LOL I just bought a 5spd SE and trying to learn to drive stick hehehe, I'm not doing too bad, but I have messed up some what. Like crusing at 30-35 MPH and down shifting in 1st by accident and ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! my car slammed down like it was trying to stop itself, lol but dis ***** is faster den my automatic max gxe, anyway just wanted to share my non driving *** experience.

 

Practice makes perfect. Welcome to the 5speed family!

 

hahaha, good luck man, I remember my first time learning stick on my 89 Pathy. something tells me you're going to need another clutch by the time you get it down.....good luck

 

lol how did you accidently put it into first? I know to get mine into first even while even 10MPH its hard to first while moving, you have to rev-match it to even want to go into gear. anyways good luck driving.

 

Yeah exactly! My friend drove it the other day and she went right in from fourth but She's always super hard to drive into first to me especially with STS.
Anyway, Enjoy your 5spd Maxima it's a great experience!

 

sicne when did you have to rev it to match? you dont use your clutch pedal?

 

I friggin LOVE my 5 speed. Makes me happy I totalled the old auto I had

 

As long as you do not have a Stage 3 clutch on a Stock Maxima like I do, you are straight. Ha ha.

 

Man....Good Luck...I was taught how to drive a 5 spd....about 5 yrs ago, but I never actually owned one, But I want a 5spd really bad, however I will have to reteach myself...LOL

 

you know going 35MPH you would have to FORCE it into 1st gear. I know my car is hard to get into first while moving any faster then 10MPH, not to mention i dont really see why youd need to put it into first while going any faster then 10MPH, the car has more then enough power to take off in second.

 

what does it mean to rev match?

 

not sure what he meant, but it is possible to slip the tranny in and out of gear without using the clutch by simply reving the motor carefully. cant explain the mechanics of it but at a certain RMP for a certain speed things sync up.

 

alright i dont mean rev match like that, but to rev match the shifts, to were say if im in third and doing 50kmh and i want to donwshift into second and know the revs will be at around 3K rpm, if you clutch in rev to 3 shift into 2nd you can basically pop the clutch and it will smoothly engage, good if you need to quickly downshift for some reason. By doing this i can get into first while moving, but still i dont think its too good for the tranny by going into first while moving any faster then 10mph.

 

you've gotta blip the throttle on downshifts (rev match) to avoid the jolt you get.

Basically, if you're going from 3rd to 2nd, for example, while you have the clutch depressed, quickly blip the throttle to get the RPM's up, and downshift while the RPMs are still hanging...this will allow you to go smoothly into a lower gear. of-course, you have to practice this also, and kind of get a feel for how hard you need to blip the throttle or how high you need to get the RPM's in order to downshift at certain speeds.

however, going from 3rd to 1st is not such a good idea when you're already at a good amount of speed or high RPM's in 3rd.


good luck man, I know how it feels...I did a manual swap on my Volvo, and it's been about 4 months, and I'm still learning all the time

 

I learned to drive stick about four months ago, when I bought my Max, on the stock clutch, which had about 85,000 miles on it.

Then two weeks later I drove it to college.

A 4-gen Max is a good car to learn on - they're forgiving.

 

go here: standardshift.com

 

thanks allot everyone i thought i was gonna get made fun of hehehe even though i would have accepted the humour in a positive way, but thanks agian for the good lucks yal cool peoples

 

haha I learned the same way. only had enough money to buy a 5speed neon so I bought it and just learned. haha those were some fun days, doing a U-turn on a busy intersection and stalling like 5 times, everyone was honking and cursing. Had to replace the clutch after a few months, so be prepared to get a new one too.

 

that site is great...........I bought my 5speed in begginning of Dec..........it gets frustrating at first but man I LOVE IT now.........when ever i got out I always wanna drive my car........I look forward to work just knowing I'll get to drive my car there..........I'm still learning a lot of stuff

It was hard for me to find my friction point at first.......but once you do.......it makes launches a lot easier.......and they are already easy enough on our cars (if stock equipment......clutch, flywheel, etc.)

Good Luck

 

Once you get good at stick, you won't want to go back. Trust me on that one. Just be careful with shoving it into first, that's a good way to break expensive stuff. Spend some quality time in a big, empty parking lot. The lack of traffic makes it easier to focus on your shifting.

 

I think I am still learning to drive my 5Spd. My clutch has 150K so it isn't forgiving too much anymore. Gets me so mad cause my brother bought a 2K Prelude new back in the day, and it seemed like he was driving it perfect after a month or so. I have had this car since before Summer and my shifts still aren't silky smooth. Sadly I am better at double-clutching than I am at shifting 1-2.

