How fast in 2nd gear?

Dick Steinkamp said:
The manual says 5-8 in low and 12-15 in second. What is attained by much higher speeds in the lower gears than those recommended by Ford? Better acceleration?
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I agree Dick, I was taught to shift into 2nd once the car was rolling and 3rd aroound 15 a 17 mph.
 
Nabco said:
I agree Dick, I was taught to shift into 2nd once the car was rolling and 3rd aroound 15 a 17 mph.
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This is primarily my reason for asking the question in the first place. This is how I'd normally shift too, but if you've got to get up a hill, and the traffic is backing up behind you, how hard can you push it?
 
Art Newland said:
This is primarily my reason for asking the question in the first place. This is how I'd normally shift too, but if you've got to get up a hill, and the traffic is backing up behind you, how hard can you push it?
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In the Twin Cities, and probably most places, it doesn't matter how fast you drive, there are idiots that want to drive faster and will still be tailgating you. :mad:

The other day some woman was tailgating me and had both her hands behind hear head playing with her hair. Then when I slowed down to turn into my driveway she blew her horn at me for slowing down.
 
Art Newland said:
This is primarily my reason for asking the question in the first place. This is how I'd normally shift too, but if you've got to get up a hill, and the traffic is backing up behind you, how hard can you push it?
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If you are holding up traffic, pull off to the side of the road, just like a farm tractor would do. Wayne
 
I believe the phrase is, 'by the seat of your pants'. In all my vehicles I change gear as and when it feels right, I certainly don't spend too much time referring to the speedometer or even the rev counter to tell me when. Perhaps the big difference is that I have always driven manual cars and those brought up on automatics may lack that feel and experience.
 
Thanks for the chart chuck sea/tac, seeing these numbers really show how low a revvers these engines are. Did Ford ever publish a MAX RPM for the engine? By my public school math, if 30 MPH in 3rd equates to 1314 RPM, then 1314 X 1.85 (second gear ratio) equals approx 2431 RPMs. So 25 MPH (5/6 of 30) should get you at approx 2025 RPM?
 
Right on Art! :D

Here's a calculator to run other scenarios...

https://www.ringpinion.com/calculators/Calc_RPM.aspx

Scroll down to "Transmission Ratio RPM"

Plug in the R & P Ratio (usually 3.78 for our A's)
Tire height (29" for 5.00/19's...30" for 4.50/21's)
Speed you want to know the RPM for
Trans Ratio (1.85 for second, 3.12 for 1st, 1.00 for high)


As an aside, the calculator shows 2847 RPM at 65 MPH in high. That must be close to max RPMs for a stock engine.

Also, from the owner's manual...
"The different speeds required to meet road conditions are obtained by varying the pressure on the accelerator. Practically all the running speeds needed for ordinary travel are obtained in high gear; the low and second gear are used principally to give the car momentum in starting, and when the engine is subjected to a heavy load."

The Model A has 40 HP but 128 ft pounds of torque. I know of no modern car that has 3x the torque vs HP. It's a torque monster! :cool:
 
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Tom Wesenberg said:
In the Twin Cities, and probably most places, it doesn't matter how fast you drive, there are idiots that want to drive faster and will still be tailgating you. :mad:

The other day some woman was tailgating me and had both her hands behind hear head playing with her hair. Then when I slowed down to turn into my driveway she blew her horn at me for slowing down.
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My motto is: the closer you get the slower I go.

Earlier this year I had a garbage truck tailgating me on a freeway on-ramp. There was little traffic and we both entered the freeway at about 5mph. His boss was not amused when I phoned in my complaint.
 
Minnesota has several semi roll overs on the cloverleafs each year. They just drive too fast plus the highway department does poor designs. Most states have a fair bank in the curves, but MN likes to build them quite flat for some stupid reason.
 
Here most are banked, we don't get much snow, when there is snow the snow bank on the high side melt drools across the road--Tom, perhaps their reasnoing is to try and minimize the black ice from melt drool, here is just needs more salt

I don't remember keeping track of how fast I can go in 2nd, I have held the pedal to the floor in 2nd for a while (I have been trying to break the babbitt for the last 20 years), but I do know it is hard to downshift to 2nd above 30 without any clash, on the emission dyne I ran 2nd to 3250 rpm checking mixture with the ethonal gas to see best GAV position, with a stock carb,intake,engine, drivetrain the max rpm is self limiting to speeds below "redline" for splash lube in my opinion
 
My car I shift from second to high 25=30 miles per hour. Down shift to second at about 20 miles per hour. If climbing a steep grade, down shift at about 25.
 
I guess I am kind of "middle of the road".........I normally shift to 3rd around 20-24 mph. There is a huge gap between 2nd & 3rd, and even though you can shift to 3rd at 15 mph, why? I think a lot depends on where you live and traffic.......when I shift to 3rd at 20 or more, the response is much better, and I just feel more comfortable. I remember several years ago, some guys were saying they were able to go around corners in 3rd gear, and Marco wrote back that he never did that.....he always downshifted to 2nd to keep the rpm's at decent, but still low level. Like a lot of things, moderation is usually good, without going to either the low or high extreme.
 
My first ticket in the sixties was in my '29 cabriolet for "winding out in second gear" up hill at 35 mph. I tried telling the judge that the reference book said a stock Model a couldn't/shouldn't go that fast, but he still took away my license for two weeks.

nowadays with a touring motor, I usually shift to third by 30 or slower.
 
Assuming 2850 is redline for a stock A (likely, since that is flat out in high gear...it won't rev any more). 30 MPH in second is 2450 RPM. This equates to 85% of redline.

Assume a modern car redlines at 6,000 RPM. 85% of its redline is 5,100 RPM. Would anyone normally change gears in a modern stick shift car at 5,100 all the time?

Certainly a burst to 30 MPH in second may be necessary every now and then in our As to get into an opening in traffic, etc, just as a burst to 5,100 RPM is necessary every now and then in the lower gears in a modern stick shift car...but always? (actually, at least my A stops accelerating briskly well short of 30 in second gear)

Why would Henry tell us to change out of second to high at 12-15 MPH if 30-35 was as good or better?
 
Dick Steinkamp said:
The manual says 5-8 in low and 12-15 in second. What is attained by much higher speeds in the lower gears than those recommended by Ford? Better acceleration?
Click to expand...

Those are my shift points as they feel natural, Rarely take second beyond 20MPH, those dang little 19" wheels.
I agree with you Dick.
 
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