Honda heads, take note. This way of shifting is pretty reasonable and can save you a headache later on down the road.
There’s a general consensus out there that the K-series transmission, while still quite dependable and overall OK, aren’t as receptive to huge tunable power numbers like the B-series transmissions. That being said, there’s also an understanding among the Honda tuning community that it’s really about how you shift (the driver) more than anything. One of the proponents of that way of shifting is OG Honda Head @HeyChildStar who dropped a really interesting video on Instagram earlier this week showing just how he shifts.
Check out the video below. His caption is probably worth your time more than the video.
If you listen closely enough to his video you’ll notice that, while he preaches a gentler shifting method, his Civic is still moving pretty quick from a roll, his shifts still fast enough to smoke someone if they want that smoke.
One reply says that his shifts are “careful” which is a good word to describe it.
But, like HeyChildStar says, his shifts are a lot less aggressive than what you’ll normally see online getting all the attention. You know the type, a lightly tuned K-series swapped Civic revving to 7,000 RPM before dropping the clutch, “banging” through first and second before hitting the rev limiter in third gear.
K-series engines are beasts, they can handle that type of abuse, but if @HeyChildStar’s reasoning is sound, your gear-banging B-series ways probably won’t translate to your new swap.
There’s an old saying that 80 percent of wear comes from 20 percent of abuse, and in the case of K-swaps and transmissions, a failed transmission probably comes from when you chirp first and second on the daily.
K-series transmissions aren’t inherently engineered poorly, it probably has to do with how much torque these beefier four-cylinder produce and how hard Honda tuners really wring the piss out of their builds.
If you want to take a Nissan talking smack from a dig and don’t want to sacrifice a tenth of a second because you’ll use less aggressive shifting, there’s probably nothing wrong with serving that SR20 a piece of humble pie.
But, for everyday driving, smart Honda tuners should probably heed @HeyChildStar’s advice.
What do you think about his shifting style? Is @HeyChildStar being unreasonable in any way? Let me know in the comments below.
