New to maunal trans...a few questions
 

What is the difference between granny shifting, power shifting, and double clutching? What is the best for racing and which ones are bad for the trans? I have a 88 5.0, what is the best rpm to launch at? and to shift at for daily driving and for racing? Thanx

Granny shifting is just normal shifting - once you are moving, when shifting to the next gear, you put the clutch in and let your foot off the gas, let the clutch out, then put your foot back on the gas.

Powershifting, is never pulling your foot off the gas while using the clutch to shift gears.

Not too sure about double-clutching...

Launch RPM street or strip will depend on your traction (tires, suspension, horsepower, rear gears, etc. all affect traction) - experiment...and have fun!

As for shift points, a rough estimate for when to shift a mostly stock 5.0 is around 5200rpm - but you can't always go by the stock tach, as it is known to be way off at higher readings. hth - Bob

Double clutching:

driving along in first
push in clutch
put in to neutral
release clutch
push in clutch
put in second
release clutch

Used for trans with no syros ( farm trucks, tractors, my 59 ford)
Not the fastest way down the strip, but you will never wreck a trans!!

Fastest way?? Power shift, also the fastest way to blow up trans.
Its worth about 2 tenths on a Mustang. And about 2 hours to change it when it breaks!;)

OK well my car is stock right now, besides the K&N so what do u think I should Launch at? is 5200 rpm the best time to shift for racing or daily driving? Whats the best time to shift for the other one?

I think if you try it out you will see that the 5200 is for racing only :)

On the street, it is really your call, maybe shift around 2000 - 2500 or so for best gas mileage - but that won't even keep you in front of a fart-canned Civic next to you!

Well like I said I'm new to driving stick, but thanks for your help

see most of the guy's I know refer to power shifting when the clutch isnt used launch with clutch keep foot on gas pedal on the floor pull shifter to second hit 6000 pull third hit 6000 pull 4th use clutch after traps.

That sounds really painful, to the car and my pocket book!

i would suggest that if you are racing on the highway...its very important to know what gear you can go into to get the most power... when i was stock with stock gears, i could go into 2nd gear at about 55 mph. but if you do this then you better be ready to shift quickly to 3rd. i shift daily driving at about 2000 rpms. if you go to the strip and you dont have drag radials or slicks its almost pointless to bring the rpms up past 2000 b/c if you do then all you'll do is spin the tires. have a good time driving, and remember it seems easier to spin the tires when you have a 5 speed cause you can play with the clutch, it doesnt mean youre going faster, it just means your going through tires faster!!!!

oh yeah, when racing, i could bring my car up to about 5500 to 6000 in each gear becaue it was still pulling when i would shift.

sdd228 brings up a good point...the stock tach is not usually very accurate at higher rpms. So your tach may say 6000 and you are still pulling, but on a mostly stock 5.0, 5400 (actual rpms) is probably the highest you can go before valve float.

Sorry, but what's pulling and vavle float?

pulling= car is still accelerating quickly

valve float= not good

some people short shift too which works sometimes. this is shifting before you hit like4500 or so. ive tried it a few times on the street, but not at the track.

the key to shifting is being quick and accurate, and NOT spinning the tires! i beat my friend's 99 z28 (ls1 motor) with just boltons all the time. he couldnt drive the thing to save his life.

It is my understanding that valve float is related to the stock springs (on your cylinder heads) not being able to maintain rocker arm stability at high rpms - (basically they can't move the rocker arm between the intake and exhaust ports quickly enough - or at least not properly).

If you go to the Corral website, and do a search for "valve float" in the title of threads, you will see many interesting discussions on the topic.