alkamist

Hi guys! Couple of questions regarding the Z's 6sp manual...

1. Is it normal to hear kind of a brief clunky sound when disengaging the clutch at very low speeds? Say less than 5-10 mph? Definitely heard when crawling around in traffic from 1st to Neutral at low speeds and pulling into a parking spot at low speeds.

2. Has anyone had any luck coasting at very slow speeds in 1st gear, let's say mostly flat road, without the engine sounding like it's hesitating, and/or feeling like it's close to a stall?

I sometimes drive in traffic that crawls (or for example when everyone must stop at a stop sign), and I tend to leave some space in front of me so I don't have to constantly shift back from 1st to Neutral, then Neutral to 1st. But once the car reaches this very slow (coasting if you want to call it...a few mph) speed, and your foot is off the gas, but you're still in motion in 1st gear, the car sounds like it's putting along on the verge of a stall. If you feed it a little gas or a steady amount of gas, it's happy again.

I drove several BMWs, mostly 325 and 330s, and the tranny let's you idle right along in 1st without giving it gas, and without even a hint of stalling...Only when you come to a "complete" stop must you disengage the clutch (obviously).

Is this something where the transmissions are slightly different, so you can't adapt the same concepts that seem to work on the BMW? And/or is this just not good "practice" anyway, and I should just drop the subject? The way I see it, is that I can save my clutch from the wear and tear if I just leave it in 1st gear because the traffic is going at crawling speeds anyway.

3. What's the best way to downshift? Downshifts from 4th -> 3rd gear, and especially 3rd -> 2nd I'm still pretty rough at. Should I employ rev matching at all times? Can somebody explain this concept, with a step by step procedure as to how to do it correctly? Should I be letting up on the clutch fast or slow? When I "blip" the throttle, should I still be lightly on the throttle when letting up on the clutch, or just "blip" it, take my foot off the gas pedal, and then let up on the clutch?

I can make the downshift pretty smooth if I let the clutch out very slowly, but I'm told that can seriously decrease the life of the clutch. I'm trying to get away from the herky-jerky downshifts, and trying to perfect my technique.

Anyone? Please help. Thanks so much!

TJZ

i have trouble "crawling along" al low speeds when im only slight giving it gas. SAme thing when I disengage the clutch at low speeds.

About rev-matching, do it whenever possible. You can let off the clutch fast when you take it out of gear, blip throttle, clutch, shift, engage clutch (you *should* be able to take your foot off the clutch pretty fast if you do it right. if you do it wrong, you'll get jerkyness, if that is, in fact, a word).

Phydoux

To answer your question, it is not normal to get the clunky noise at low speed. Two weeks after I got my 6speed I was caught in a traffic jam in the mountains and had to drive at approximately 3 mph for half an hour. Other than taking some serious concentration, the Z did fine at walking speed.
You may want to have your dealer check into this.