Originally posted by accordtunerx
ok....i have a 4 speed automatic 92 accord EX.
Most of the time, i keep it in D4. The only time that i use D3 is when traveling uphill (one of it's main purposes), and occasionaly i will use it when racing. I dropped from a 17.6 to a 17.0 (track) in the 1/4 mile just by keeping it in D3. Now, i'm not saying that the WHOLE difference was accounted for simply by keeping it in D3, it could have been the temperature that night, or whatever. But, it does make a difference, and a difference you can FEEL at that. When I'm racing someone in general and i'm in D4 going about 65 mph and drop it into D3, you can feel the car jolt forward. Now, it's not the kind of jolt you get from turbo or NOS, but you CAN feel it...and it does have a real sweet sound to it :drool:
ummm....powershifting is something that i don't do often, meaning going from 1st to 2nd to D3, etc. I've done it a couple of times at the track just experimenting and my times didn't change as a result. They were like 17.2, 17.3....I actually did better with keeping it in D3 the whole way - 17.0. Also when you keep it in D3 the whole way, when it get's to the 3rd gear, it'll get up to about 6,000 rpms/it'll rev higher....usually i don't get to 4th on a 1/4 mile, so i just let off and i never redline.
Nobody wants to spend that kind of money for a 5 speed...unless they have it, which i don't. Nobody is acting like they have a 5 speed either; it's just smart racing. It's not gonna hurt to powershift every once in a while (doing it when racing once a month, etc.) and it DOES make a difference. If you are trying to reach the ideal Rpms in order to reach the max hp on your car, you will most likely need to Powershift. Yes, you can just hammer the pedal to the floor too, but powershifting is much more precise. You CAN choose when to shift. There’s about a 1 sec. Delay, but if you are smart about shifting your automatic manually, you will be able to figure out when to shift according to how much you have learned about your accord’s shift patterns, etc.
My advice is to keep it in D4 while daily driving, D3 for uphill climbs, passing on a 2 lane highway, occasional racing, etc. And use the option to powershift even less (track use). This is just advice from the way I have set up my shifting techniques. This way, your accord doesn’t see too much shifting abuse often, but you get some extra power when you request it – everybody’s happy :thumbup:
http://www.wikkedimports.com/92honda.htm
Ummm.... putting your foot all the way down in D4 is going to automaticly shift the car into the next lowest gear the engine can handle without redlining - which is almost exactly what you're doing when you force it into D3 except the tranny can do it a hell of a lot quicker than your right hand can. Maybe I'm being obtuse here, but like I said, the other "gears" just limit what the top gear is the tranny will shift into. So in D3, the tranny should act exactly as it would in D4, only it won't ever shift into O/D. Like wise, D2 will either allow the tranny to shift into D1 or D2, but never above. So, slapping the shifter into D3 is no different than putting the pedal to metal - unless of course something is already wrong with the shift logic in your tranny.
I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but maybe your car already has problems you're not aware of. Friend of mine had an 86 2.3L Mustang - it refused to down shift without being forced (i.e., slapping it into 2 from D). Wound up being a bad shift controller (some sort of ECU in some electronic trannies).