Ok, I really want to upgrade to a 5.5 gen 6 speed, and will be able to do so early next year, but all the cars I've owned (2) have been auto, and I know the basics, but I'm not really smooth with a stick. Someone was teaching me how to drive a stick shift on a 93 sentra, and I had difficulties starting off from a stop. Now, somebody told me that in newer cars, this is alot easier... something about a hydraulic clutch or something like that... is that true?

When you're driving normally, can you switch gears and keep your foot on the gas pedal, or do you have to fully release the gas when you press the clutch in to switch gears?

I'm really exciting about making the switch, and in preparaton, I've been practicing pressing in the clutch and shifting to the correct gears at the correct speeds (don't laugh at me! lol) so i can be as smooth as possible when I make the switch...

Can you really screw up your tranny/engine if you accidentally switch to first gear instead of third when accellerating? That's one thing I'm a little nervous about. Does that ever happen to anybody, or what?

 

Get a friend to teach you, honestly it becomes second nature to drive a manual...

 

well, my 2k2 6speed is a little tough on beginners. The clutch is alot more firm (even though its hydrolic) than my 2000 civic clutch was. but not too hard to press.. you have to be more assertive with the max than on a smaller 4banger car such as a civic or sentra...

I wouldnt keep my foot on the gas pedal when switching gears even though its possible to keep it revved while in the switching process, that takes more practice and it isnt exactly necessary. especially for a beginner.

starting from a stop is always the most difficult when learning... you have to really control how fast you realease the clutch with accordance to how much gas you are applying. in a stock civic, or sentra for example..if you let go of the clutch too quickly and you have alot of throttle applied..the tires will chirp loudly and the car will lurch forward too quickly.. However on a Max,with the more powerful engine, the affects on the car for not launching correctly will be more severe.. (burn-out, etc..) so i would practice on the small car as much as possible.

and downshifting accidently into 1st instead of 3rd,, really really sucks. so practice making sure u know where the gears are. the maxima gear box is solid and crisp enough for this to be difficult to happen (e.i. the gears sorta "fall" into place, unlike my civic where you actually had to push the stick into its postion) but still.. practice to avoid that because you wont like the result..

 

Newer cars are usually more forgiving. Just take your time, after a few drives it'll be like you've been doing it for years.

You don't have to fully release the gas, but why waste the gas by keeping your foot down. It's very unlikely you'll stall in any gear other than first, so save the gas. Before you bring the car back into gear you may want to "stab" the gas so you can rev-match and make it more smooth.

You could potentially do some damage if you misshift. But you won't be able to get into first once you're really moving. The tranny won't let you (you'll know it'd be too hard).

 

That Sentra had a hydraulic clutch, I'd wager. Here's the deal when starting from a dead stop. The bigger the engine, the easier it is to get it going. I taught my wife how to drive a stick in my Chevrolet Silverado (V8 + 5spd == gud) because the engine damn near refuses to stall. Transitioning to the Maxima was simple because she already figured out the way to work the clutch pedal.

If you want to save your synchros, your clutch, your flywheel, and extend the life of your transmission, lift off the gas, fully depress the clutch pedal, and move to your next (or previous) gear.

This is good practice. You'll come to find out that driving a stick after a while because "automatic", and your brain will select things for you at any variations of road (tight curves, hills, etc.)

Modern manual transmissions are designed to handle abuse and mistakes. If you try to downshift into a gear that the manual transmission does not need to be in, your synchros will make an audible noise (like a gear whirring VERY fast) to kind of give you that hint. Subconsciously, you'll probably stop doing it. If you force it into too low of a gear anyway (if you are persistent), then the worst thing you have to face is the fuel cut off which prevents your motor from blowing itself into pieces.

 

Unless you have exceeded the speed or rpm "threshold" for the gear you are forcefully engaging, like forcing it into 1st gear at 60mph the fuel cutoff isn't going to prevent over-revving the engine in this case.

 

get the car, get in and learn to drive and use commen sense

 

Driving the maxima is much easier IMO than a 4 banger...i learned on a civic and a del-sol which was damn near impossible to easily learn for a beginner. The lack of torque made it difficult to judge how much gas to give (because you definitely need to use the gas in 1st) and how much to let off the clutch. When I picked up my 2001, it was like night and day difference. Although I give a small amount of gas, I don't need too if there is no incline, as the car will move forward from easing off the clutch. Best advice as others will say is to practice.

Also it is possible to get into 1st by mis-shifting although like mentioned before you will notice how hard it will be which will prevent you to somewhat.

 

IMO the 2k2 is a hard car to learn with if someone has not driven a MT before. Here's a good away to learn:

Put the car in 1st gear, then without pressing the gas pedal s-l-o-w-ly release the clutch. The object is to get the car moving without using the gas. This does put a bit of stress on the clutch, but it's no worse than stalling the car a bunch of times. Once you know where the friction point is with the clutch you ought to be able to start using the gas when starting out.

