I'm new to manual tranny's. I was wondering what would be a good shift and crusing RPM for a stock 4.6L w/5spd.
When I was test driving 3K shift and 2k cruising sounded about right when I drove them.
On the street, I shift around 2000 RPM until the temperature has reached the middle of the gauge. After that, I generally take her up to about 3000 RPM before shifting.
At the track, or any time I want full acceleration, I wait until 6000 RPM until I shift. The 4.6L really does not come close to its peak torque until about 3000 RPM, and it does breathe pretty well all the way up to 6000 RPM. The limiter is at 6250 RPM, and my advice is to shift as close to that as you can manage, without hitting the limiter.
well a old rule of thumb for racing is to shift about 10% over where your peak hp is, now that is not a exact. the best thing you can do is practice, you will find what shift points work best for your car, but it is a starting point. if you shift a 6,000 you are out of your power band longer than you need to be, which inturn makes you lose time, unless you are modded & make power at higher rpm that is most people that shift at 6 & then lower it trying different shift points, usually get better times