New LS1 Owners - Newbie Tech - Did I do any damage???

Let me start this off with I am an idiot...

now that we have that out of the way, was driving like a moron before , hit 3rd gear, flooring it, shifted at about 5500 to go to 4th... of course I missed 4th and hit 2nd! tires barked like a dog getting shot, car jerked... the needle was definitely in the red luckily im fast and pulled off the gas and hit the clutch quick... If i had to guess it hit about 6500 rpms maybe more.. only caught a glance when I yanked off.... it couldnt have gotten any further than the 6800 rev limiter Im sure of that...

Anyway I put it back into gear and continued about 1/2 mile home and idled in my driveway... I dont hear anything, i dont see anything (but it is dark), oil pressure is fine, and the car seemed to run the same. Any chance I screwed my car up???

It's possible to bend rods doing the dreaded third to second shift. Sounds like you got lucky though. I think shifting at 5500 rpms (vs 6200ish) may have saved you internal damage. Don't feel bad because you are far from the only M6 guy to do that. It does NOT make you an idiot. I honestly think your car is fine but if your good at ripping apart engines the M6 guys I talk to say it's easy to remove the rods and roll them on a flat table to see if they are still straight.

I have an auto obviously so that is all I can tell you but like I said you were probably ok since you shifted well under 6k. Don't dump on yourself over it and I'm sure it'll be a good learning experience.

Good Luck and I hope everything is ok with your car.

heh I'm ok at mechanical work but its damn cold here in NY... Plus considering half the engine is under the dash could it REALLY be that easy to take the rods out??? Im just gonna drive it to work tomorrow and pray....

Trust me I learned... I suck at shifting and my Hurst Billett Plus isnt as precise as I thought!

Checking your pushrods is a piece of cake just so ya know. :)

I really doubt you bent any though. It doesn't sound like you overspun the motor. Be careful though because you most definitely can bend a pushrod.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you notice something wrong with the way it handles tomarrow. You very likely did no damage because of the RPM's you shifted at. Most of the M6's that bend rods did it during 1/4 mile runs were they were shifting at over 6k rpm's during the accidental down shift.

Your probably fine and I wouldn't worry unless the car does something tomarrow that makes you worry. I am in Chicago so I understand completely about cold weather. I had to change a tire recently and my fingers felt like they were gonna fall off.

Good luck with your car and I'll be hoping for the best for you.

I figured if I ever did this Id here some sort of loud bad nasty noise come outta my motor and I didnt hear that....

I'm a thirdgen and Turbo Buick Guy, so I dont have any experience with these cars at all...

Thanx for the replies!

Your probably ok. The hardest thing to do when checking the pushrods is removing the last bolts on the coil packs closest to the firewall on both sides of the motor. When you get those 2 bolts out never put them in again. Will take a couple of hours to check them pushrods.

drove it to and from work today and everything seemed fine... ran as good as if not better than before.... no new noises, no loss of power...

Yup, guilty here of that too. Nasty way to learn a lesson. Except I didn't get it into second. Just a little grindage. YUCK.

Yup, guilty here of that too. Nasty way to learn a lesson. Except I didn't get it into second. Just a little grindage. YUCK.
Ya, I missed 3rd in my '03 Cobra and I thought I bent some pushrods. ;)

Guilty here too, only I missed fourth on a downshift from 6th. Had to drop it while cruising the highway or risk having an Eclipse GST pull away from me. Sad part is he did pull away cause I didn't dare get into after the slip. That was over a couple months ago now, and before I had it dyno'd. It drives just fine though, and now I'll push it up into 5th then down into fourth, even if it takes a second or two longer. Just not work the risk.

