Doing Runs With An Automatic

When doing logging runs, whether it be on the dyno or on the road, how does one get accurate, useful data with an automatic transmission? A person is going to want to select a gear with a ratio of 1:1 for accurate results but the vehicle isn't going to allow the transmission to stay in say 4th gear for the full duration of a 1,800rpm to redline run. It's going to want to downshift if a person were to get on the throttle or if a person were to get up to speed to avoid downshift, the datalog window is going to be rather small. What methods should be used when tuning a vehicle with an automatic trans? Is there a way to make an automatic trans stay in a specific gear? Thanks!

Hi Brady,

There are ways of holding gears in automatic transmission cars; depending what software/tuning package your using there is normally tables to select the speed to which the gears shift, for example lower the speed at which the gear would be selected and then raise the speed the next gear is selected.

This will allow you to do pulls in higher gears 4th-5th etc

without knowing what car/tuning package etc I can’t give much more of an in-depth answer but I hope that helps your understanding.