wettvette

a couple of times today when i was at maximum revs in 3rd i went to change in to forth and got second by mistake as soon as i realised this the clutch went straight in, but it still screamed , i dont know how many revs it would have gone to, but it was at near redline when i was supposed to get fourth gear. how much damage will this do? it is really easy to do, and im scared im going to blow the engine. i never do it in my other cars

Allan Wagner

I blew my motor two months ago the same way. All i can say is try to be a little more careful.

wettvette

i know what your saying, but in the heat of the moment, its clutch in clutch out, i guess i can only give it 90%.
i love corvettes, but if the next model i look at (c6 or c7) has that same issue. they have lost me, i know im the one changing the gears but in my opinion the chance of a bad shift and doing damage is too great. yep im...... not happy

SpeedyD

What shifter do you have in your car?

vettenuts

First thing to give up the ghost will be pushrods (if you're lucky), I would think rod bolts would be second.

jmiller

I added a hurst shifter and have never missed a shift since.

Which by the way, it's the drivers fault. Not the car.

robvuk

You must not have a stock shifter in your car or there's something wrong with yours. Third to fourth is straight back without any spring loading to go any where else but straight back. I could see a lazy fifth to sixth ending up in 4th because the springs will bring it back into the three/four gate. There's no excuse for missing third to fourth unless something is wrong. I've been driving manuals for 40 years and never missed a shift except once on a test drive in 1986 on a MR-2 Toyota.

Try someone elses car and see if it's not better. It's definitely not an issue with "Corvettes" as you imply.

John Shiels

but an auto

John Shiels

and if there is a miss in their car?

RichieRichZ06

Learn how to drive a stick shift before saying it is the cars fault.

Casem1

Do you not have a rev limiter???

Bill Curlee

I purchased my KIRBAN aftermarket shifter to eliminate just that issue!! It is "SPRING LOADED" to the center 3rd/4th gate! When your in the 1st/2nd gate and get ready to shift to 3rd/4th, all you need to do is push it out of second with the palm of your hand (the shifter spring center it into the 3rd/4th gate and you use the palm of your hand to ram it into 3rd. When your ready to go into 4th, just use your fingers to pull straight back!

When I was learning how to drive my first C5 (98 MN6 coupe) I thought you needed to monkey fist the shifter and rip the gears! I got into the 3rd to 2nd shift gate scenario once. The tell-tail signs are this very strange whine from the synchros trying like hell to stop the gear so it can sync up!!!! Caught it before I let the clutch out!! The KIRBAN shifter took care of that.

Look at your shifting technique! If your grabbing the entire shift **** with a death grip, try a little more finesse and get a better shifter!

I let my son drive the Z when he came home from Iraq He had the shifter death grip technique! We fixed that!!!

BC

chaase

Every single manual transmission car I have ever owned or driven has this issue. If you pick the wrong gear you can kill the motor on the downshift..rev limiter can not help on this issue. The fuel cutoff cannot prevent overrev on a downshift

VetteDrmr

Man, I hate to say it, but if you're missing the 3-4 shift, you've got the wrong technique. Even in the heat of the moment, you still (actually, even more so) have to think about what you're doing with the car.

Regardless of the car, you should have different hand positions for the 1-2 and 3-4 shifts. 1-2 you need to have the palm of your hand slightly to the right of center on the shift ****; that'll naturally pull the shifter to the left.

3-4, move the palm to the top of the shift ****; that'll eliminate most, if not all, of that natural leftwards pull.

Whether you're dragracing, autox, or road-racing, you have the most time to plan when it comes to shifting (well, except maybe the 1-2).

Now, as to your engine: you didn't say how it's running now. If everything seems OK, then take a deep breath and say a prayer of thanks. If not, then give us more details and we'll try to help you out.

No flames, just trying to help.

Have a good one,
Mike

bobbss

I hate to say it but I have missed the gears too and I know it's because of the death grip.When you start driving hard you want to force it into the next gear instead of letting it slip into gear.I do much better when I relax some.There probably is an eaiser stick out there to drive but then agin it could be the vette just gets you worked up more than other cars and you try to hard.

bobbss

Good post!

BlackZ06

There isn't a manual transmission car in the world that can protect the engine if you select the wrong gear. Ferrari (manual transmission - not the paddle shifter which is really an automatic controlled by computer), Lamborghini ... doesn't matter the price ... there just isn't anything that the car maker can do to protect against over-revving if you select the wrong gear.

Try this .... (This assumes a left hand drive car ... you're in NZ aren't you ?? Should fill out your profile).

1st to second gear .... place your hand on the shift **** so that the palm of your hand is against the right side of the shifter **** with your fingers wrapped around the front of the **** (kinda like you'd grip a pistol)

2nd to third .... palm on top of the ****, use the heel of your hand to move the shift lever and let your arm move in a diagonal motion away from your body.

3rd to 4th ... palm on top of the **** and use your fingers to pull the **** straight toward the rear of the car.

4th to 5th ... place palm on left side of shift ****. (Make a fist and rotate it 90 degrees counter-clockwise) .... this may feel a little unnatural at first, but your arm will now want to move in the correct direction into 5th .... you will naturally be putting pressure on the **** to slide it into the 5th/6th area.

5th to 6th ... same hand position as 4th to 5th

This is for upshifting ... think about this trick of hand position and you'll see how you can GREATLY reduce selecting the wrong gear just by how you hold the shift ****.

HTH

wettvette

standard 6spd

2fat2fly

Pushrods will be the first thing to go.

wettvette

if you read the thread properly you would see that it does not happen in the other cars i own, in saying that they are 5spd not 6spd, maybe they are closer together