Do's and don'ts of manual transmissions.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

There is a difference between resting your hand on the shifter and forcing your weight into the shifter.  I'll often hold the shifter to keep it in a neutral position instead of rattling.

Pet peeve: You do not wear the synchros from holding the shifter.  The synchro is just along for the ride once the shift collar is splined onto the gear.  What you potentially wear is the shift fork.

Another peeve: You do not wear the clutch from downshifting to slow down.  If you do, you have extremely bad technique: you are supposed to re-engage the clutch, not let the engine idle down and then slip the clutch to slow the car down.

Otherwise, how much power does it take to spin the engine under deceleration, maybe 5-10hp?  How is that different from the previous fifty miles when you were putting 25hp through the clutch to maintain speed?

I can't remember which year Vette, but GM had a bulletin about not putting pressure on the lever as it wears the syncro.

The brass cone syncros on Datsuns don't like it either. 

You be surprised how many people practically dump the clutch on downshifts............and yes it is bad technique.

rustomatic said:

When you get to the point where you can take off without touching the gas pedal

I'll take "things that are actually bad for clutch wear" for $200, Alex.

I mean yeah most cars will do that and it's probably a good tool for initial teaching. But it also usually takes a bunch of clutch slipping to actually do. The only vehicle I've ever driven that was genuinely happy being driven that way was a diesel truck.

What kind of manual are we talking here?

I daily a manual diesel truck and I drive it completely different than I did my manual trans G35, which I drove different than my 95 Civic. And I drive all of them differently than I would a semi or a manual trans crane. 

In reply to birdmayne :

Great points. 

This thread makes me miss having a manual as a dd

dps214 said:

rustomatic said:

When you get to the point where you can take off without touching the gas pedal

I'll take "things that are actually bad for clutch wear" for $200, Alex.

I mean yeah most cars will do that and it's probably a good tool for initial teaching. But it also usually takes a bunch of clutch slipping to actually do. The only vehicle I've ever driven that was genuinely happy being driven that way was a diesel truck.

350 TPIs don't mind it. I bet big blocks like it too.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Tom1200 said:

Pretty straightforward:

Don't hold the clutch in at lights (wears out the throw out bearing)

I was also told that holding the clutch in places unnecessary wear on the crank thrust bearing. Not sure if true, haven't really pondered it.

I mean, maybe?  One could just as easily argue that shifting into neutral and back into the same gear places unnecessary wear on the synchros.  Both are kind of down in the weeds and not something I'd worry about unless I had a car where I knew it was a weak point.

I agree with not resting your hand on the shifter, but I'm less concerned about wear on the mechanical bits.  Keep it on the wheel because that's where you need it to control the car. :)

 

Two hands on the wheel and my rx8 might not have penetrated a house under my friends "control" I was an observer from the right side. I believe that we probably would have broken a wheel or hub with two hands on the steering wheel he had foot on the clutch 

Hand brake on hills. If you have hills that handbrake will add 50k to your clutch. I learned the expensive way. 

Two hands on the steering wheel would have added 100,000 miles to my clutch

Drive it and see what feels right. Cutches only wear when you use them, modern clutches last damn near forever if not abused.

The more torque a car has, the sooner you can shift. For "normal" driving i shift 4 cyl at 2700, 6 at 2400 and 8 at 2200 until i get a feel for what the car likes.

The first time you ever drive your sister's VW bug, don't get stuck on a steep hill behind a red light and take 30 feet and 4 tries to get going and not stall it out and making 5 cars behind you back up half a block.

Do not monkey fist the shifter!  Put your palm on the knob and grip it gently.  Allow the transmission to tell you when it's ready to go in gear.  Feel it!  Use the force, but not brute force,  Smooth is fast!  Smooth is good!  
 

If you are missing the 2-3 shift your shifter is toast (mechanically worn out) or you are using too much force!  Do not monkey fist.  
 

A Miata has the best and fastest shifter.  Gearboxes with a shifter mounted into the trans are close with aftermarket shifters but not the best.  Cable operated shifters are not as good even when they are really good. My Civic Si is really good but still cable op.  It's slower, be patient feel the smooth!  My 986 and 996 P cars were a bit worse than the Civic.  The AW11 MR2 is even more vague and the PO rebuilt the entire shifter recently!  
 

What are you rowing?  
 