 

that's good.. i was hoping maybe the transmission had some kind of thing to let me know just incase i mis-shifted.. i dont know how often that happens to a resonably skilled driver (which i plan on exceeding) but i was hoping my car wouldnt blow up.. lol

another thing is... i like to do stuff when i'm driving.. for example, talk on the phone, eat pizza, ********** (joking).. but do you stick shift drivers find that you can still manage to do all those life-risking, attention diverting things and still shift resonably well?

 

will be easier to get rolling cause of the much better torque. in my 65 pickup, i can drop the clutch from a stop and it wont stall. in the max, its a little harder, but i guarantee it feels easier than in the sentra

 

u can get the car moving by just lifting the clutch up and no gas? wow.. i thought the car would stall.. i guess that's the difference 10 years of technology makes.. EDIT.. after reading more carefully, im gonna change that statement to: "i guess thats the difference a bigger engine makes"

 

The purpose of that exercise is to learn where the friction point is.. i.e. where does the clutch "catch." On a daily basis, however, you want to be giving the engine a little gas right before you let the clutch catch.

 

gotya.. it's kinda hard to visualize exactly what u mean by "catch" and "friction," but i'm thinking i'll be able to tell once i start doing it

 

oh wait there was one other thing... my friend was telling me that i dont always have to start off in first gear, and that a 5.5 gen maxma would have enough power to start off in second gear from a stop... does anybody do that?

 

dont do that you get slower accelaration

 

ya you can do that... but i usually start in first (since on the 2k2 1st gear seems to be really long) and skip second and go to third..go to fourth and skip 5th and go str8 to sixth...... i dont know why...but i've gotten in the habit of skipping gears when driving normally since i really dont need to go thru all six.

also..i dont talk on the phone or anything like that when i'm driving..i'm seriously not one of those ppl... i simply do not answer my phone unless i have a bluetooth system..(which i dont yet). focus on the car and on the road dude. thats my .02

 

A variation of granny-shifting (on my 5spd, I row 1st, 3rd, and then 5th). People argue that granny-shifting saves on gas since you're not revving the engine on two gears. I do it because the VQ30DE-K has enough torque and the gearing is done so that I don't need those two gears to accelerate normally.

 

Second gear is fine for starting out. I've even used third several times (accidentally) Maybe til you get used to it you should use first. I bought my 6speed back in july and it was basicaly the first manual car I drove for extended periods of time and it didn't take too long to be able to drive it smoothly. Just takes practice.

 

cool.. i cant wait.. i'm really excited.. once i learn how to drive that thing and start modding, its lights out for many a drivers! how the hell do u check the transmission fluid level on those things? i was reading and saw this one process where a dude was changing his transmission fluid, and he filled it until it started overflowing! is that correct? i notice theres no dipstick on maual trannies.. how do i keep tabs on the level?

 

clutch in - put car in first - see saw to get the feel of where the catch point or friction point is, if you feel the car rumbling push back in the clutch and let off the gas, your going to stall in this case.

As far as up hill and down hill-

Up hill is different so practice first...you dont want to be at a light or stop sign with no practice of doing this.

Think of more gas going up hill - meaning rev it up in rpm's and release clutch to catch...

It just takes more gas going up hill because the car is going against gravity and you need to give it some go (GAS) to climb and get started.

As far as going down hill- you can probably not even use the gas pedal. Just release the clutch accordingly to the slope you're on. The car will roll and just release the clutch accordingly and you shouldnt have much issues..


When people say "Rev Matching" - its more or less for people that have more experience more or less with driving standard.

There are plenty of instances but I will give you just 2 for braking and accelerating.

Braking - Lets say your in 3rd gear going x miles an hour and you need to slow down relatively quick.

In seconds time follow these steps
Apply brake -
clutch in -
put stick neutral position -
rev gas higher to match the lower gear (2nd in this case)
shift into 2nd as you're "rev matching" and slowly let out the clutch it will instantly pull the car back (extra braking feel) also at this point be applying the brake

You dont want to does this alot as you're using the clutch more - its more or less for a quicker stop for an advance manual user.

you will feel the car slow down alot quicker - (as if you were driving in 2nd and letting off the gas) - in this case thats what you're doing and also applying the brake after you have rev matched. Hence slowing down quicker.



(NEVER DOWNSHIFT INTO FIRST)

As for accelerating - lets say you're in 3rd again going x miles an hour and you want to accelerate.

In seconds time apply these steps -

clutch in -
rev car to 1300 rpm higher or more - (depending on how you want to match rev but a good point is 1300 rpm)
shift to second - (unleashes the power of the 3.5 VQ The reason you bought the car)
press the gas - which accelerates, shift out of second when appropriate

( so say you were doing 30 mph at 2200 rpm in 3rd gear- when you drop it in neutral the car will drop to 800 rpm's - depending on when you press the gas - you want to do it as soon as you have it in neutral but rev it up to 3500 and down shift into 2nd and you'll feel the power)

good luck hope this kinda makes sence - remember to have fun and wear a seatbelt

 

shift into 2nd at 30? Pshaww, I go into 1st
I also went into 1st instead of 3rd POS syncros, making it hard to shift. 8000+ rpms is awesome, not.


