Ive read some people saying they give it no gas? Is it bad of me as a new 5spd driver to give it gas to about 1500 for a second and then take off...im talking for regular smooth driving, not racing or anything...

 

give it li'l gas and it'll go on it's own as you release the clutch. when you shift into second and then to third do not press your clutch all the way to the floor. just barely half way and shift into the gear. your car wont buck and your clutch will last a long longer!

 

Is that safe to do? halfway down on the clutch?

Also, just another basic manual driving questions....

1) When you go into reverse, do you guys give it a little gas also by revving then letting off of the clutch? Or do you use the clutch alone?

2) Is it more harmful to the car to use the clutch only, or add gas to 1k-1.5k and then modulate?

3) Is the general rule of keeping the revs no higher than 3k until normal operating temp is reached a good way to drive? Or should I keep the revs lower? I like to baby my car.

These are the questions I think about sometimes while I drive...thats all.

 

Do NOT depress the clutch pedal only halfway!!! It does the complete opposite; it will prematurely wear out the clutch. Fully depress the clutch pedal every time you shift. Also if your car bucks when you release the clutch pedal you're releasing the clutch pedal too fast ("popping").

If you start by releasing the clutch only and you feel engine vibrations it puts wear on the engine. If you start too high of a RPM it puts more wear on the clutch. I'd rather put more wear on the clutch then on the engine though.

It takes practice but you should be able to do a standing start accelerating from just above idle (700-800 rpm) smoothly without bogging the engine. Its how you time your gas and clutch pedals. Now on different road grades and vehicle load you may have to compensate by putting more RPMs on the tach. This applies to reverse. Most of the time I will use only the clutch and I can move backwards without bogging the engine. Now if your car is parked on a decline you'd definitely want to give it some gas.

Key is practice practice practice. Someone may drive manual tranny cars for 15 years but if that person is not driving a manual tranny car correctly then all the time experience means squat.

Regarding keeping the RPMs under 3K, I'm a bit more of a nut.
My drives are usually 45min+, so on a cold-start morning I'd let the car idle for no more than 1 minute then rev slowly to 2k for the 1st 5 minutes, slowly to 2.5K-3K RPMs for the 2nd 5 minutes, then to 3.5K RPMs the last 5 minutes. Afterwards I let all hell break loose.
The wear levels as outlined in my Blackstone Lab reports indicate that I must be doing something right

 

cool man, thanks for the tips. I should e-mail you some time. Particularly, I had no idea that that bogging wears the engine.

 

Wow yo baby that thing. Once my temp guage reads in the normal range... i drive normal. I do keep it below 2-2500 rpm until then though.

When I want to leave stop light fast I get the engine going 1500 rpm.

Otherwise its around 800-1000 rpm. 121,000 miles and still good so I must be doing something right

 

How does one not give any gas from a stop and get going?

 

I noticed another interesting quirk in my new (to me) '96 5 speed. When shifting from 1st to 2nd, which I usually do around 3500 rpm, I can keep it smooth if I just barely let off the accelerator, or not even at all. One I'm off the gas, the revs drop quickly and I get some jerking. This is the first manual I've driven where I don't let off the gas when shifting. Does that sound normal to you guys? I'm not doing any damage am I?

-Ace-

 

as long as you rev match, its fine.

for the others that asked, its not practical to launch without pressing the gas, it'll be very very slow and the drivers behind you will get pretty pi$$ed off.


don't do what this guy is saying.
depress the clutch fully on each shift for minimal wear.

 

i have a 5 speed max too. im gonna back DEV up by sayin u have to depress the clutch all the way down for minimal wear, you'll feel it when u shift and press your foot down on the clutch. that's the way i had my clutch last up to 65K miles on my max, and I still would race on it pretty hard, if i hadnt im sre it would have lasted longer.

plus i cant believe this thread has gotten so long for one simple question. it seems like its a 5 speed learning class.

 

if your a real good driver, you will never have to replace the clutch on your car

 

tru...

