I Raced a 5.0 and.....
 

kicked it's @ss we raced to about 90MPH. and I was about 3 car lengths ahead maybe more. at one point he started to catch up but the SVX's remarcable top end power kept him at bay. and then I pulled away. I had 3 people in my car including myself and he was flying solo

A 5.0 tried to race me on the streets one time. Too bad there was traffic, and too bad I has soup in my car. Otherwise I would have been hitting full throttle. A fully operating NOS system would have been nice too.

beating a 5.0
 

i have one question about your victory...at any point did you shift down into 3rd or start in 3rd? Have you ever tried it?

I race him through first second and some of third although there I did not down shift

I was talking to a subaru mechanic who knows the SVX front and back and he told me never drive the car in second unless there is ice on the ground and your tires are moving too fast to go anywhere. you then put the car into second so when you accelerate, the tires move slower so the car can move. If you do drive the car in second for any other reason, it messes up the transmission really, really bad. This is just what he told me.

I drove it in auto mode. what about putting it in first and letting the tranny shift itself

wow if you beat a 5.0......
 

then that turbo of your must make your svx haul a$$! i hate mustangs so i applause your victory! :D

Would he care to share why driving any car in second gear would hurt it? No, really, I don't know anything about the SVX and I'm just curious.;)

driving in second
 

all i recall him saying was that it's about the worst thing you can do to your transmission. basically he said just don't drive it in second unless you want to spend $5000 on a new transmission.

$5000 on a new transmission.
 

Now edddy, try to remain calm.:D

I have to back eddy up on the 5000 USD tranny, At cost from Subaru is around 1800 I assume. When I got it, from dealer, it's 2300. 5000 is way too high for a SVX tranny. Send me that subaru mech and I will show him where to get his trannies.

Lwin

Re: driving in second
 

You need to find a new mechanic.;)

dumb mechanic
 

well, the mechanic may not be right about the price, but you should still be gentle with the car and try not to drive in second too much.

Methinks the mechanic was over-generalizing.

Shouldn't drive in 2nd gear too much in my 3-speed Ford Festiva, or did he mean I should stay out of second gear in my Audi with the 5-speed automatic? In my Audi with the 5-speed automatic, 2nd gear is bad but not 3rd? What about my Lexus IS300 with tiptronic, should I stay out of 2nd gear while driving that also?

From the mouth of a tech.
 

A transmission building friend (okay, so he won't admit to being my friend, so what!) of mine explained to me that, in the stock GM versions of automatic transmissions, second gear is the weakest one. But even so it takes a good bit of punishment for it to fail. I don't know if this translates across the board for all automatics of if it is GM specific. He builds drag racing automatic trannies. Mostly Turbohydromatic 350 and 400's.