I am finally getting some time to practice and drive my new/used 5 speed...

I am running into circumstances that i haven't really been in when driving 5 speeds before, which was very limited practice.


1) What are the best/smoothest shifting points on the 4th gen? What speed?

2) What RPMs do you guys keep it at to make the shift as smooth as possible? No matter what, 1st to 2nd seems to bog at least a little bit.. i can't get it perfect.

3) Do you let your foot completely off the clutch once you are fully engaged in gear or you still keep it on a little bit? Is it bad to keep your foot a little bit on it?

4) How bad is it for the car to start in second?

5) Any reccomendations on how to get used to this notchy shifter? I guess it will come with more practice, because I've only driven about 20 miles around the city on this car so far.. but the shifter is a bit notchy and it might be the way i'm holding it, but at times i find myself searching for 3rd and 5th... can't just pop it right in.. but this happens maybe 15% of the time and when i'm shifting quick..

 

What up NyCe?

3)After your fully engaged in gear, take your foot off the clutch completely! Keeping on the clutch is known as "riding the clutch" and is often done by the elderly. This will wear down your clutch alot faster and is pointless!

4)I don't think it's bad at all, why would it be? You just have to engage the clutch real slow so the car won't conk out. When people go around turns and go really slow and i'm in second, I'll be goin like 5mph, but am too lazy to down shift, so I just ride the clutch and baby the gas until I get back up to speed at which point I engage again. (letting off clutch)

5)Pacesetter STS. Although this will make your throws significantly stiffer and a little louder, (more mechanical ruckus), it will make them MUCH shorter. This might make it easier for you to find each gear. I say pacesetter becuase it is the only STS that allows you to adjust throws AS WELL as the stick height, which we all know looks sporty and tight


Good luck..

 

When having problems finding the right gear, use the "palm-grip" method.

Grip the shifter from 1-2. Push it up with the bottom of your palm from 2-3, grip again 3-4 and palm up/right 4-5.

It's not as simple as i make it out to be, but you'll figure it out

 

Thanks for the flava in my ear,
Yeah, the riding the clutch thing is bad.. I meant like, keep your foot on the clutch at the very tip, without it being engaged much or at all.. but it's not very comfortable to do that.. I noticed my father does that.. he lets it out but his foot is still there.. I guess it depends how you like to drive


About the Short Throw Shifter..

What is the other brand?
Pacesetter is one, and there was another brand for the max? what is that? I remember 190hpKilla had some fitment problems with the ball being too large or something...

Also, the STS puts more stress on the tranny right?
My car does have 115k miles after all... would like to make it last another 115k

 

The other brands are Stillen and OBX. Stillen's is good, but it doesn't adjust stick height. OBX just plain blows. 190HPkilla said that, but then Dave B told him what to do to fix it and he did. It was 190HP's fault (wrong installation).

The STS doesn't put any more stress on the tranny at all, but I think it puts more force on the synchros (or however its spelled)..I don't think it does any harm, it just results in stiffer shifts. It will not harm your tranny in anyway, that I AM sure of.

 

ok

redline every gear thats what i do

thats normal.. the maxima is a little wierd.. it takes some getting use to.. you can't really plan for that.. you will just get use to it..

keep on it for a little bit till i get going..

not bad at all..

short throw shifter..

 

I usually find that 2500rpm is a smooth shift spot, if im feeling conservative.

By the way, an STS will make your shifts alot more "notchy".

 

A short throw shifter will put less force on the synchros, not more, for the simple reason that you are using a shorter lever. This is what makes the shifts seem stiffer, too - less mechanical advantage for the sake of shorter throws.

 

the easiest thing to do to keep it smooth is to disengage the clutch slower when shifting from 1st to 2nd. another way is to let the rpm's drop about 1000 rmp's, then let the clutch out. i've got a 2k1 and the difference when shifting at around 3k rpm's from 1st to 2nd is about 1k (meaning the clutch engages at 2k in 2nd). each gear will be different. best thing to do is practice...

