# how high in third gear?



## Project200sx (Aug 22, 2002)

hey guys, ok the other night i was coming home from the local track and rode up with some friends one had a 91 mazda b series truck he had cold air and exhaust but since he had a bigger engine he wanted to race just for kicks. we started at about 70mph i put in 4th and he did to, bigger engine pulled away but i noticed my rpms were actually quite low i thought i could only get up to about 80 in third gear but i was wrong then i told him i wanted to go again, to 3rd this time a got up to about 95 in 3rd and i left extremely quick. but i was wondering how high can everyone get in third gear? when i first got my car i could only do about 80 but ive recently started putting plus gas in my car and figure that to be the reason. am i right?


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## motivational1 (Jul 15, 2002)

What are you talking about? You should be able to hit your 6800 RPM limiter in third gear easy. 4th is a hard gear to hit the RPM limiter because you hit the speed limiter first. So is 95 mph when it hits the RPM limiter in your car in third gear? Do you have a manual or auto?


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## Project200sx (Aug 22, 2002)

yes 95 is when i redline and i have a manuel i used to only be able to hit 80 now 95 in third


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## OPIUM (Aug 18, 2002)

Project200sx said:


> *when i first got my car i could only do about 80 but ive recently started putting plus gas in my car and figure that to be the reason. am i right? *


ha ha ha.. thanks for the laugh. Octane level has alot to do with gearing  ... ha haha


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## sr20 805 (Oct 7, 2002)

on an automatic transmission isnt third gear able to take u all the way to top speed(or till your car tops out) without hitting overdrive?


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## V i V i D 200sx (Sep 17, 2002)

hehe, yeah... the od off button is handy when you need to cut @ like 70 mph. or when a gay civic wants to race and you beat him even tho your car is speed limited. (fwy)


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

I always wondered about 3rd and 4th gear in an auto. I have a 96 Sentra GXE. When I have tried to top out my car I have always turned off O/D and used 3rd gear but when I start getting really high rpms you can tell that the engine is definately getting to the end. How high can I go in 3rd gear? Can I just use 3rd to get all the way to the top or will I have to switch to O/D? I would like to know how high I can get my car but I dont want to blow up my engine just because I ran 3rd gear all the way to the bitter end!


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## motivational1 (Jul 15, 2002)

"yes 95 is when i redline and i have a manuel i used to only be able to hit 80 now 95 in third"




This still doesn't make sense. Your car should still be able to hit the rev limiter with 87 octane or 100 octane. The gearing has always stayed the same. Did you ever really try to hit the rev limiter in third gear back then???????


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## wickedsr20 (Aug 8, 2002)

??????????


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## Project200sx (Aug 22, 2002)

yes i have tryed redlining my car in third gear when i first bought it, i was only able to make it to 80 mph have you not been reading, ive recently been able to get higher. Anyways what the hell does it matter to you i was asking a simple question, basically does the octane of my gas afftect how high in each gear i or you can get?


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## landlord (Jun 11, 2002)

Project200sx said:


> *basically does the octane of my gas afftect how high in each gear i or you can get? *


NO.


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## landlord (Jun 11, 2002)

have you changed your wheel / tire size? this will throw your speedo off if not sized properly.


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## Project200sx (Aug 22, 2002)

no i have not changed whell size or anything, except for new air filter, soon my hs cai will be here


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## motivational1 (Jul 15, 2002)

The octane still has nothing to do with redlining your car.


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## Project200sx (Aug 22, 2002)

dude, i never said it did i said it was my only idea thats why asked you guys?


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

Calm down KILLAZ! Don't jump a man for asking a simple question. Even if he didn't state is right

"when i first got my car i could only do about 80 but ive recently started putting plus gas in my car and figure that to be the reason. am i right?"

does anyone actually know the real top speeds for these gears? I know my owner's manual says the top rated speeds for each gear but is that accurate? I'm sure there is a little play in there for safety's sake and to take some liability off of Nissan. BTW my car is an auto so I don't know about the 5 speed.


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## landlord (Jun 11, 2002)

ill hit the rev limit in third tonight after i leave work and ill let you know tomorrow.


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

You have an auto as well?


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## landlord (Jun 11, 2002)

project200sx and i both have manuels


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

Oh ok. I guess I will just have to do my own testing on my car to find out about the autos. Too bad I'm scared!


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## sr20 805 (Oct 7, 2002)

ok, i have an autmatic car and one day on the freeway it was so totally dead so i opened up my car in third gear(remember i have an automatic) and i topped out at 120MPH, i'm sure i could kept going but the road kinda got uneven(little bumps and what not) so i didnt wanna lose control of the car so i just slowed down. third gear is able to take u at top speed. O/D pretty much just cuts your power(to save gas) and i've never tried to top my car out with O/D on so i couldnt tell u how high u can go...


