how the **** do you mess up so badly you go from 5 to 2?

 

easy.. they don't hold the shifter properly.

rebgoober, when shifting from 2nd to 3rd, simply push the shifter forward. unless the gates are spaced weird, it should rebound to the center and go straight in. besides, 1st will be locked out anyway, so there's no worry there.

3rd to 4th, hand over the shifter, palm facing the floor, pull the shifter towards the rear of the car.

4th to 5th, palm facing the passenger, push shifter towards the front right of the car.

downshifting from 5th to 4th would be done the same way as upshifting from 3rd to 4th.

etc..

that concludes my lesson for the day.

 

well, 5-2 is a pretty long distance.

 

I start in 2nd quite a lot because the hills here are steep enough that its pointless starting from 1st.

 

it's because they manhandle the shifter and pull left and back, and wham, 2nd gear. if your bushings are in good order, the shifter should rebound to center, so all you have to do is pull back, no left, no right.

however, i have see shifter gates that were spaced weird, so that if you pull straight back or forward, you'd hit gate instead of gear. it's bad design, if you ask me. fortunately, neither my integra nor my girl's c230 are like that, but it's something to keep in mind.

 

i hit 2nd from redline at 3rd in my civic one time..... not pretty but the car survived it.

 

Easy, be a dumbass like me. :doh:

Good thing I caught it in time and put it back into neutral. :eek3:

 

That's one of the reasons I absolutely hate short shifters... all the damn gears feel the same.

 

AT forever.

 

:ban:

Who blew up a Ferrari?