 

Learn how to rev match and double clutch during your shifts, that's the right way to smooth shifting.

 

rev match and double cluth..... clarification please

 

Thanks for the feedback all
Pacesetter STS is in my future.
Will probably order it monday

Other than that, I'm loving the manual
I drove the 98 auto to get an inspection done today and that thing felt like a dog..

I can't keep myself from going slower than 50, it's just asking for more

 

 

Example:
Decelerating from 3rd gear
Clutch in >Neutral >Clutch out >Rev to RPM that 2nd will be at given speed >Clutch in >2nd gear >Clutch out.

 

thanks
i'm going to try

downshifting doesn't come that natural to me yet, i usually drop it in neutral then give it some gas and throw it into the lower gear slowly..

 

how many times did u stall it

 

Today at my repair shop
my dads friend left an old 88 stick shift accord there for a tune up so I figured I'd give it a shot and try to drive it around the block. This was my first time attempting to drive a manual so I figured it couldn't be that complicated....
Wow I must of stalled out atleast 9 times, over revved it about 8 times. and didn't hit the brake and clutch to stop about 4 times.
can't wait to do it agian

 

Sounds like it got one helluva tune up! :grin:

 

so far... around a 15.
twice today.

Most of that came on hills.. i hate my neighborhood..

 

how many miles did u drive ??

 

A few days before I turned 16 my dad bought my first vehicle for me... an 85 Chevy S-10 with a 1.9L 4cyl, 4spd. It only took me two days to learn how to drive it, and I haven't owned an automatic since. However, I used to leave my foot just barely resting on the clutch with that truck, and $700 later I learned my lesson.

 

What is double clutching? I thought that was a made up term on fast and the furious

 

 

Double Clutching 101

 

thats retarded... why dont you use some skill and do it in one motion. when my left foot is depressing the clutch my right one is already steadying the accelerator to match the rpm speed that second gear will be at when engaged. then when i have shifted and start releasing the clutch i give a little more gas to keep it at that rpm. theres no need to press the clutch twice, that just a waste of time. double clutching is not used on cars any more, only the old ones with no synchros in the tranny.

 

Sorta.

Double clutching will reduce the load on the synchros.

But double clutching and shifting quickly is a bit of work. For daily driving I don't bother.

 

Because giving gas while the clutch is engaging is not good for it. Goto howstuffworks and read about what's going on inside the transmission. I'm not trying to bash how you drive or anything, but from your description it doesn't sound good.

 

Ill tell you tomorow when to shift.

 

I thought that the reasoning on the STS wearing down the synchros was that with the shifts being so short, the synchros didn't have time to fully spin up and match properly? I've heard a number of STS drivers complaining about grinding, but you never know if it's the driver or the synchros...

Well...for the sake of just quickly upshifting or downshifting, I agree that double-clutching is 'retarded'. But I do double-clutch in certain instances....for example, when I think I'm coming to a complete stop in the distance ahead, I'll drop to neutral and wear my brakes. Sometimes things change and a complete stop wont be necessary...so I'll in essence do a drawn-out double-clutch. Heck, sometimes I'll do this if I know I'll need to accelerate up ahead anyway...depends on the speed I need to drop to for the turn, etc.

Before anyone reams me about how much cheaper brake pads are than a clutch, let me say that I plan on replacing my clutch within the next year anyway. And yes, brake pads are cheap, so wearing them a bit isn't the biggest concern. Really, I shift like that out of laziness - I'd rather drop to N than perfectly feather the gas to stay nice and smooth as the RPMs dip *real* low - ie on the turns where I'll be almost slowing to a stop.


NYCe - patience, danielsan.

 

Double clutching may be 'retarded' on a car with syncros because it isnt neccessary. But, if you're driving hard (to redline) then it is alot healthier for the transmission to do so. And double-clutching/downshifting should technically only be used if you're taking a tight corner and need the lower gear to have a good rpm while accelerating out, rather than to slow down...thats why you have brakes.