Would a slipping clutch cause or create bad shifts? I have an OEM 5th gen clutch in my room, but no time to install it . Plus I am in UGA and the clutch is in Alpharetta.

 

Slipping clutch would probably make your shifts smoother, sorry. If it isn't fully disengaging, then you would probably have a lot of jerking.

 

Slipping the clutch generates more heat and can wear out the clutch after a period of time.
Take your time, be smooth and don't force it. I would also suggest pushing the pedal all the way down to shift UNTIL you get used to shifting, then you can figure how far down you can go without grinding gears.
I definitely would not try to shift into first at 35mph. There's no reason to. Once you get adept at it, then you can start working on rev-matching or also known as heel-and toe. Basically you're balancing braking with throttle application to rev-match. (Brake, blip gas, clutch and shift at the same time). If done right, it's smoother and very addictive (also cost more at the pump!)
Have fun.

 

Lol thanks so far im doing good, yesterday i had people honking the horn and **** but man i dont care, now i havent stalled out and im doing good, my engine has 151,000 miles on it but the clutch was recently replaced it only has 15,000 miles on it so im guessin its pretty new. I learned allot on how to balance the throttle and clutch from rocking on the hill, keeping it from rolling back all da way. thanks for the advice people.

 

I drove 150miles to college after my pressure plate went out (read: could not engage clutch) at the halfway point of my trip.

...Beat you.

 

I'm in the same boat as you man. (Not the 35 mph downshift into first gear, but the new to driving a 5-speed.) I finished my 5-speed conversion Friday, and when it was done was my 3rd time ever driving a 5-speed. But practice makes perfect, like previously stated. Good luck

 

hahaha... how did you get it going from a stop?

 

When you downshift, you want to match engine speed with clutch/transmission speed. When you go into a lower gear, the transmission will be spinning at a faster speed than the engine. Before releasing the clutch in the lower gear, you want to hit the throttle to get the engine speed to match with the clutch/transmission speed. This places less stress on the transmission and makes downshifts smoother.

 

Here's my take on the subject - I'm not going to retype it all.

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...2&postcount=39

Dave

 

Clutch pedal would travel the full stroke but the clutch didn't work. So I could leave it in first, turn it off when it was time to stop, and to start up I'd use the clutch pedal (to trip the clutch-starter relay) and the starter would pull the car forward until it fired up.

It was pretty funny watching the expression on people's faces as they watched me.

 

thats reaaallly bad for your starter lol...

 

5spd, the only way to fly.

 

Good luck replacing your clutch after you finish practicing....should have practiced on a diff. car first....

 

Just keep practicing. This July, it will be 2 years since I got my I30t 5spd. I had my uncle bring the car home, but felt embarrassed to have anyone teach me. I just used the site provided earlier. www.standardshift.com and learned different techniques and taught myself.

Personally, I dont like driving my automatic anymore. I look forward to driving my 5spd. I've put 25k miles on it in the past year, and 5k on my existing automatic during the same period.

Practice and be patient. Don't be rushed by those around you into making situations worse. Before you know it, you'll be giving others lessons.

 

While that's a good skill to learn, doing that too much COULD overheat your clutch if done too much. Use the e-brake on hills instead and put the car in neutral. When you get ready to go, put the car in gear, apply some gas (NOT redline but enough to get the car going-obviously on hills, you will need a little more gas than if you were on a level road) , and EASE up on the clutch until you feel the car want to go (the back might sink down a bit). At that point, release the e-brake and away you go without rolling back. This is something some other countries REQUIRE drivers to know and perform in order to get their license. It's a good skill to learn IMHO.

 

Doing that too much WILL overheat and wear out your clutch.

I just learned to get my foot off the brake and quickly get the car moving forward. If you're quick it's no different than a regular standing start. I've never used the e-brake.

Dave

 

Honestly, just get off the clutch fast enough on hills to not roll back too far. The only way to get comfortable with starting on hills is to just not worry about rolling back a foot or two and be calm about releasing the clutch.

 

While that can also be done, i think that the handbrake method is the most consistent and safer to do especially on very steep hills. I once drove in Frisco and i will let you know that you need your handbrake working when driving there.

 

Yeah, the hills here can be steep, but not THAT steep.

Dave

 

Since he's just starting, it's safer for him to learn to use the e-brake, not matter what kind of hill it is. It would be pretty embarrasing to roll back and hit someone behind him if he's not quick enough, especially since many folks like to stop RIGHT behind with very little spacing at a light.