Shifting questions

[KiltedBanshees93GT]

I've been reading that my year had the shift pattern set so that when you are in "drive" which is marked by a large green dot you are actually starting in second gear, and when you select the smaller dot you actually start from first. (I may be bassakward, I'm about ready to crash out).
My question is what is the best way to shift a classic stang w/ a c-4 for the best performance. keep in mind, my car has an unknown shift kit, but it seems to be the HD setup (the car drops into gear hard , and shifts the same way.
Also, even when the car is being driven in the "d">"big dot" position, it still goes through 3 gears, so if its starting from 2nd, where is the extra gear coming from?
What am I missing here?
J

[Rev]

You have the same tranny as me. Ford thought people might like to start in second gear for smooth starts letting the torque convertor do extra work (goofy Ford), effectively turning a 3 speed into a 2 speed tranny. They made the Select Shift Cruise-o-matic with that option.

The big green dot in drive starts you in 1st. The little green dot in drive starts you in 2nd. There is hardly ever any reason to start in 2nd (little green dot). For normal driving leave it in drive (big green dot).

For racing, especially if you want to shift at higher than 4500 RPM, you have to do the "Ford shuffle". That is start in low and shift manually. After nailing it in low when you get to your desired RPM shift point, leave your right foot on the floor and shift rapidly to drive and back to low. That shifts into 2nd and will hold the tranny in second until you shift manually back to drive which lets the tranny shift to 3rd.

All sounds comlicated, but it actually works pretty well at WOT.

Rev

[KiltedBanshees93GT]

So in other words, start in low (all the way back) and when I want 2nd, pop up 2 detents to the small dot, then all the way back, and then when ready for 3rd, back to the small green dot?

So the shift kit wont affect this pattern? Also, any idea about why I still get 3 shifts from the small dot position?
As it is, the car seems to shift first at about 2500 (during normal driving) and then shifts again at about 3000/3500.
Ill try that tho, thanks Rev.

later,
Jorge

[Rev]

It could be that someone has put a later C-4 into your car but left the Select Shift bezel inside the car. The later C-4's had L, 2, and D positions. If that is so, then the L=L, big dot D=2, and little dot D =D. That would account for why you get 3 gears from the little green dot which would start you in 2nd with the Select Shift Cruie-o-matic.

In those transmissions, to shift manually at WOT, you would nail it in L, then shift to 2, and then D as you wanted to shift.

Rev