help with shift points

[302 LX Eric]

I take it you have a dyno sheet on your car?

I did with my old 302 setup and found my 'optimum' shift points by doing something rather straight-forward...

I entered my dyno results into Excel by 100 rpm increments with torque in one column and HP in another. Then, I calculated percentage of torque and percentage of HP based off of peak. This provided me with a gauge. From here I shaded the torque column from all points were torque was at or above 90% and did the same thing with HP. Then, I overlapped the shaded areas to visually 'see' where the most power was being made (both torque and HP).

To better illustrate, I was making at least 90% of peak HP from 4400 - 6000 and at least 90% of peak torque from 3600 - 5300. So, from 4400 - 5300, I was making at least 90% of peak HP and TQ. No conincidence that this is where I seem to feel that the car pulls hardest. (The butt dyno never lies! )

From here I decided to go ahead and try shifting a tad higher than 5300 in order to keep the power up b/t shifts. That way when you go from say 2nd to 3rd, your not too far down the power band and have to 'wait' for the rpms and power to climb back up. I ended up with my best runs shifting right around 5600.

Sorry this was so long and boring, but I really enjoy analyzing this kind of stuff.

E