Anyone ever miss a shift? | Page 2 | FerrariChat

Anyone ever miss a shift?

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by Bart, Nov 13, 2003.

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  1. Gary(SF)

    Gary(SF) F1 Rookie

    Oct 13, 2003
    3,637
    Los Altos Hills, CA
    Full Name:
    Gary B.
    Amazing, and I commend you for standing up for your client. What a contrast to the way Porsche is treating their PCCB brake claims currently.

    Gary
     
  2. TimN88

    TimN88 F1 Veteran

    Jun 12, 2001
    5,045
    Northeast
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    Tim
    Over revving doesnt always break motors. My friend and i were in his fathers Z3 a few years back, and he missed a shift and the tach winged to 8k. Nothing happened and the car still runs strong (too bad the same cant be said for all bwms ie. 90's M3's)
    I just thought that in most cars, it would be hard to get the tranny into, say 2nd, you would just bounce off the gears. they wouldnt be able equalize the speeds so the gears wouldnt mesh, but would grind instead.
    Before they would get a chancel you would realize what you did and push the clutch in.
    Has anyone here over reved their ferrari, which resulted in some sort of catastrophic failure?
     
  3. Napolis

    Napolis Three Time F1 World Champ
    Honorary Owner

    Oct 23, 2002
    32,118
    Full Name:
    Jim Glickenhaus
    Tim
    It can be done. The Lambo I spoke of had a syncro R. I'm sure F put a seq. shifter on my P4 for a reason.
     
  4. F328 BobD

    F328 BobD Formula 3

    Mar 17, 2001
    2,327
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    BobD
    I haven't missed many shifts but I sure wish my 328 had a 6th gear... several times I've tried to find a 6th gear!
     
  5. enzomoon

    enzomoon Guest

    This topic brings back memories which still make the hair on my neck stand up....I had just picked up my Maranello in Fort Lauderdale and drove to Naples. On the way there a guy in a BMW 745i thought he would give me a hard time.....so, I decided to "show him a thing or two"...I learned a valuable lesson. Never, ever try to drive a car in avery aggressive manner until you really have spent some time with it and get a feel for the mechanicals.
    I was driving with this guy on my bumper at about 90 mph in 5th gear. So, I am watching him in the mirror, waiting to see him become a small speck in the background as I motor away. Unfortuantely, I didn't look down to confirm where I was placing the shift and managed to downshift from 5th to 2nd. Next thing I knew the rev counter hits well over 9,000(appeared close to 10k) and I knew I had f***ed up. My 512 shift pattern was what I was used to and I simply made a foolish error in a car I didn't know well enough.
    I proceeded to see a haze of something coming out of the back of the car(or so it seemed at the time) coating the guys 745. I thought "Oh My God, I just blew a $55,000 engine"!!!! Well, fortunately for me I blew the main coolant hose and the stuff coating the car behind me was antifreeze. I then drove the car to the next rest stop and had Shelton come to pick it up.
    Fortunately the cars internals were fine, the hose was replaced and it runs fine today. As Franco, one of the senior techs at Shelton said, "fortuanately for you, Doctor, the 550 is one hell of a machine"....I couldn't agree more. A lesson learned which could have been alot worse with a lesser car.

    Regards,

    Mark
     
  6. 134282

    134282 Four Time F1 World Champ
    BANNED

    Aug 3, 2002
    40,647
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    Carbon McCoy
    When i first got my Saturn, i missed a shift while upshifting a few times; nothing ever came of that, though...

    While out in California, driving Bob Callahan's 355 Spider, i almost missed a shift and that would've been nasty...

    He was egging me on to keep the revs high and i nailed it in 1s, shifted into second, wound that out and when i went to shift into 3rd, i almost slipped it back into 1st... :::shiver:::
    i get chills just thinking about it...
     
  7. Kds

    Kds F1 World Champ

    Gary....

    Thank you for your comments, but I will admit that I saw an opportunity for Porsche to benefit, not just my client, so while I stood up for him when he erred, it was not all in his interests either. That was 10 years ago, and Canada had nothing to do with PCNA. In fact we could deal one on one with the factory where necessary. You are correct in that I doubt it would happen today.

    TimN88...

    Unfortunately my client was about to start braking immediately after the downshift and didn't realize the error until it was too late to push the clutch back in.
     
  8. Ken

    Ken F1 World Champ

    Oct 19, 2001
    16,078
    Arlington Heights IL
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    Kenneth
    I bet the guy in the BMW room tells the tale of how he made some Ferrari blow his engine to this day!
     
