Whats the best way to shift a Muncie 4 speed at the drags? Clutch, no clutch? Can a M21 take the abuse?

Thanks

Frank,
I don't think you can shift a muncie without the clutch. Unless your matching rpms, and at the drags you don't really want to take the time to do that.

There are some manual transmissions, that can be shifted under accelleration without the clutch, but as far as I know, a muncie isn't one of them.

Hold the gas to the floor,bang the clutch and shifter at the same time graemlins/thumbsup.gif Don't miss a gear.

First off, use the clutch as it doesn't take that long to lift off the gas and get back on it. There are some things that can help the muncie survive medium amounts of abuse. Take the tranny out of the car and check for slack between the gears by turning the input, first clockwise, then counter-clockwise. If it feels like a worn out steering box with a lot of slack it will probably not hold up long. You can shim the input gears back thereby taking the slack out between the main drive and the cluster gears so they don't get a run at the each other and insuring a longer transmission life. Get someone who knows transmissions to do this and you will keep that muncie rolling. Lots of bite will kill most standard transmissions quickly though.

Harold is right about killing a manual trans after a while, but ours has kept going (so far). My brother keeps his foot on the gas when he clutches. His ETs really improved with this, but it's a bit of a nail-biter if you're not experienced. You could easily over-rev if you miss the gate, or you could jam up the linkage, or blow the engine (worst case scenario).

If you're leaving really hard it will "take its toll" on the M21. There's not much you can do about that. If you like to race it a lot, and you use slicks, and you speed shift...well, just be ready for an eventual trans pull/rebuild.

Fun stuff though! :D

Alot of Gearing and a Light car!

what shifter are you using ? what size engine and type of cam? it all makes a difference!