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

You you have ga16de or sr20de? What year?


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## landlord (Jun 11, 2002)

hit the rev limiter in third last night was at 95mph.


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## Project200sx (Aug 22, 2002)

ok thats cool i guess, my guess about the gas was wrong, and i also assume that my car not hitting 95mph before was just a fluke. but anyway thats cool at least i know whats going on. 

Another Question does anybody fill up with higher thatn 87 octane?
My car accelerates a bit quicker but thats about it and i fill up with 89 i want to go with 93 but afraid itll be to muck for the engine, is this possible? (my car is a 96 200sx 113000 mi and cel is on but it comes on and goes off all the time, hmmm, oh well)


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## landlord (Jun 11, 2002)

Project200sx said:


> *Another Question does anybody fill up with higher thatn 87 octane?
> My car accelerates a bit quicker but thats about it and i fill up with 89 i want to go with 93 but afraid itll be to muck for the engine, is this possible? (my car is a 96 200sx 113000 mi and cel is on but it comes on and goes off all the time, hmmm, oh well) *


the higher octane will not do anything to your car without advancing your timing. it will not harm it but you wont gain anything unless you use 92 octane (at least) and set the timing at 15 degrees bdc (before top dead center). now if you use 87 with advanced timing you will get detonation which will trigger the knock sensor which in turn the ecu will retard the timing and you will lose power, not to mention you risk blowing your engine.


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## landlord (Jun 11, 2002)

oh yeah and the original question..... i use 92.


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## sr20 805 (Oct 7, 2002)

i drive a 96 sentra gxe, as everyone knows an automatic, and i have my advanced timing to 15* and run on 91 octane fuel


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## landlord (Jun 11, 2002)

sr20 805 said:


> *i drive a 96 sentra gxe, as everyone knows an automatic, and i have my advanced timing to 15* and run on 91 octane fuel  *


ive gotten buy on 91 but i pefer 93 (when i can afford it) and 92 most of the time. i just listen to what mike k. says and i don't question it. a little added protection never hurts.


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

How modded is your car? That's pretty good to get that thing up to 120


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## sr20 805 (Oct 7, 2002)

the only reason i use 91 octane is because thats the highest they offer in cali......I have a hotshot CAI, advanced timing, Hayame custom cat-back exhaust, i recently did my ignition system. throttle cable mod .......and u gotta use like the right kind of fluids(doesnt really help tho)...and i think thats it performance wise everything else is cosmetic


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## sr20 805 (Oct 7, 2002)

SoMissSentra said:


> *How modded is your car? That's pretty good to get that thing up to 120 *



your car is prolly able to get up to that speed too with overdrive off, another reason that stopped me from going further is that my intake got LOUD and my exhaust was freakin' making me deaf(almost thought the car was gonna spin out with major smoke coming out of the engine bay).............u really shouldnt do this to your car tho, unless the car is well tuned and what not otherwise u will jack somethin' up......i know


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

Major smoke coming from under hood = sllow down


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## sr20 805 (Oct 7, 2002)

its funny cuz last nite i washed my engine but i didnt cover my spark plugs so water got into my fourth plug without me knowing so the engine was smoking real bad and sounded like a muscle car(LOL, the first import muscle car)....didnt run like one tho. until later i checked the plugs and the spark plug was soaked in water=extremely bad!


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

Yeah that doesn't sound too good.


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## V i V i D 200sx (Sep 17, 2002)

top speed for b14 is 109. no way gettin around it, unless you put some money into ECU mods. you should be able to hit that w/ OD off. of course, auto and manual gearing is diff, so top speeds in each gear are different between the two. ill usually hit OD off if i want a lil (very little) boost from 60-90 mph. ill kick it into 2 anywhere from 40-60. and if you want a nice punch 30mph and below is nice to kick into 1st. im sure none of this is very good, but eh.. i plan on swapping motor and tranny anyway. as long as it runs until then, ohwell.


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

Yeah, I'm sure that is rough on your tranny.


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## sr20 805 (Oct 7, 2002)

i must of been confused or misread the speedometer then ..... yea, when i want an extra lil boost and i'm under 60mph i put the shifter on 2nd and it kicks good for an auto...but i've yet to take it all the way down to 1st gear, last time i did it i grinded something(gears) so i just downshift to 2nd and its good but its not good to do on an automatic, at least not as much as a manual tranny, but like vivid, i also plan on doing an engine swap with a tranny swap so i'm not tooo worried.


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

Yeah doing an enigne swap and a tranny swap is the best performance mod you can make to a ga16de with an auto.


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## SoMissSentra (Oct 11, 2002)

............Especially if you are swapping to an SR20DET


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