I have a 2004 cavalier with the 2.2l ecotec and the auto trans. Now i know that you can manually up and down shift the trans. But i want to know,
Can you start out in second gear if you want to race like in a stick?
If so is it damaging if done consistently?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

if it isnt built internally to be racing and shifted manually... dont do it. you are human, i doubt you can shift better than an automatic can, hence the reason they made em.

http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=41&i=18601&t=18590#18601

If you wanted to race it, why didn't you just get a stick? It would've saved you like $800 when you bought the car...

exodus 259 wrote:If you wanted to race it, why didn't you just get a stick? It would've saved you like $800 when you bought the car...

i race and i have an automatic, plenty of race cars are automatic.... consistency and shift times are WAY faster than human effort.


so your point was?????

if you put it in 2, you wont start in second, you'll start in first, go to second, and stay in second.



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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -

Even if you had a manual, you wouldn't start in 2nd to race. What makes you think that would be a good idea?

Wild Weasel wrote:Even if you had a manual, you wouldn't start in 2nd to race. What makes you think that would be a good idea?

i;ve heard the reasoning before....

but some people say starting in second offers less wheel spin off the line and because its in a pulling gear.

Dam-it Muffins (Event) wrote:

Wild Weasel wrote:Even if you had a manual, you wouldn't start in 2nd to race. What makes you think that would be a good idea?

i;ve heard the reasoning before....

but some people say starting in second offers less wheel spin off the line and because its in a pulling gear.

Well duh. So does just giving it less gas, while retaining the torque multiplying advantage of 1st gear.

The only time this would be useful is if you can launch in 2nd and break traction all the way through. Then you've already got too much power for 1st gear to be of any use. But very few people around here are in this situation. It certainly doesn't apply to the drop-in filter and a muffler guy who started this thread.

true.....true.....

Thanx for the info guys, I know nothing about transmissions, it helped out a lot.