So it's been 3 days since I bought the Z..
I'm relatively new at driving stick, and still getting used to the car.
Normal driving is now almost flawless, however I still haven't faced
dead traffic jam on uphill
I would appreciate all stick masters if you can give me a helpful tips
on driving uphill~
I know of the ebrake method, but then I also want to learn it the proper way~
I just practiced at a pretty steep hill on an empty parking lot, and I must say
I suck @$$ =(
Once I let go of the break the car starts rolling back, that's when I start to panic.
I must've stalled a million times within that 10 minutes of practice..lol
What i've resorted to was to press the break and gas at the same time with my right leg, and when I let go of the clutch, I let go of the break and press gas at the same time (what's that technique called when you put your foot horizontal to press both break and gas..err..)

All you stick masters, please tell me how to do it effectively, and safely

 

Before you release the brake release the clutch a little untill you notice the clutch to grab and the rpms to drop a little then release the brake and give it gas and more clutch, thats how I do it, it just takes practice.

 

I would just keep practicing. I hate it when jerkoffs pull up to within 2 ft of your rear bumper on a steep hill..some people just do not think/don't care.

Once you have driven the car for a while, you will get the feel of where the clutch will begin to engage. You will then be able to move your foot off of the brake directly only to the gas, while at the same time pulling your left foot off the clutch. The gas you give it will keep you from stalling as the clutch engages and moves you forward without rolling backwards.

In my old 300z, I was able to stay still on a steep uphill by just using the clutch and gas and no brakes (DO NOT DO THIS AS YOU CAN DAMAGE THE CLUTCH)... but I was also alot younger and stupid.

Edit: What Ferret says is what you are essentially doing.

 

Bottom line is practice.

I keep my feet on the brake & clutch until traffic starts moving. Then I move my right foot from brake to gas. At the same time I release the clutch I give it a little "extra" gas. This causes abit of clutch slip but eventually you get the timming down.

 

you can either stay on brake while on neutral... then when its green... Clutch, First Gear then let off the brake... and gas

or

i play with the gas/Brake/Clutch while on first gear until it turns green

 

Hey thanks for your tips guys=)
Reversing on the slanted surface is basically same concept too right?
I tend to let go of the break first, and THEN engage clutch and gas..
I gotta fix this bad habbit..sigh

Also, when using ebrake method, what if the traffic is moving REAL slow?
Is it ok for me to leave the ebrak up as long as the car moves slowly?
Or would that ruin my car? I just can't see myself pulling ebrake up and down
10 times just to advance 10ft in slowing moving traffice.

 

Hey Z-INCOGNITO, I love your wheels btw.
How much did those Super Rozzas cost? And where would be the cheapest place to get it?
I'm looking to change to those in the next coupla months.

 

E-brake is easiest...

Just put yourself in 1st gear
Pull e-brake up
Hold the button in with your thumb
Get to about 3000rpm
Start slipping the clutch and you will feel the car move forward.

As soon as it moves forward, you are good to go, drop that e-brake.

Sometimes when people are coming up behind me at a red light on a hill, I roll back a little bit before they get behind me, to "let them know" I'm driving stick. It usually works, and I don't need the e-brake.

If you're doing it without the e-brake, it's usually easy enough just VERY QUICKLY take your foot off the brake, hit the gas to about 3500 rpm and let that clutch out quickly. Without e-brake, it's all about the quickness of your feet.

 

Basically what everyone else is saying...

Start disengaging the clutch while still on the brake. Then as the RPMs start to drop, release the brake and give it a little gas... I normally give it a little extra just to make sure I don't stall.

Plus, in stop-n-go traffice, I let the traffic start-n-stop a couple of car-lengths first to cut my starts in half.

 

Reverse is the easiest gear ever... it's practically impossible to stall in reverse IMO. On a steep slope, just use the e-brake... it will make parallel parking on a hill much easier.

Did you notice you can move the car without using the gas pedal, just by letting the clutch out while idling (on a flat surface)?

 

Reversing on a slanted surgace is in theory the same but its a bigger pain in the *** as you need to make sure you dont hit anybody going backwards and that you have enough movement that you dont roll into the people in front of you.

And slow traffic is a pain, slow traffic uphill is a bigger one.
Dont leave the e-brake on.

 

I learned to drive stick on my 6MT. I couldn't do the e-brake method. For newbie in rush hour, there is too much going on to worry about. So I used to just feather the clutch like crazy till I got good at it.

 

Thanks... I got em used so im not sure what the cheapest new set with tires cost... a few people who did order them shipped were in the range of $3100 - $3400 try 350zonline.com (since their using my picture to sell em )

Good Luck

 

first of all, i try to drive in a way that avoids me finding myself on small hills. i try to leave enough of a gap between me and the car in front such that i can position myself at the foot of a hill if possible. sometimes thats not possible though.

either way, the key thing is to practice.
after that just remember not to panic, itll make things worse.
you can read what everyone else says.. and try it ..but in the end do whatever feels most comfortable to you. just remember that the goal is to Minimize slipping the clutch.
in the beggining however, thats unavoidable... in the mean time you should be out there practicing. get on the hill. stop. go up 3 ft.. stop.. up another 3.. stop. let it roll back a little and try to catch it. do stuff like that. prepare yourself for whatever might happen. practice restarting from a stall on a hill (turn the car off while rolling back). of course make sure its practice! dont do this kinda thing on roads where there are other cars.

anyway eventually itll become second nature. good luck and have fun!

 

Like everyone says practice. I have never owned an automatic in my life since I was 17.

Just find a hill and practice letting off the brake giving it a little gas and letting the clutch out at the same rate. Before you know it you will be able to mess with people on hills that get too close to your bumper You will be able to roll back just far enough before hitting them and go back up again... that is when you know you have mastered it

 

Oops, I meant reversing when the car's facing DOWN the slanted hill hehe.

 

Also, what is rev-matching and how do you do that?

 

You can let go of the brake and then engage the clutch and gas. That's what I do. You just have to be quick enough to catch it. Once you get comfortable with it you'll be able to do it without chirping the tires or slipping the clutch. It just takes practice.

 

Rev matching is a way to save your sychros. If you shift from 4th down into 3rd and just pop out the clutch it takes a second to bring the rev's up to match the engine. The synchros are what's responsible for that. To save your synchros learn to rev match or basically tap the gas to bring it up to the RPMs that it will be at in the new gear. For example, if you are at about 3K RPMs in 4th and you want to shift down to 3rd, bring it up to about 4K or so (I don't know the actual RPM's because I just do it by feel and instinct now) but something like that to match up with the RPM's the engine wants to be at in 3rd.

 

is rev matching absolutely necesary ? i thought it was a racing techniuqe