  9. Napolis

    Napolis Three Time F1 World Champ
    Honorary Owner

    Oct 23, 2002
    32,118
    Full Name:
    Jim Glickenhaus
    Mark
    One thing I've found helpfull at my advanced age. Before I set off I always air shift my cars, and depress the pedals. If you drive a lot of different cars this is very useful for keeping shift patterns and pedal locations in what's left of your mind.
    Best
     
  10. 134282

    134282 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Aug 3, 2002
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    Carbon McCoy
    Great... More fodder for those who feel the need to pick on the French...
     
  11. enzomoon

    enzomoon Guest

    Napolis:

    Good suggestion. That was one of those seminal moments when you realise how lucky you were to have gotten away relatively unscathed. I really do pay far more attention now especially if I haven't driven one of the Ferraris for awhile.
    The reason I know what the sticker for a crate 550 motor is that some even more foolish and unlucky chap had his motor seize up on him after driving for some distance with a leaking oil line. Apparently he never noticed the idiot lights directly in front of him and drove it until it was too late!!

    Regards,

    Mark
     
  12. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Dec 6, 2002
    79,143
    Houston, Texas
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    Bubba
    If anyone has grenaded a Ferrari I doubt you'll find them bragging about it in here!

    My point was that the engines are pretty tough and the redline is there for the safety factor of street use. As Mario said, you'd better be watching the track, not your rev counter.

    Was it team driver Beghetti that jammed his F1 into the wrong gear awoke in the hospital, unemployed, after winning in his first F1 race for the team?

    My version of a missed shift was caused by the "self-centering" spring tension of the 308 shifter, mentioned earlier.

    Napolis, that's an impressive tale about the Miura. Totally believable with that car. "Like driving a skateboard with a chain saw bolted on the back"
     
  13. enzomoon

    enzomoon Guest

    Ken:

    I suspect you are right!! That part always irked me.....he probably was muttering to himself..."that Ferrari is nothing but Italian trash"....."he blew his engine trying to outrun me"!......
    However, better to have damaged pride than a damaged 12 cylinder masterpiece!!

    Regards,

    Mark
     
  14. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Dec 6, 2002
    79,143
    Houston, Texas
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    Bubba
    Amen, Napolis.

    I jump back and forth between my 5 Spd. 308, my 6 Spd. Trans Am, and my sweetie's 5 Spd. VW!

    Tha pattern's aren't so bad between 'em, but I do spend a lot of time searching in the dark for REVERSE!

    Good thing they all have little tiny diagrams, eh?
     
  15. Prugna 328

    Prugna 328 Formula 3

    Sep 10, 2003
    1,233
    L.I.N.Y.
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    Gregory






    Never.
     
  16. Prugna 328

    Prugna 328 Formula 3

    Sep 10, 2003
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    Gregory
    PS- never meaning, let anybody drive my car, not meaning never missed a shift. I think we all have at one time or another.
     
  17. enjoythemusic

    enjoythemusic F1 World Champ

    Apr 20, 2002
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  18. Gary(SF)

    Gary(SF) F1 Rookie

    Oct 13, 2003
    3,637
    Los Altos Hills, CA
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    Gary B.
    I'm not the most experienced guy out there, but every 6-speed I've driven (360, E46 M3, 911) has a spring loading to the 3 - 4 detent. Anyone drive one that's different?

    Gary
     
  19. ferrari_kid

    ferrari_kid Formula Junior

    Jul 5, 2003
    768
    when my friend first started learning manual he had the biggest fear of shifting into 5th because he knew he'd have to downshift sooner or later. that started because he stuck his truck into 2nd on the freeway while he was trying to downshift to pass. that was real interesting. luckily he wasn't real high on the revs in the first place and putting it into 2nd didn't do much but make a lot of noise.
     
  20. Evolved

    Evolved F1 Veteran

    Nov 5, 2003
    8,700
    I ussually use the engine to slow down.

    In one of my old rx-7's. A white 88 normally aspitated I was really carrying the mail. Radar detector goes off so I so a quick shift from fifth to 4th no OPPS second Gear!

    The tachometer ends at 8k rpm. Well it ripped past that hit the bottom of the panel behind the dash and the needle broke.

    Amazingly the only thing that broke in that incident was the tach.
    I recon the motor reved past 9,000 maybe even 10k rpms

    Rotarys are marvelous.


    Lets not forget that our friend Britney Spears missed a shift and dropped the tranny out of a 360 modena to the tune of 25k in damages. Apparently it was here first experience driving a standard. She went back to driving porsches after that.
     
