Deleted User

[Deleted by Admins]

04mustang

my Formula was a auto and it didnt make a diff if the over drive was on or not. for racing reasons. and dont make the mistake of trying to shift the auto while racing bad idea.

brockstang

You can shift the auto manually when racing. Get a b&m shift kit, itll give you a nice solid shift. O/D doesnt kick in until yer final gear so it shouldnt matter unless yer running huge gears and need to use them all while at the track.

propellerhead

Why would you want to shift an auto manually? If I floor my pedal, it shifts around 6,500 RPM for me.

IntruderLS1

It sounds like you're a bit confused as to what OverDrive is exactly. Think of your old 5speed BMX back when you were a kid. Remember how the gears worked? Easier but slower in low gears, and harder but faster in high gears? In a A4 car, 1st gear tuns the tires say 1 time for every 10 turns of the engine (I know these numbers are way off, but I'm demonstrating theory here). It's easy for the engine to do, which is why you are able to spool it up so fast. In 2nd gear lets say the engine turns the tire once for every 5 turns of the motor. Still pretty easy for the engine to spool up nicely. In 3rd (or Drive) the engine turns the flywheel at the same speed as the tires. It's called a 1 to 1 (1:1) ratio. In OverDrive, the tires turn more than one turn for each turn of the engine. This is what gives you improved gas miliage. The new thing these days w/ the 6 speeds, is to actually use gears 5 and 6 as duel overdrives. That way, in 6th gear you get something crazy like 2 turns of the tire for each turn of the engine. (when I say engine, I mean it's flywheel). So don't even wory about O/D. Just think of it as 4th gear. If you're around town, and would rather your car stay in 3rd for better response, keep her in drive, but other than that it doesn't matter. When you're racing, your car is going to go through the gears in order anyway, so you'll probably never get to O/D even if you kept it on. Hopefully this helps.

Monty

wait a mintue.....

I though overdrive had something to do with the pressure of the trans fluid in the tranmisson.(not an extra gear).

If you going 50 mph's and hit the button. The rpms jump up but it dosent down shift!

USAMuscle

Nope. Overdrive is just what Intruder said.

The reason people like to shift an auto manually, whether racing or not, is ultimate control over your shift points. If you like where your transmission shifts by itself, then fine, but not all auto transmission shift at the best time for speed purposes. Hence a shift kit and ratchet shifter. Then you can bang on your shifter all day and not worry about busting the handle or overshifting.

AirForce2004

Thought over drive comes into play when your going 45+ in coasting gear then you press button and it drops it down a gear... kinda like dumping the clutch in a manual. I used O/D to pass slow people when i had a v-6 auto

IntruderLS1

I have no doubt that you hit the O/D button to pass cars on the road, but you're backwards in your thinking of it. Your "45+ coasting gear" IS your O/D (or 4th gear, or the gear that gets the most tire travel out of each revolution of the engine). When you hit the button, you were actually turning OFF the O/D, and hence droping the tranny into 3rd gear (for more power due to the higher RPM's 3rd gear put you in). The dumping the clutch that you discribed is sort of out of place. (I'm not trying to be rude, just trying to explain it). The closest you can get to "dumping the clutch" in an automatic, is to put it in neutral, and rev up the engine a bit, then pulling it back into gear. It's call a power dump in an auto though. In general, 'dumping the clutch' is only something that can be done from a stop, in a manual, as from a role you're going to let out the clutch pretty fast anyway. The BEST, most SUREFIRE way to think of over drive is to simply know that it's simply 4th gear. The physics of it will hit you like a ton of bricks one day as your thinking about your car, but until then, it being 4th gear should be close enough.

IntruderLS1

PS: Hey AirForce, where are you stationed? I was a Pope AFB guy till about 6 months ago.