

If you don't have a shift kit, I would get one. Its cheap insurance.

Won't hurt a thing.

Thanks for the replys guys!

pdq67, LOL :D

Why would it be a "no no" to downshift, ohcscott? I do it all the time from D to 2nd when I'm in the twisties.

personal experience from watching my brother ruin 2 auto transmissions in a row when i was a kid. he liked to watch the rpms race and hear the tires chirp as he downshifted to slow down from a high rate of speed.

if you are down shifting an automatic to slow down from a high RPM, rather than to speed up, it puts a serious drag on the transmission.

downshifting to slow down from a low rpm, around when the trans would shift down by itself, shouldnt do much damage, especially if you are getting ready to hammer the gas anyway.

of course, my brother also ruined a standard shift transmission by downshifting too early, so maybe i'm just overly cautious.

i guess what i'm saying is, if it sounds like it's being abused, it is. i try to avoid downshifting to slow down in any car. brakes are cheap and easy.

so let me get this straight- it's BAD to downshift to second gear at 85 mph just to hear the 2" glasspacks make all that noise and (hopefully) make a few flames shoot out of the tailpipes? how could that POSSIBLY be bad for anything? damn, you just wrecked most of my "good" memories of cruising in a friends big block powered/3.73 geared 79 Z/28 about 10 years ago. oh, that poor, poor TH350...

if you didnt have to drive home in reverse for 10 miles, it is still a good memory.

it takes a good couple of months of constant abuse like that to kill it. i tried to tell him. i just avoided going long distances with him again till after he killed the second one and the stick car he borrowed went to the shop too.
the owner of the stick car said he couldnt borrow it because it was in the shop for a transmission. i was there. it was a classic moment. my bro's eyes got real wide and a look of sudden understanding crossed his face when he looked at me. now he's a good boy. older brothers...go figure.

I used to downshift my th350 manually to help the manual 4 wheel drums stop the car from freeway speeds, learned the hard way on that one. The tranny lived, but the crank in the 327 broke in two! :eek:

My wife used ta really get upset wehen I had to throw the anchor out at speed by downshifting a couple a times while stomping on the brakes!!

First, my rearend would start jumping up and down and then my old slapper bars would start to reverse hit and do some good banging!!

What a racket but it would slow right down as she was carrying on!!

Now I'm going full pdqCBB disc's all around and I'm not gonna stop working the brakes over until I can flat-spot all four tires!! Ta heck with them cheap POS stock four wheel drum brakes!!

pdq67

My physics teacher in high school told us about one time when he was a young guy, one of his friends bet him a case of beer that his tranny wouldn't go into 1st at 60mph (3spd), and he proved the buddy wrong, showed us the scar from chunks of tranny. Also beware shifting through the factory "lock-out", if you do, the tranny shifts extra hard, but will be very very short lived. (experience)

I'm not talking about slammin' the car into first from 85 mph, or even 2nd for that matter.
I was talking about driving thru the mountains and shifting from D to 2 and back again as neccessary. A little engine braking and getting the right RPM for coming out of the turns. And nothing over 50 mph. I've been downshifting every car I've ever driven (and motorcycles) for years.
Did I misunderstand, or are you telling me that you shouldn't downshift a TH350 at all?

i doubt you are causing any significant damage that way. IMO it may take a few miles off the life of the clutches.
just when i think of "downshift" and "automatic" combined with slowing down, it gets my hose in a bunch. bad memories. sorry i brought it up.

Isn't it the same basic principle as an overdrive trans when ya stomp on it? It's downshifting to Drive. I realize the RPM's aren't there. I still woudn't do it to a TH350.

I killed a '71 Duster that way. ;) First car I ever owned, poor as hell so the brakes got worse and worse until the pad rivets were all that was stopping me. Had to downshift no matter where I was to be able to stop. Tranny went away and so did the car.
:rolleyes:

yeah, when you stomp on it, an OD auto/trans will downshift from OD to 3rd or 2nd, just like a th350 will shift from drive to second, to speed up, not to slow down. if you release the gas with drive or overdrive selected, it will coast (or upshift and then coast), but if manually shifted into first or second, it will not coast, and thus puts a drag on both the engine and transmission if not accellerating.

an automatic (any) does not downshift automatically while slowing down until the vehicle is practically stopped, or the accellerator is depressed.

to be fair, the two auto transmissions i saw killed this way were C4 fords, and were continually downshifted at high rpms with no accelleration. they each lasted about 2 months.

upshifting manually, and downshifting manually to accellerate are completely acceptable to me, within moderation. i would even (with great feelings of guilt) go so far as to stay in second for short periods on the highway when i had no downshift cable. [that specific th350 is still going strong in my friends pickup, these many (10) years after i purchased it rebuilt for my firebird.]

my staying in second on the highway is probably very similar to Steve W.'s habit of shifting down in the twistys. not great for it, but not all that bad for it.

sorry about your duster.

again, sorry i brought it up.

Do i have this right?

D is for driving
L is for loafing
R is for racing
P is for passing

what is the N for? graemlins/clonk.gif

Nightime?

No, no, no...... NITROUS!!

;)

I kept at a thread called "We'll get it to live if it kills us" or something like that about some guy's that were trying to make the TH700-R4 live above 600hp!!

Anyway, I asked why he wanted the tranny to live when he down-shifted it twice AND hit the NOS as he floored it??

He said he liked to spin his tires while cruising so I figured out that if that was his thing, then it was not for me to complain!!

Anyway, the guy sold the car AND the thread died so we never did get anybody to figure out how to make the 700 live like the blown Buick, 200's!!

I really wished that WE4, Bruce, would get into the game of making the 700 live under 700#/' of torque so we could use it besides the 200 tranny b/c the 4L80E is just too big, not to mention expensive!!

I was looking into this after the guy that sold me my core 454 that I made my 496 out of say that more than likely the first ta go away would be my 12 bolt axles and then the U-joints and then my M-20 if not before the U-Joints..

I really don't want an automatic, but strong sticks are hard to find, much less a real hassle to install, imho..

But I just may have ta bite the bullit and go an expensive stronger stick if i ever gey my darn car on the road!!

pdq67

PS., I am keeping an eye on the new Italian geared, super cased supposed 600#/' Muncie box though....