Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Question as above in title. I remember awhile back someone was shocked at hitting the rev limiter. Even with a Harlan shift light (highly recommend it), I hit the limiter more than I'd like to admit. Think it does any harm if you back off or shift right away? Happy Holidays, stay safe and healthy.
Ted Feder
95 ZR1 #106 Blk/Blk
So. Calif. 80 degrees and sunny

I would have reversed the poll, ie who has never hit the limiter, but this is easier.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

I hit it once or twice but I manage to glance down and keep the top of the tach in my sight as I am driving it hard. If i was racing I'll bet you I would hit it alot more.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Northridge, youre a local!:thumbsup:

I've hit 7400 once, but sont believe I've bumped a limiter before.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

I Dont Think That Would Be A Smart Decision.[-x

Ray

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Okay another dumb rookie Q! How do you know when you hit the limiter? Does it sound like the F1 cars, like you have a miss in the motor? I'm fairly sure I've never even been close due to the fact that I watch for the "shift" light & if I see it & haven't shifted already, I make sure I get to it pronto.

Lately I've been practicing & I find in my stock Z that it seems to "feel" like it has a sweet spot just before 7 g's on the tach. So I've been shifting between 6.5 & 7 as it seems stronger there than if I go to the shift light. Isn't the peak somewhere before 7 g's?

Oh, I voted "no" on the poll.:o
:cheers:
Tom

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

I hit it once and it feels like something is wrong with the car, it's sort of jerky on the limiter.

As to shifting, I would think if the curve doesn't drop off precipitously, which it doesn't, that you'd want to stay in it past the peak. When you shift, it will drop you back down the power band, so the later you shift, the less far down it will move you (i.e. shifting at 6500 may put you at 4000 in the next gear, where shifting at 7200 may put you at 4350 or something). So the goal for maximum acceleration would be to stay under the fat part of the power curve as much as possible. If it's fatter in the 6500-7200 rpm range than the 4000-4300 range, you'd want to stay in it. Those are guess numbers and it may be it's better to shift early, but the way the car pulls I kind of doubt it.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

hitting it once or twice isn't a big deal. The only time it may cause a problem is if you keep running the car against the red line for an extended period of time

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

I've hit it twice, on the dyno. Fuel cuts off and the engine misses badly. Its not hard to notice :mrgreen:

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Doesn't sound like something I want to try. I usually shift around 6900 and it seems that is the power limit.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

i didnt know that there was a rev limiter. i assumed the limiter was bang-clang-clang-pow, ..."oh sheet".... never wound it up past 65 anyway. too many miles on this ole gal.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

"Never wound up past 65" ? I hope you mean in first gear!
:sign10:

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

nope, just thru 4th. 138 is fast as i`ve ever had it. never brought it out of the hole either. just roll-offs. afraid of breaking something. i`m the second owner. had i been the first and with warranty, "oh boy". people like me are the reason that GM quit the 5 years/50,000 mile warranty in about 1971.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Oh I did not just read this....

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

I don't know Kevin, I'm with Rich on this one. I've never seen a shift light in anything except 1st & 2nd gears. The "hole shot" thing I agree with him on too...too many bad things that can break, I mean IRS suspension systems were not made for drag racing, right???

If I'm wrong about this please share the light. I just think back to when I had my C3 and all the work rebuilding the rear gear & the PIA it was to change out u-joints. I looked at the whole set up and thought..."don't be launching this car too much or you'll be back under here in no time swapping broken parts!". I know that the peices under the Z are way bigger than what my C3 was using but they are or look like they are mostly made from aluminium???

Straight up, I'm not trying to be a smart a$$. But launching an IRS like ya got a ford 9" with a detroit locker center, well you get where my Q is coming from, right?? Heck the Eaton in my C3 was okay, but not as good for launching as the detroit locker in my Mach 1, and that I know for sure. What am I not gett'in??

Tom

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Tom,
I don't really launch the car all that often either but when I do I leave at 2.5k and just hammer the **** out of her. I look at it this way, I have street tires on the car and if anything is going to break on the car, they will go first. But I hit 7000 in third quite regularly

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Hi Kevin & gingle bells! Thanks for the tip, 2.5 seems to be the # everyone uses. Yea you are right about the tires..I forget that they are not gonna hook up to cause a failure in the IRS. I guess I'm too conservative in my thinking. Chicken me I am.

Let me ask, a combination of speed of coming up with the clutch pedel and going down on the gas, right? Object is to not bogg it and keep a reasonable degree of traction, so it's a balancing act between the two. I'm thinking care is a must or the clutch disc will over heat?? I've just recently started to try a little of that in brisk accleration from traffic lights. I was doing what the owner's manual said about " you can come off the clutch slowly and your corvette will move along without giving it gas except on steep grades". I know it must seem funny to all the other Z owners but it's been 20 yrs inbetween vettes. Coming from 150 or less hp for the past 20 yrs makes you forget what a real motor can do for you, let alone the TQ an LT5 has. To me it is a marvel the smooth power it has!

Thank you for your insight!:thumbsup:

Tom

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Tom,
What I do is I hold the RPMs at 2.5 and bring the clutch back toward me as fast as I can without sidesteping it and I mash the go peddle as hard as I can

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Oh! & Duh! Thanks for the "how to" on the technique, Kevin! That sounds reasonable, and not very abusive to the drive train. It's been along time for me between vettes, and a car that has some hp for that matter.

