Porsche Driving Tip-

[FinallyGotOne]

One of the most critical things in driving the 911 is to NOT RUSH shifting. If you are trying to be racy and take 1st gear up past 3500 RPS then quickshift to second you are creating nmore problems than you know! our cars are fast and quick, but not meant for that kind of driving. Take your time shifting into the gears.

ALSO NEVER rest at a stop light with clutch pushed in. this creates way too much pressure on the clutch and it will wear out fast. A clutch kit costs about $475 parts.

Lastly, NEVER downshift to 1st gear. The synchros will wear out and get dogeared and cuase more problems.

[SandyI]

Another mistake would be shifting at 3500 RPM in any situation. You'd be barely utilizing any of your 911's potential.

[Johnb911]

What is a safe RPM to shift at?

[kimlangley7]

5000 or so

[Quicksilver]

You can shift at 3500 but you shouldn't really lug the motor. This is way more important with an earlier car. The Motronic cars aren't as predisposed to problems from not driving the car hard so we can get away with a bit more. (but why would we want to?)

A decent rule of thumb is to not cruise at less then 3K. It doesn't hurt to at least wring it out once on each outing once it is warm. A good charge to redline will help keep the carbon deposit monster away.

[SandyI]

It's "safe" to shift up to the redline. These cars were designed to be driven hard and wrung-out on a regular basis. Shifting at more than 2000 RPM below the redline means you're missing out on plenty of torque, acceleration and fun!

[Mothy]

Not shifting down into first? Just did a hill climb event on the weekend and needed to shift to first many times. How do the other members handle hill climbs and motorkhana events?

Tim

[nut11]

Ahh, the exuberance! Yes, all stated is correct.

87 Blk Coupe

[Noah930]

[PorscheGuy79]

I wait for the fuel cut off to tell me to shift, thats what its there for.

[haycait911]

I figured the rev limiting rotor was a sort of ' smart' shift indicator. smarter than me anyway. Don.

[Zeke]

Interesting. FinallyGotOne is telling us where and how to shift. OK, if you think I'm pointless here, let me make my minor correction to your thesis. Sitting at the stop light with the clutch in does NOT wear out the clutch. I'll let you figure what part does wear. But, there's a lot of life in one of those, too.

There was once upon a time when these didn't last forever and you could save some repair costs. But, today's average Miata driver will sit with the clutch in while in stop and go SoCal traffic and probably never wear it out.

[juanbenae]

wow! thank you mr. science!

[daepp]

I'm with Milt - the clutch disk is completely disengaged from both surfaces if the pedal is fully depressed and the cable properly set.

And I do not agree with both 1st gear recommendations - IMHO of course.

[Won]

Double clutch into 1st when downshifting, no problemo.

[Cooper911SC]

I don't use the clutch at all when going down into first gear...the grinding noise is a good sign that you have solidly engaged the gear!

[trekkor]

I shift at 7300 rpms with the motor bouncing off the limiter!

Love it!!

KT

[sammyg2]

Sitting at a stop with the clutch in will put some wear on the throw out bearing, with normally only lasts about 20 or 30 years.
It will not necesarily wear out the clutch if it is adjusted even close to correctly.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Sitting at a stoplight with the clutch in, will put more wear on the clutch release bearing as well as the thrust bearings on the crank.

I'd be more concerned about the crank thrust bearings than the release bearing. Especially sitting in traffic on a hot day at idle with hot, thin oil and low oil pressure.

I've seen motors apart that were in the copper on the thrust surfaces of the #1 main bearing, and all else was fine. A sure indicator of a daily-driven traffic victim.

[Rot 911]

Originally posted by Johnb911
What is a safe RPM to shift at?

Redline.