yea I did it once as well, going through the gears at redline, went from redline 3rd to second instead of fourth and it went to 8k, no big deal, don't sweat it.

 

I have an 06 z and I also just got done shifting from 3rd to 2nd, my whole car got sideways I thought I was screwed, luckily as soon as i stepped on the clutch it straightened out and everything sounds ok... But it sux *** because you feel like you have done some damage.

 

Whoa 5th to 2nd?

I've done a 3rd to 2nd one time, but it wasn't that bad.

 

why don't you all just get an automatic? its only about $1200 more and its way faster than a manual.

 

You would know if you floated or bent a valve when this happened. I know of two other members that have done this, but were not fortunate enough to disengage the clutch quick enough and some valves floated and got bent.

Way faster, huh? You're right, the shift itself is consistantely quicker, but there is one less gear to help out. A stock automatic tranny does not make a 350Z way faster than one with a manual. I am not saying that either one is quicker. Well, yeah I am, but it's not the one you said.

 

Sounds to me like you guys need vertical gates. Lol j/k Hurst makes nice ones ROTGL or, just buy an auto, maybe a powerguide. ROTGLO&O

 

In the BMW community they call this "money shifting" because that shift just cost a lot of money. It is a common problem with the 1995-1999 (E36) M3. When I had an M3 I had to pay particular attention to this. With my 350z I know it can happen, but it is not as easy to do as it was in my M3.

To the OP, I'm glad to hear that your engine is still running fine.

 

I downshift tll the time without braking coming off the expressway - but it must be done at the right speed and rpm - always note that the driver behind me backs off! No brake lights - wakes him off not to follow too close. LOL

 

thank you for your reassurance guys, its encouraging... Gotta get the confidence back. I wanna represent well.

 

The rpm limiter will cut the power down after red line to help save the engine, but it has to be hard on everything, and could happen too late. Before I got totally comfortable with this shifter I admit I did the same thing. Luckily I escaped with nothing but a red face. Really embarassing on a first date with a woman that knows her car stuff. Strong lesson learned.

 

a few years back i taught my friend how to drive stick on his new RSX... he bought the car not knowing how to drive manual so i drove it home for him and told him ill teach him... hea learned that night.. anyways, bout 2 weeks later he tried gettin cocky and showin me he can shift fast and was redlining 2nd to go inot 3rd and slammed it into 1st... TWICE in a row... made the oddest noise and the jolted forward and you can gear the gears winding... i actually have both times on video lol

 

Here's another lesson for you. The rev-limiter does absolutely NOTHING when you down-shift to too low of a gear. You can definitely bend a valve doing that.

 

roast is absolutely right!

When you mis shift like the OP described, the motor is no longer powering the driven wheels. The driven wheels are powering the motor.

No rev-limiter is going to stop the mechanical load placed on the motor from this scenario. You could completely kill both fuel and spark to the motor and the RPMs will still skyrocket.

 

I too have done this. It was troublesome at first, especially since I drive and 18 speed and have been driving commercially for 30 yrs. Just gotta be real careful. The two Porsche's I test drove,Carrera 03 and a 07 short shifter Cayman have much better transmissions as well as clutches. First time out I was really testing the gears without a mishap. Hell I can barely do that in the Z after 6 months.

 

The 350Z is not an easy car to "break in" shifting. I have owned several stick shifts over the years - including the 300ZX and this one has been far the most difficult to "break in". It took me 3000 miles of short driving to really get comfortable with it. I was often dying at intersection stops, etc. Now, at 30,000 miles I love the car and find it very easy and do lots of downshifting during short drives or coming off the expressways.

 

Makes perfect sense. I should have thought it through. God I love it when I'm wrong. Thanks. That's why I read this forum.

 

What are the signs that you have floated or bent a valve?

I did the same thing as the OP with 500 miles on it. Dang near broke into tears. I now have 40,000 miles on the car, but was wondering how I would know if everything was fine.

 

Run a compression test. If any of the valves are bent it's very likely you will have lower compression in that cyl.

Tom S.

 

i wouldn't mind seeing that lol

 

You should be fine.. As long as your not at 120 dropping from 6th to 2nd accidently..........