Hey, I have had my ZR-1 for a whole year now! Yea!
Man, these cars can cure a bad day!:thumbsup:

Tom

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

I was doing the ~5,000 rpm launch described on CF at Englishtown. That seemed to work well. The idea was to hold ~5,000 rpm and launch the car with the clutch. I was probably seeing more likt 4-4.5k, but you just let the clutch out as the tires can handle it and off you go. Of course my 2.2 and greater 60' times might not lend credibility to this, but with 10 year old GS-C's putting it down, I thought it worked ok. Seemed to work better than lower rpm launches that either broke it way loose or bogged down (which seems worse for the clutch).

Tom, so your shift light actually comes on? Mine doesn't seem to and I thought later GM ECM calibrations didn't turn it on anymore. But maybe I just have a bulb burned out...

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Still a Z noob here, but it seems with a Dana44 and spicer Ujoints there shouldn't be any breakage issues.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

This techinque will work quite well....I just don't like having to replace the clutch all the time.

I know with my aftermarket chip I lost the upshift light which made me sad I'd like to find a way to get it put back in.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Thanks guys, Kevin, Bob & CAV!

Humm, I never thought about a chip turning off the shift light Bob. The chip I bought is just the replacement update for the OEM 1990 chip. Yes the shift light does work. I guess your bulb could be out? Maybe you have an aftermarket chip? Also thank you for sharing what you did at Englishtown. I hear ya about the GSC's, mine were old & hard & I replaced them with D3's.

I guess I worry too much about the IRS, too many parts & no place to work. The stuff sure looks nice though! I hate to say this but I'm still partial to the detroit locker in my Mach1, that would do the trick in the launch department!

Once the clutch is engaged & the speedo says something I have no quams about lett'in her rip, it's fun! I guess I'll never be a drag racer!:mrgreen:

Thanks for sharing Guys!:thumbsup:

Tom

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

At Carlisle last Summer on the road course I watched a C5 Z06 hit it every time he was on the course. My friends ZR-1 had lower times, won his class and never hit the rev limiter once.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

As far as I know it's the stock chip. But the owner before me did buy the updated GM prom to fix the idle thing. I have the original in the GM box the replacement came in. I've never seen the light on, so I suspect it must be burned out. I guess I'll have to fix that sometime...

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

that tends to happen with a 7,000 rpm redline :dancing

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

For anyone wondering what it sounds like, here's me hitting the rev limiter in 1st gear. Not intentionally...

Hitting limiter ~1.5MB

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Okay I know now that I have never let the rpms get to the limiter...I must be early enough at shifting in 1st & 2nd to stay off of the limiter...I guess if you use the shift light there must be a few hundred rpm cushion or I would have hit it for sure...the motor sounds so sudective up top I get mesmerized by the sound & almost forget the shift light!:o

Man that thing sounds sweet, Bob!!!:thumbsup:

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Well then here's me not hitting the limiter. :) Oh, apparently the shift light was taken out of later programs. Though, you bought the latest PROM for 1990, right? And yours still works? I guess I'll have to pull the dash and change my bulb...

Not hitting limiter ~3MB

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Okay I had to think about this. I bought the GM updated Prom, code ABYK, from P & G Chevy. I had the 1990 OEM PROM. I looked after reading the TSB over at the Reg site & my symptoms matched so I put it down on my list. I know the shift light worked before I swapped PROM's and I know that after I did my plenum stuff I put in the GM/ABYK coded PROM and the shift light still works.

btw, Bob it sure does sound nice...sweet music you're car's making! You must be:D

:thumbsup:
Tom

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

How much damage will hitting the rev limited do over a long period of time

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Do you mean running it against the limiter or just smacking it a lot?

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

i did,coupla times
it is my understanding that an engine should be shifted at peak horsepower,and if the gearing is well chosen,the engine will fall back
to its peak torque...thats what we aim for,at the drags,with our sportster
JMO...
blackjack
91/1735

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

by the way...i think till`s rev limiter is the funniest
blackjack

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

I also had broken valve spring and broken cam last summer..

:censored: :thumbsdo:

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Hit it once on a missed downshift (DOH). Hate it when that happens. Thank god for limiters.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

I it mine at the track because of clutch slippage at 125 mph. I saw my shift light, but by the time it registered, it was to late. I like modern technology.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

I hit it hard once in my 89 IROC on a missed shift, I was 18 and still learning but thinking I was an F1 driver at the same time. I was going through a tight corner at high speed, needless to say I was *** end first coming close to eating the curb, with a red face and wearing a humble grin. :o

But I havent hit the limiter on the Z, Even though I have gone 182 on the freeway in her. That'll pucker your *** like no other. Things go by very very quickly and that rock hard suspension starts to feel more like a 77 cadillac.

I shift when I can feel the power band tapering off, why stay in that gear when the next one will give you more power? Unless I go from 3rd to 2nd, I dont plan on bang'in the limit.

And shift light?? huh? Who? Where? Are they on 94's?

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Oh and Richard,... dude... I cry for your Z!
She wants to get out and run again!!! Let her stretch those legs!! Hell it will probably brake for driving to SLOW!!! And when it brakes,.... Fix it.

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Hello
I am a new member on the forum, and this is my first post

Well looks like I am the only one who goes often to the rev limiter... the cars straight to the limiter from 1st till fourth gear, but I have not yet been to the disruptor in the 5th gear.
The engine runs marvelously well, it is 65000+ miles. I will just continue driving it hard, and should the engine explod, then I will buy a new one!

Re: Poll: Who has ever hit the rev limiter?
 

Gotta love the attitude.
But the limiter is probably there for a reason,
and the best time to shift is before 7200+ RPM!
Somethings gonna give.........