  21. Agent Smith

    Agent Smith Formula 3

    Apr 20, 2002
    1,569
    "Over revving doesnt always break motors. My friend and i were in his fathers Z3 a few years back, and he missed a shift and the tach winged to 8k. Nothing happened and the car still runs strong (too bad the same cant be said for all bwms ie. 90's M3's)"

    Tim - you're right. I was at a BMW test drive event one time and had a 528i with a 5 speed out. I ran the car to redline in first, redline in second, tried to hit third hard but didn't realize I had slipped it back into first until I let the clutch out. Man I have never seen a tach get pegged until that day. I quickly pushed the clutch back in, selected third, and continued on. I drove it for a while and there were no noises, no loss of power, nothing (at that point) that would have indicated what had happened. Ooooops. Lesson learned :)
     
  22. Agent Smith

    Agent Smith Formula 3

    Apr 20, 2002
    1,569
    "Video of how NOT to shift http://the16v.com/media/video/other/RSX-S_misshift.mpeg"

    Whoa!! I should say not! Unfortunately with a lot of these high revving small cars with tight gearboxes, you get people with more ambition than talent and end up with a lot of gernaded engines. Toyota had problems with the Celica GTS, and Acura has trouble with the RSX-S and these morons wanting the repair fixed "under warrenty". As soon as the dealer scans the computer for the codes to figure out what happened, you can probably guess what happens to the warrenty claim.
     
  23. ferrarifixer

    ferrarifixer F1 Veteran
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    Jul 22, 2003
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    Phil Hughes
    So what was your reason for asking Aircon??

    I hope you're not going to come in and see me with a "since you serviced my car....." complaint....!

    Love this internet spying game!

    The most likely thing to let go on a buzz is the valve train on a simple engine with only 2 large valves per cylinder, but with moden trends using multi (lightweight) valves, the springs now do less and less work. Valve float on multivalve Ferrari's is, I think, extinct. I recently did the second refresh on a 360 Challenge engine, which had had the inner spring missed out of one of the exhaust valves at the first refresh....with no ill effects after 5000km of hard racing and limiter abuse (Aussie celebrity Sam Newman).

    With the titanium conrods now used, the metallurgist always seem very vague as to how to life them. I simply crack test them at the first refresh, and if ok I'll replace them next time...

    I've seen two 360 engines that have had the small end of the rod open up at it's highest point. The N-GT car has lighter pistons, but rev's higher so loads are similar. The piston speeds are astronomical and the titanium simply cannot cope beyond a "still to be ascertained" limit.

    When the small end breaks...the remains of the rod are still connected to the crank and turn into a "helicopter axe" to the rest of the block......

    By the way, the Porsche Carrera cup out here is in a right pickle, with up to 15 clutches popping every meeting due to over revving or missed shifts. The springs in the pressure plates simply collapse and distort, causing huge vibrations at best, or complete failure at worst.
     
  24. abarre

    abarre Formula Junior

    Jul 9, 2003
    295
    If you think about it, the two things in an engine that move "back and forth" (or reciprocate) are the pistons/rods and valves/tappets. Everything else rotates (crank/cams/etc...).

    If you overrev, the inertia of the valves can overcome the force of the valvesprings, causing them to float off the cam and "crash" back on the seats. Too much of this will break the valve off at the stem - quite quickly actually. If the piston doesn't catch it first, causing metal on metal impact - which usually bends and/or breaksvalves.

    Overrevving also causes the piston to move back and forth in the cylinder more quickly, causing it to experience higher acceleration at the ends. This can overstress a connecting rod, causing it to stretch and break. Pick up a 1-2 lb. object in your hand and swing it back and forth. See how much harder it is to do this quickly as your muscles have work harder to overcome the inertia.

    Interestingly, we used to dyno test Winston Cup motors and make cams for some of the teams. (Roush, Childress and a few others). We'd try to make as aggressive a cam lobe as we could (for better intake and exhaust flow) without "launching" the lifter off the lobe at the redline (around 8000). You could always make the valvesprings stronger, but this caused more friction between the lobe and the lifter, accelerating the wear - no roller lifters in Winston Cup back then (not sure now). We even broke a few cams near the gear end because the torsional friction was more than the brittle iron cam could withstand. If that wasn't bad enough, the stronger springs would work harden, causing them to break. Trick was to get a mix that would last just over 500 miles on Sunday.
     
  25. Aircon

    Aircon Ten Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 23, 2003
    100,524
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    Peter
    I'm being accused of putting a rod through the block of a F2 car by doing a compression lock up. I didn't, but I was wondering if doing it would cause that damage. They use a golf engine.
     

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