At what RPM do you shift gears?

And, the Weber's main metering jets on a pre computer carb 308 (YES!!!!!!) come in at +/-4000 rpm, below 4k the carbs are operating on the IDLE jets. Is that a sweet design? Kick it. Let her rip!

 

Above 6000, "she'sa all a noise, no power"...

I will take them up to 7k once everything is up to temperature.

 

Depends on where I am and how I'm driving. If around the neighborhood, I'm shifting my 328 GTS quite early (4,000)...but if the car is warm and I'm away from traffic, I'll take it over 6,500.

Heck, two weeks ago I was driving hard and noticed that I shifted a tad over 8,000!!! No harm, no bad noises, no floating of the valves. Just kept accelerating up.

Wouldn't make a practice of doing it, but if you look in the owner's manual it actually says not to drive above redline for a prolonged period. My C5 Corvette has a rev limiter at 6250 (which I've hit tons of times,) so it was almost surprising to go above redline on the 328.

 

There ya go, thats the way they like it !!! 5500 to 7000 rpm shift point all the time ( with the occasional 7800 rpm "Italian tune up"). My QV always idles and cruises so smooth after an "Italian tune up".... Makes me get a mental picture of Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastrianni sharing a cigarette...after....ahhh. Belissima....

Ciao!

 

Ah Sophia. I just LOVE saying her name.

"I'm here to see Sophia"
"Sophia"?
"Yes, Sophia Loren"






Lou, how am i going to get some sleep now??

 

Well my practice (and advise to others) is to shift at 7000 to 7300 when on max acceleration power runs. My Gt4 tells me not much happens after that, and this allows shifting into the sweet torque spot of the next gear makes and makes for faster overall acceleration, (rather then waiting for it to winde out to 7700).

The centrifugal forces on the rod bearings varies with the square of the RPM, and the alternating accelleration loads on the rod probably follows closely. There for rod bearing loads are reduced approx 15% when shifting at 7200 as compared to shifting at 7700 RPM. Anyone familiarwith racing will know that divers in control of a race, will reduce the Max RPM shift points by 500 RPM in order to preserve the car and have a better chance of finishing the race.

So if you want to shift at 7700 purely for audio pleasure, be aware that you are also reducing rod bearing life and rod structural fatque life.
Martin

 

Is there any reason to take it to the redline if the throttle is not full open? My shift rpms are loosly related to throttle position. I can see that running the car for some period of time at redline (156mph) would increase wear but for a half a second above 6K I can't see the problem.

Here is a quote from FOW..

"Driving and exercising your Italian exotic regularly keeps everything in running condition. This is a critical step of the regular maintenance process. This means taking your Italian out once or twice a month. Moreover, this doesn’t mean going around the block to knock some of the dust off. This means a spirited drive of at least 30 to 60 minutes that goes up and down the rpm range, gives the brakes a good workout and puts heat into the engine. This ensures everything works properly."

Now, lets get that carbon off the valves....

 

Ha! Yep, that's for sure.

 

Sorry, I forget this site is worldwide (everyone seems so close). FOW = Ferrari of Washington

 

Here is the real question:

What speed and RPM would you shift at if you were not going to engage the clutch. I remember being able to do this with my highschool MG and as I believe essentially there is a match for the gearbox/RPM/speed to do this. So, for those of us with 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 2nd challenges anyone got the answer?

 

I love this kind of thread. I had a Morris Minor in High School and used to drive around without the clutch pedal quite a bit. I would even start it in first gear with the clutch engaged to get rolling. Why? When your car has 35hp, you have to find ways to entertain yourself. I don't think i'll try this in the ferrari untill my clutch goes out.

 

Per Ferrari.com:

308GTB/GTS
Maximum Power: 240 bhp @ 7700rpm
Maximum Torque: 209 lb-ft @ 5000rpm

308 GTBi/GTSi
Maximum Power: 205 @ 6600rpm
Maximum Torque: 179 lb-ft @ 4600rpm

308 Quattrovalvole
Maximum Power: 235 bhp @ 6800 rpm
Maximum Torque: 188 lb-ft @ 5500rpm

I usually shift in the low 6,000s when am in need of a bigger smile. Otherwise, in the 5,000s.

 

+1

 

Interesting question! Actually I did accidentally shift without clutching (smoothly!) when I was concentrating really hard on something else an instructor was telling me at a training day. Of course I don't know what RPM I was at but since I did it without thinking, I'd have to assume it was at my normal 'noise' which would be the 3-3500 mark.

 

Exactly!
By the way the large displacement ferari V-12's are redlined high too. E.g 550 maranello at 7500

 

I have run 308's for twenty something years and always rev the standard ones to the redline (7750 rpms) Its what they were built to do and providing the engine is in good health they can handle it all day long.Keeping the oil temperature in check is another thing altogether !!This is what causes the most failures when revving the V-8 hard especially on the track
Our modified engines are safe to 8500 rpms but they are fully balanced with ARP rod bolts and lightweight pistons and the all important harmonic crank balancer Our race engines with steel billet crank and rods regularly go 9500 rpms with no problems.

we have had cranks break due to failed crank balancers but as long as you use agood quality oil and cool it these engines will take alot moer stick than they are given credit for