If you do a lot of 40ish mph driving, I vouch for wrapping out 1st, then shift to 5th and cruise.
If you're like me, don't bother stopping, just downshift to 2nd and roll slowly through w/e, and then hit the gas. The less shifting the better . It'll still have enough pull, so accel. isn't bad.

Don't be afraid of low rpms, even in high gear. As long as the road isn't uphill, I cruise at 1500 rpms, always. I get hella gas mileage. (quit saying hella cartman)

 

how bout, dont worry about downshifting until you get proficient with normal driving

 

that sounds good cause i know im gonna get lazy sometimes.. lol.. just as long as i can sit back and shill every now and then... then smoke people when the time is right, i'll be good to go

 

also... does anybody know if the gears/speeds are the same on a 5.5 gen 6 speed as a 5th gen auto? for example, in my auto, the limit for first gear under WOT is about 30-35mph... and about 60-65 for second... not sure about third, but you get my drift.. is that the same in the 6 speeds? i figure it would probably be different because of a bigger engine and 2 more gears

 

I think that's the only "advantage" of the 5-spd in my 5th gen is that I don't have to take it out of 5th to go up a hill, even a sizable grade due to the gearing.... that being said.... 2500rpm @ 60mph sucks, 3300rpm+ @ 80mpg sucks worse...

 

Why would you EVER think that the ratios would be the same? They're not.

 

If you want to be real smooth and really get a feel for how the clutch engages, learn to get the car moving smoothly without stepping on the gas. Takes some practice but once you learn that, you should never have a problem leaving a light.

Look on the bright side, I learned how to drive a stick when I bought my '74 Z/28 with a 3400lb pressure plate. The Hurst shifter was a real joy though.

 

Glad u're making the switch! I did the same, and learned on my Max. Its not hard. The clutch is not stiff. The torque of the 3.5 makes it even easier to learn, bec. u can be in the wrong gear, and the car will be forgiven. PLUS the close ratio 6 spd. is a joy. Its a very well mated engine/tranny IMO. U're gonna love it!

(Actually, bec. of the above cool attributes of the car, learning on a Max 6 spd. might be kinda cheatin'...)

 

one reason is when reading stories in the weekend battles section, people in 5.5 gen 6 speeds often talk about starting races in the same gear and at the same speeds that provide optimum pick up for my car.. for example 40mph= second gear downshift, 20mph= 1st gear downshift.. it's not that far fetched and was a valid question considerng that

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...61&postcount=2

 

MPH @ at 6500 redline

-------5A---5M----6M----4A
1st ----44----40-----41----47
2nd ----67---70------67----85
3rd ----103--102-----94---132
4th----152---137----124---190
5th ---201---164-----164
6th-------------------208

RPM @ 75 mph cruising

4A--------2562
5A--------2420
5M--------2961
6M--------2340

wow.. those numbers seem pretty high for the 4A.. i dont go anywhere near those speeds in those gears even when the tranny shifts at 6,000 rpms

 

Those are theoretical on unloaded tires, I can go through some of my dynos and give you definitive numbers based on the tires I had at the time.

I vaguely remember 87-90MPH in 2nd (7100 RPM)

 

oh ok.. well i know from my experience in the 4A (first of all the tranny doesnt even let the engine go any higher than approx. 6200 rpms before it shifts, which i like) i cant go any faster than 35-40 in first gear, and 65-70 in second gear.. at the end of third gear i'm going so fast that i never really looked down at the speedomoeter cause i was foocused on not crashing.. lol

 

I manually shift mine when necessary (dyno, highway pass, etc) and have an extended rev limiter, so

 

I'm going up to pick up an 02 6 speed on monday wish me luck guys...

movin on up...

 

Good luck. Before closing the deal, ck. the oil dipstick. I'm sure u've read about the oil burning issue, and it won't hurt to pull the dipstick and see where the level is. Moot point really, because the seller may top it off, but thought I'd mention it.

Also, to confuse you more, my dipstick will read very low oil, and other times it will read normal given similar conditions.

Good luck, hope you get it, and enjoy!

 

thanx man... yeah, i read up on the oil burning issue... and the 3rd gear crunch... and the oil in spark plugs issue... but i still want it.. lol.. i would like to use synthetic oil, but i fear it may speed up the oil burning process.. maybe i could use a higher weight synthetic? like 10w30 or 40.. i dont know.. i'll read up and see if i can find something

 

Either it's going to burn oil, or it isn't. Simple as that. Changing the viscosity range or oil type wont change it. It's like putting a clear piece of tape as a bandage.

Good luck with the purchase, and post pics.

 

ok, i test drove a 6 speed last night... it was kinda hard! i was having trouble starting off and rumbling and all that stuff.. lol.. but i got it moving a couple times.. i tried that "releasing the clutch slowly" thing to get it rolling and it still stalled guess i did it wrong.. oh well.. i just need more practice.. my dad test drove it for me too and he said it shifts well.. now it's all about working out a deal for what i can afford factoring in my trade in