Ya, I missed 3rd in my '03 Cobra and I thought I bent some pushrods
Unit did you finally came to senses and put a ls1 in your cobra? (kiddin)

First day I had my 98 T/A I did the same thing, except I was going from 4th to 3rd about 70 and hit 1st somehow...felt like the whole backend of the car came off the ground..I was lucky and didn't do any damage, but my buddy did the same thing a few months later, we were out drinking and running around and he was driving, tried the same thing/same result TWICE in a row..maybe thats why my trans. was FUBAR'd soon after.

First day I had my 98 T/A I did the same thing, except I was going from 4th to 3rd about 70 and hit 1st somehow...felt like the whole backend of the car came off the ground..I was lucky and didn't do any damage, but my buddy did the same thing a few months later, we were out drinking and running around and he was driving, tried the same thing/same result TWICE in a row..maybe thats why my trans. was FUBAR'd soon after.

how on earth did you not do damage going from a 4th to 1st shift :eek2:

and i dont know whats stupidier; the drinking and driving of the twice in a row tranny fuck up :eyes:

I'll put money on the drinking and driving part.

IMO I think I would have peace of mind if you just took the valve covers off and checked em, if some happen to be slightly bent and you start doing hard runs...you could have some valve damage also. I think you should check them...Good Luck

Wes

Consider yourself lucky! Sounds as if your car is fine. I just wouldn't make a habit of doing that!

Im usually very precise with the stick, Ive driven race cars with straight cut gears and never even screwed up like this lol... I dont think Im gonna botehr with checking just yet but I plan on doing plugs and wires very soon, my car has 77k who knows if they were ever changed) so when I do that it will make things easier to kill two birds with one stone..

As for 4th to 1st... OH MY GOD I would Imagine that sending a piston thru the pavement. This is what someone I know did to their motor during an accidental downshift from 5th to 2nd in a Thirdgen Z28 Convertable: (I added the "owned" back then I should shut up now LOL).

http://iris.nyit.edu/~tlomino/M02Crash10.jpg

ouch :cry:

it couldnt have gotten any further than the 6800 rev limiter Im sure of that...

You probably know this but your rev limiter will not stop the engine from over-revving during a downshift. The engine will spin as fast as it needs to compensate for how fast the car is rolling.

You probably know this but your rev limiter will not stop the engine from over-revving during a downshift. The engine will spin as fast as it needs to compensate for how fast the car is rolling.

Oh yeah I know, no computer can stop physics thats why I was worried about this... Just the way I figured it, is if GM put a limiter at 6800 then while its not good to go that high, it probably wont do any damage going that high...

This is what someone I know did to their motor during an accidental downshift from 5th to 2nd in a Thirdgen Z28 Convertable: (I added the "owned" back then I should shut up now LOL).

http://iris.nyit.edu/~tlomino/M02Crash10.jpg

:eek2:

4th to 1st? I have a 98 M6 T/A, it locks me out of first until I'm low enough in the RPMs... That's weird.

4th to 1st? I have a 98 M6 T/A, it locks me out of first until I'm low enough in the RPMs... That's weird.

uhh... there is no lockout on first, unless maybe your synchros are screwy...

Hmmmmm.... I can't go into first unless I'm at a decent rpm... Weird no? Glad for it though.

Actually when revs are mechanically induced, you can go over the rev limiter. However if it is any consolation, I miss shifted from top of 3rd to 2nd and from top of second to 1st all in one night, this was when I first got my car. No bent push rods, no broken rear end,and no busted tranny. lucky I guess.

Actually when revs are mechanically induced, you can go over the rev limiter. However if it is any consolation, I miss shifted from top of 3rd to 2nd and from top of second to 1st all in one night, this was when I first got my car. No bent push rods, no broken rear end,and no busted tranny. lucky I guess.

I know this really has nothing to do with the thread, but your car is beautiful B-MAN. I went to breathless performance to get a better look at the lights, but they don't have any close-shot pics. Do you have any closeups?

First of all, Thank you for the compliment, and secondly, just click by my signiture, where it sayes B-MAN'S WEB SITE. There shoud be plenty of pictures there.