When should you shift?

[notepad]

Hello. A friend of mine who owns an NC always shifts at 4k-6k RPM (once the oil's become warm). He says it allows all engine parts to be lubricated equally, thus making it last for longer. I think 4k-6k is too far away, and that more than 3.5k is just beating the engine really. After all, these are dozens of mechanical moving parts. I'm wondering what are other people's opinion on the matter. I should mention, I'm talking about the reliability of the engine, not the fun part. Of course I revv it to the limiter when I feel like it.

Edited by notepad on Friday 4th October 18:24

Edited by notepad on Friday 4th October 18:25

[RacingBlue]

I wait until the engine is warm, and I change gear whenever the hell I feel like it.

HTH.

[Pints]

My NC has a nice little extra push just as it passes 3.5k, so I usually shift at 4k. That's got bugger all to do with engine life though.

[g40steve]

Mines been remapped & free'd up, 7+ is fine when up to temp.

Rodders race has 160k on the clock & gets death from dawn till dusk on track.

[MX-5 Lazza]

The NC has a modern engine that was developed to live in a much heavier car. You really can't kill it with revs, the engine will more than likely outlive the body.

[sbird]

Depends on the road and traffic conditions. I shift anywhere from 3k on the run into work to 6-7k on the dual carriageway.

If you always shift at 3.5 then you're not using the car to it's full potential.

On my car, the best 0-60 time that I could manage involved shifting at about 5.5-6k. Letting it run up to the redline produced worst results. The quarter mile times were better when I hit 4th, again well before the redline.

[Gilhooligan]

MX-5 Lazza said:

the engine will more than likely outlive the body.

That'll be like all mx5's then

[MX-5 Lazza]

Gilhooligan said:

MX-5 Lazza said:

the engine will more than likely outlive the body.

That'll be like all mx5's then

[Rickyy]

I don't think any part of the engine will be suffering from oil starvation below 4k rpm!

Gentle drive (which is most of the time) I shift around 2.5-3k. Spirited drive I shift when I feel like. (1.8 NA).

[Oldandslow]

The design concept of the MX5 has always been to be a high revving small engine. If you're not going 6k plus you're missing out. It's begging to be pu(ni)shed.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Oldandslow said:

The design concept of the MX5 has always been to be a high revving small engine. If you're not going 6k plus you're missing out. It's begging to be pu(ni)shed.

Spot on! Mine is supercharged so has bags of torque everywhere so I never need to rev it much but peak power (243bhp when last tested) is at over 7k rpm so I thrash it whenever I get a chance! If mine can handle that, and it has handled that just fine for the last 9 years, then any standard car will take it just fine.

Edited by MX-5 Lazza on Tuesday 8th October 08:33