Improved gasoline economy and performance with a standard tranny? - By: Alexander Pardo

Probabilities are you have driven a rig with an auto tranny, but did you realize that you can really get increased gas economy and performance with a manual tranny? While an auto tranny and manual tranny may accomplish the identical task (shifting gears) they do it in entirely dissimilar ways, and the gas mileage can likely be just as different.

To start out with to understand why this is, you need to understand a little about how the auto tranny functions. The task of any car transmission is to keep an gas engine in a given operating range at all times, and convert the rpms from the engine in to progressive momentum. While the final outcome is almost identical between an auto and standard transmission, they do it in very unique manners, and there are a few key reasons why a manual transmission will usually receive increased miles than an auto.

First, The key to the modern automatic transmission is the torque converter. It in the place of a clutch in a standard tranny. Torque converters use a technology known as “hydraulic coupling”. This can be equated to setting one fan in front of another then turning one on and noticing the breeze from it turn the blades of the other fan. Granted torque converters are more efficient than this scenario, but you can see how there would constantly be more slippage in an automatic tranny. Even in trannies with advanced technology that try to lock-up the torque converter there will still be some of this same slippage under acceleration, they just do not have the slippage problem at constant highway speeds. Essentially an auto tranny’s input shaft is not directly affixed to the gas engine at all, it is coupled through a torque converter.

A manual tranny, however utilizes a clutch plate that directly couples the gas engine and transmission. When you release the clutch pedal, springs push the pressure plate against the clutch disc, which in turn presses against the fly wheel. This locks the motor to the tranny input shaft, causing them to rotate at the same speeds.

Second, automatic transmissions are much more complex than standard trannies, they have alot more parts than a manual tranny. All these components add mass, revolving weight. Rotating mas has a much more significant difference on power loss than static weight.

Nonetheless, a standard transmission is significantly less complicated. The standard transmission doesn’t depend on the large quantity of additional components that an auto tranny depends on to shift. It instead counts on the operator to do the shifting for it. You can see how this would make it a lot less complicated.

Finally, the modern-day automatic tranny is engineered to offer as smooth of shift as achievable to the driver. Basically they're designed to make the shift transparently. They detect rather or not you are on the throttle or accelerating at a normal rate, and they adjust automatically to make the shifting and engine rpm’s more aggressive.

Yet, with a standard tranny, you have the ability to select when to shift, and can do what’s known as “short shifting". This is a technique that allows you to shift well before redline, and keep your motor in its ideal powerband and gasoline mileage range at all times.

About the Author

Author Alex S P has been composing articles offline and online for 5 years. See his newest creation at Turbo 400 Transmission and Turbo 350 Rebuild Kit

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Alexander-Pardo/72963

Additional Articles From - Home | Vehicles | Cars