I thought I'd take a small survey here of how high members have reved their engine, and how much these cars can really take in terms of prolonged high PRP before engine or transmission damage.

Reason - I am Autocrossing an 86 GXL I just bought. This Sunday, drove the entire course in first gear at their recommendation. RPM was likely between 4,000 and 7,000 for a couple minutes each run. Didn't watch the tach much, but always backed off when warning buzzer came on at 6,750 RPM. Hoping to do this on a regular basis once a month for the summer, and wondering how much abuse this car can take. Oil is 20W-50. Shifting to second is always an option. But far less fun.

These cars seem bullet proof. Are they really?

Mike.

 

um ive done 10,000 roughly on a mish shift. lol

 

You will be fine. Why are you doing the whole course in first gear though? Is it really short? Even so I would use 2nd. Going 4000 or even 7000 in first gear isnt all that fast. *shrugs*

 

As long as you don't overheat them and make sure they have enough oil you will be fine. If you are going to do this I recommend getting oil pressure and temp gauges as well as a good aftermarket coolant temp gauge to keep tabs on everything, though.

Also, how the heck did you know it was 10k? First of all, no tach goes past 9k (and thats only s5 NA's) and I'm pretty sure there is a rev limiter at 8.5k.

 

I've hit 8004 according to my SAFC at least once hah! 7k or past it quite a bit and running in the range you spoke of too much. But I have what Sideways7 suggests and change the oil constantly as well as going over the car all the time after such driving. Been runing it like that for several years with no problems.

 

On my old (s4) engine I regularly ran it to 7500 or so. I have revved the s5 engine up past 8k (where tach stops) in neutral, but I can't take it that high in gear due to hesitation issues.

 

10.3k peak shown on SAFC...
rebic LC has revlimiter elminator built in...

 

When i go for hills runs my revs will stay in the 4000-7500 rev range for the vast majority of the run, and alot of the time the runs will last for 1.5-2 hours

 

8.5k in a stock 90 GTU 184k miles never rebuilt

 

topped out the tach a few times, miss shifts, teaching my friend how to drive stick lol, probably seen 9.5k. 25k on rebuild and it still runs like a champ, I'm convinced these motors can take anything...when I take local twisties I keep it in 2nd gear almost the whole time bouncing from 6500 to 8000rpm. It hasn't given me any problems, I wouldn't worry about it

 

When on the track, I shift at 8,300. This is with an engine with a few oil pressure/cooling mods.

 

I was AutoX'ing my 86 GXL last year.

It already had a bad coolant seal, but my first AutoX in the car completely destroyed it. So make sure the car is in good running order before continuously going nuts on it.

I've run the car in AutoX's since then (different motor) and once first is revved out, I switch to second and stay there. Running in 1st gear is worthless except for the huge amount of engine brake you can get when letting off the gas. On decent straight aways, I could quite easily redline second.

You are better off running in second and braking stupid hard before entering a turn and then getting back on the gas as you get 1/4-1/2 way through the corner. Once in second, don't touch that clutch till you cross the finish line.

 

As far as revving, a friend of mine had my 86 GXL at 7500 rev limiter doing donuts in the snow for over 5 minutes straight (until the exhaust got so bright that it looked like the car had neons under it, at which point we stopped him.) All this resulted in was the clock working for about a week (no damage.) This was 4000 miles ago, I think that any trouble would have surfaced by now. The above autoX advise is excellent, if you want to get a good time, use second gear. If you want to have a good time, use first gear

 

~8 grand....I don't want to blow my car up!

 

I've done 20K... but that was on my Kawasaki

 

Tofuball's Vert had a rev limit of 9300rpm. Well, not limit, but thats where the power ran out..

I see 9300 RPM everyday In my RX8..haha