And I prefer round knobs.  Figure out what you like!  Anyone using a pistol grip is monkey fisting and will suffer accordingly.  It's a shifter, not a workout for you arms.

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:

Drive it and see what feels right. Cutches only wear when you use them, modern clutches last damn near forever if not abused.

The more torque a car has, the sooner you can shift. For "normal" driving i shift 4 cyl at 2700, 6 at 2400 and 8 at 2200 until i get a feel for what the car likes.

So you're that guy that takes 3/8 of mile to get up to the 45 mph speed limit? 

My first car was equipped with visual aids to inform the driver when to shift. (note the red hash marks)

We should censor this thread!  I think it is great that most people don't know how to drive a manual box today - it eliminates a whole (mostly young) segment of would be car thieves.

(I only have one car with an auto, and all the rest are manual.  If they had made a Mk 3 Jensen Interceptor with a manual I'd have bought one and would have been all manual)

All of these are good suggestions.  If you have mechanical sympathy, just listen to the car and do what it wants.  If it isn't herkin, jerkin, wheezin, or grinding, then you're fine. 

Riding the clutch pedal at a stoplight does wear the throwout bearing and thrust bearings, which is counterintuitve because you don't get audible feedback.  

Lugging is bad for older cars, especially aircooled cars that don't want to be in modern stop and go traffic anyway, and they're reliant on RPMs for the engine fan.  Modern cars are fine just about anywhere between idle and redline.

Don't believe it when someone tells you that you can't shift your trans into reverse while going forward at speed. My nephew heard this and tried it in the Ford Ranger PU I had sold to him.  He had to replace the trans.

I shift with a slight pause in neutral before shifting up into the next gear. It gives everything a chance to spin at the same speed, and the clutch wouldn't actually be needed if you've got the timing right. (To be clear, I use the clutch.) In other words, I try to preserve the synchros by barely using them.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Tom1200 said:

Pretty straightforward:

Don't hold the clutch in at lights (wears out the throw out bearing)

I was also told that holding the clutch in places unnecessary wear on the crank thrust bearing. Not sure if true, haven't really pondered it.

Absolutely true. Much more true the stronger the pressure plate and the more fragile the crankshaft. 

Shift always with the lightest touch the car will accept. You can shift my  Volvo 240 with your finger tips, one of it's most endearing features, and almost with the X1/9. Don't try it with an old Moss box Jag, but still that notorious old crock will work fine with "firm but gentle".

jimbbski said:

Don't believe it when someone tells you that you can't shift your trans into reverse while going forward at speed. My nephew heard this and tried it in the Ford Ranger PU I had sold to him.  He had to replace the trans.

Funny enough because of how the gears work, you can shift into reverse while moving forward (like any low gear but there's no synchro), but if you try to go into reverse while moving backwards even slightly you'll get a horrendous grind from the input and output sides moving in opposite directions. You're actually more likely to destroy the engine than the trans if you do pull off a shift to reverse while moving forward at speed though. If you lock up all 4 wheels while shifting, you can switch between forward and reverse at any speed - this can be handy in some offroad and stunt driving situations.

There was a Mythbusters episode where they tested putting a manual car into reverse at speed but they just got severe gear grinds (likely due to the extreme speed mismatch more than anything else).

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Not all cars have crashbox Reverse (where you physically slide a gear into mesh).

Speaking from what I am familiar with, Mazda smoothcases have both unsynchronized and synchronized Reverse.  The non synchro units have constant mesh gears and a shift collar but no synchronizer or cone on the gear for one to grab.  I know first generation RX-7 are non synchro and second generation are synchro.  Not sure what pickups had, Miatas for sure are synchronized.  The only difference is the presence of the synchronizer and if the gear has the cone machined on it or not.

I witnessed a certain rallycrosser get Reverse when he meant to get 1st while downshifting into a downhill corner at speed, with a crashbox style Reverse.  Just about stood his Golf on the front bumper  (Friggin VW 020 shifter...)  For about a season his car made a clank with every revolution when backing up, but everything survived, at least as much as things normally survive with ZB.

I just shove the lever wherever I want it to be.  If the synchros not up for it, shove it harder.

Rowing a '18 Miata.

Thanks for all the tips, guys.  Some I had forgotten, some I genuinely hadn't heard before 

Don't: Feel the need to ride the clutch in heavy traffic in order to keep up with the car ahead of you, even if the car behind you is impatient and tailgating.