# What is and how to powershift ?



## 200sxOuTKasT (Feb 24, 2003)

I went to the tracks again today and this time I brought along a couple more of my Honda buddies along. This guy has a 91 Honda CRX Si with the stock engine, injen short ram intake, unknown exhaust, and relatively new ACT clutch. I always thought his car was sort of...well...weak cause he wouldn't swap saying he wants to keep with his D16 (It was SOHC, so I know its a D16 100% positive), but have never actually seen him race before although he says he does all the time. The whole night he pulls off perfect launches but what amazed me the most was he kept whooping all the Civic Si's and CRX's with B16's swapped in with 15.2-15.4 second quarter miles all the time. So on the drive home I ask him to show me exactly what he does when hes racing as to how he gets such freakishly incredible times on such a puny engine that was never meant to do that much. The most noticable thing from his driving I could tell was he powershifted, right at the redline, everytime. He told me that right when it hits the redline, just hold onto the gas and shift gears as freakishly fast as you can. So whenever he powershifted he wouldn't even hit his rev limiter or would barely hit it for like half a second before the car went into the next gear.

Naturally this amazed me and I wanted to try the same thing in my car cause I'm a poser and I suck. Well, I held onto my gas all the way like he did, pushed in the clutch and shifted gears as quickly as I could. But mine sounded nothing like his...I hit the rev limiter like 3-4 times as I was switching, my clutch couldn't catch my flywheel at all (yeah I know its not racing clutch), and the more and more I tried the harder and harder it got for my clutch to catch. So I decided to call it a night in total defeat unable to immitate his shifting technique so I come to this board in hopes that someone could explain to me what I was doing wrong and how I could improve upon this technique other than buying a real clutch for it of course...If anyone knows, any help would be greatly appreciated as I would love to try this at the tracks next time if I can master it now. 

I know I should ask him too, but hes on a drive home to Washington, and I don't feel like bothering him about it again, so I hope to come to my fellow Nissan drivers who can hopefully educate me on how to correctly powershift.

Yes I did a search but I only find bleak instances of "I powershift" and "Powershifting is when you hold onto the gas when you shift" nothing about how to keep it from hitting the rev limiter over and over, or how to do it faster, or if the clutch really needs to be a racing clutch to do it right and such.


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## chimmike (Oct 17, 2002)

he wins because he's got a crx, which is like a feather with an engine.


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## Katana200sx (May 13, 2002)

half of people say powershifting helps, others say it doesnt. ive heard everyone from professional drag racers on tv offer their opinions on down to everyday people. but anyway...maybe you arent doing it quickly enough. you've got to be able to barely get that clutch to disengage and put it into gear. maybe you are also slamming it into gear when you do it. practice shifting a little bit without having the engine running and try to notice if you have any wasted motion in your shift. when i first started i noticed that i was slamming it into gear and (say for instance i was shifting from 1st to 2nd) i was rocking my arm foward for a slight second before bringing it back to shift. this sounds strange..but when racing try to have your arm motion like the prostock guys on espn. watch an in car cam and you will see what im talking about. sorry about the long reply but i hope this helped some


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## 200sxOuTKasT (Feb 24, 2003)

chimmike said:


> he wins because he's got a crx, which is like a feather with an engine.


I don't know...never heard of a basically stock 91 CRX Si with the original engine running low 15's...

Anyways I tried again today and yeah I'm pretty sure my clutch hates it to hell, although I don't hear any grinding or "bad sounds" but just rather doesn't grip as well for a little whiles afterwards; and since my clutch has an unlimited warranty, if I ruin it I'll just get another one.

Oh and Katana, I was just curious if you powershift as well and if you have any recorded track times so that I may compare if possible. Thanks!


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## Katana200sx (May 13, 2002)

sorry man ive never done any comparison times. i do know that when i worked on a better launch and quit rocking my arm to shift, my et dropped 2/10's in the 1/8th just from that.


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

200sxOuTKasT said:


> Yes I did a search but I only find bleak instances of "I powershift" and "Powershifting is when you hold onto the gas when you shift" nothing about how to keep it from hitting the rev limiter over and over, or how to do it faster, or if the clutch really needs to be a racing clutch to do it right and such.


"Powershifting" effectively requires a tough pressure plate. The stock one on the 200sx won't do the job. Keeping it from hitting the limiter or from completely destroying your clutch requires a quick but sensitive right foot. You need to let up just enough without letting the engine slow too much or going off-throttle while allowing your clutch to grab.

A much less destructive variant of this is used to get a good chunk of often-missed acceleration out of naturally aspirated rotaries around road courses. Don't think you can get away with the same reduced wear as the guys with 8's though. They do it to compensate for the weird throttle response that is associated with NA rotaries. You will experience accelerated wear that not even your friend with the CRX will see.


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## psuLemon (Apr 23, 2003)

^our cars differ from most honda because our power curve, the 1.6 drops off at 6250rpms so redlining it wont do anything unless you the have jwt cams and ecu combo... then you can get power until 7300, most honda are made to just have top end power, thence they have no torque and will produce power until redline... you also have to remember in drag racing, the driver makes a huge difference


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## 200sxOuTKasT (Feb 24, 2003)

Ah its too bad this won't really work, I just want to get better times without having to mod the car more heh. I realized I should stop cause after a while of doing it my brakes were faded entirely (from all the stops I did after hitting 80+) and I had this horrible burning smell coming from my engine compartment heh, and that was my sign to stop :thumbup: Anyways, not like it matters though, if I can destroy this clutch within three years or 60,000 miles, I can get it replaced under the clutch warranty thing that I got so meh.


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## just2fast (Jun 18, 2004)

I wish I could help, but the only powershifting I've ever done was on my dirtbike.


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## psuLemon (Apr 23, 2003)

^did you really have to post then... haha j/k


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## SERiously obsessed (Jun 29, 2004)

200sxOuTKasT said:


> and since my clutch has an unlimited warranty, if I ruin it I'll just get another one.


Be careful with that... too much abuse and they may not warranty it if the clutch has deep scars and what not...


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## oneSIX (Mar 19, 2004)

yea the waranty is for FACTORY DEFECTS. which from the sound of it, there are none. when they tear your burnt clutch out and see that it has been abused they won't repair it. just a heads up if you want to keep beating on your car. (ps i had the same thing but had to pay for the new clutch)

kent


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