 

I definitely agree in almost all cases (I'm not a big engine-break-your-way-to-a-stop-by-downshifting fan). My point was, there's turns I'll make where even if I'm in 2nd gear, I'll be going slow enough 50ft before the turn and into it that the RPMs will dip enough to stumble the car without proper feathering of the gas pedal. I don't want to downshift into first, because it's definitely not necessary. Best solution would be to feather the gas right, but if you feather it a tad too much, you'll jerk acceleration-wise. If you hit a bump on the way, your feathering could get disturbed. How do I escape all this "if"-ness? Drop to neutral before the 50ft. Definitely variable depending on incline, situation, road, etc, but....

Of course, I drive like a grandma compared to all you guys, so you probably never even get to a low-enough speed before your ripping turns to where the engine will stumble


Double-clutching would technically be better at redline/in hard-driving scenarios, but the chance of fumbling up the double-clutch, something that 95% of drivers would have these days, would make for just as bad, if not possibly worse scenario than scratching on a fast upshift. Just my take. (I could see someone trying to double-clutch because they saw someone on a forum say it was better to do that on redline shifts, messing things up, and not only scratching gears, but bouncing it off the rev-limiter in a state of confusion).

 

"....granny shifting, not double clutching like you're supposed to..." (f&f) I can't believe those morons. You don't double clutch in a 1/4 mile!! Double clutching is really only for older cars without synchros, as was previously stated, and track racing. Also, it's only really effective for down-shifting. Drivers used to do this a lot in racing, however, I don't know how common it is in professional racing anymore(electronics usually eliminate the need). Hehe, no wonder it took those fools 5min to do the 1/4mi.

I've been practicing my manual skills on my friend's '91 240sx. I have to say, those 240sx hatchbacks sure are great cars! 155hp and 160lb/ft torque in a 2600lb car pulls really nice. Hopefully I will be able to do the 5spd swap in the next few weeks.

On another note, engine braking is cool! Especially if you have a Porsche, Ferrari, or other mean sounding car. Just have to be careful not to overdo it.

 

If anybody decides to buy a Pacesetter STS, Alex(MAX8MYCASH) has them for the best price I could find. He's a very good guy to deal with.

Later.

 

ya, driving a Porsche is like bella donna. It's like when you're behind the wheel you'd be willing to give up anything to keep that car!

I like shifting at 3000 and my biggest tip would be DO NOT depress the clutch when at a stoplight. Keep her in N and put her in 1st when the light changes. I noticed that 2 of my female friends do that (not saying females necessarily do that) but they get touchy if I criticize them. I've emailed them about it and got sneid replies!hehe

 

My friend does the same thing. He drove my car once and when he did it, I yelled at him.

 

actually i keep it in N at the light but i must ask why is it bad to hold the clutch down while waiting?

 

Much more wear and tear on the clutch.

 

Specifically to the throw out bearing.

I'm somewhat sure that the write up on clutches at How Things Work talks about this.

 

I don't think the write-up does. It mentions the characteristics of a bad throwout bearing (and they described it as 'rumbling when the clutch engages' - exactly what occurs in my car, mostly when it's warmed up or extremely hot/cold outside).

I always thought the only consequence of holding the clutch in at a light was wearing the throwout bearing. Well, as long as you're not slipping to hold on a hill instead of using your brakes. I had a talk about DBM with this on a thread once, and I believe the bearing was the only negative consequence he cited.

If you think that's bad, my mom likes to hold the clutch in from like, WAY before she has to make a stop/turn. It pains me to see it happen

 

One of my co-workers said it's bad to put it in N while your coasting to a stop. Is it better to slow down press the clutch in, stop, then put it in N, or can you just put it in N say 1/3 of a block down and coast to a stop?