 

Some people on this board have had their stock clutch for over 100k miles.

 

the max is the third 5 speed vehicle that i've owned. my first was a 86 GTI i drove till it had 120K miles on the original clutch, my second car was a 89 mustang 5.0 and sold it when it had 140K with original clutch, the maxima has 37K and my mechanic said that he didn't even have to adjust the clutch when he did the 30k service on it. i've clutched half way on all my cars and swear by it. if there is a person that trully knows how to drive standard will tell you.
i rest my case.

 

What do you mean by rev match?

 

how do you guys get around town without knowing these things???
not picking on you magnum, but in general...

i got my 5spd max, and without the help of ANYONE, learned to shift PROPERLY on my own. i stalled twice on the day i got it, driving in a damn thunderstorm of all things, and have been fine since then.

by rev matching, i mean when you upshift or downshift, to speed the engine up to the speed of the next gear. this means there should not be any jerk, and minimal wear on the clutch and synchros.

for example, when you downshift from 3rd to 2nd, you should blip the throttle to get the rpms higher and ready for the lower gear.

 

just put it in first and get to the friction point of the clutch, and the car will start moving forward....





some of you guys should taking standard driving school before you screw up your cars!

 

I learned from my friends' girlfriend like 2 months ago, and I'm still pretty crappy at it, but I could never see myself going halfway down on the clutch or not giving gas when I start from a stop. When I downshift, I rev-match but usually rev it a little higher and let it catch. Gonna get Act in about 1 year, so my baby just gotta last till then. I pamper her.

 

Thanks, I already do this, i always assumed that is what it meant but i wasn't familar with the term, that is what the forum is for. I also taught myself how to drive stick, I stalled maybe twice in the whole proccess and i learned in an old mitsubishi truck

 

93K miles, stock clutch, 150 1/4 mile passes, never slipped

This is the way I drive. From a stop, rev up to around 1500-1800 and quickly slip the clutch. At least I think it's 1500-1800 because I do everything in one quick motion and when the clutch start engaging the engine, the revs drop to around 1000-1200 when coming off the line. If I want to leave the line quicker, I just rev up a little higher and slip the clutch a little more (so I don't spin the tires). I usually take 1st to 3000-3500, 2nd to 3000, and then usually go straight to 4th unless I really need 3rd to accelerate. If I'm starting off on a decline, I sometimes start off in 2nd.

I'm now starting to do double-clutch downshifts on the 5-4 and 4-3 downshifts. Getting a smooth double-clutch from 3-2 is still very tricky because of the stronger 2nd gear syncro. For those that don't know, double clutching is where you push in the clutch, move the lever into neutral, release the clutch, push the clutch back in, move the lever into the lower gear, blip the throttle to the correct rev-match for the entering gear, and release the clutch. When done right, the downshift is amazingly smooth. You don't have to do it terribly fast either. I've also found when rolling slowly and wanting to get into 1st, double clutching makes things much easier. Double clutching upshifts are pointless with todays syncronized trannies.

For cold engine starts, I let the engine idle for 30-45 seconds, take off slowly, and keep revs below 3000rpms until the engine is fully warm. No WOT blasts until the engine and tranny are warm.


Dave

 

I don't even use my clutch...except for starting from a stop. J/k. But sometimes I don't use the clutch if I don't feel like it. Also, the only time I ever put the clutch to the floor is to start the engine. I'm at 87k with no slipping no nothing and I routinely take it 6k, shift and dump the clutch. She loves it .

 

You nearly typed the exact reply I would have. The only differences being I don't double clutch often, but always rev-match on downshifts as you say. I sometimes double clutch from 1st to 2nd on cold winter mornings (In WI) otherwise getting into second can be a chore and sounds hellacious. (stock mud in gearbox) But once the car is warm I just shift normally. Same as you for warming up. After about the same time you said, the idle drops a couple hundred RPM, then I head on my way. An engine and transmission will warm up faster and in unison while driving.