+1

 

it doesn't necessarily grind more, but it's more noticable. i hope that makes sense.

 

Don't clutch all the way down. The rpms cant drop too low or you're going to have a problem. Just clutch in between 25% to 50%. Shifting has to be fluent also. Start to move gear out as pressing in clutch and start releasing gear is going into position. Works for me. Becareful though, you dont want to grind the gear prematurely by doing it to quickly. Meaning, moving the gear out before clutching in. I hope I didnt confuse anyone.

 

I thought it was a general rule of thumb to always press the clutch down fully when shifting gears, no?

 

SnoDog, it depends. You want complete disengagement of the clutch when shifting. If you get complete disengagement by pressing halfway down, then you only need to press halfway down. It doesn't matter if you press the clutch down 100% so long as you shift fast enough and/or meet the next gear properly.

 

^^^Well yes, and it's always when starting out with the Z. But as you get more confident with your shifting. You can start doing it like I explained. Do one gear at a time until your comfortable doing it in every gear. I started half clutching in 4th since it was the easiest to get into. Then I tried with the rest of the gears. It works pretty good. Only problem I had was that when half clutching into 2nd when the car is cold, it's very stubborn getting in gear. You should take it easy if the car is still cold that way you don't mash it into gear. Here, I'll give you a link where Alberto explains the process of powershifting. I do everything except keeping the gas pedal down all the time while shifting. I haven't gotten that good, yet. Here's the link: https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....Power+Shifting

 

All I was saying is that a completely disengaged clutch is a completely disengaged clutch. How far you have to press the clutch down for you in your car can vary from car to car. The poster is not asking how to burn his clutch up powershifting, he's merely asking about shifting smoother. How far you press the clutch down does not affect smoothness considering you're already pressing it down far enough and engaging it properly.

 

Ok...First of all sorry, the arrows pointing upwards were directed towards snodog's question. You beat me to the post. Ok now I seriously did confuse you guys. I'm not saying to powershift. Hence, when I said I don't keep the gas pedal down the whole time I'm shifting. I basically got the idea of half clutching from this explanation Alberto gave me. You really don't need to clutch in all the way. It helps in the timing of catching the gears more quickly without too much time lapse. Rev-matching will be easier. Think of it as if you just lowered your clutch to get fast, cleaner shifts without really lowering your clutch to get that catch point quicker. And if you do it all in a fluent motion, (example: as your clutching in move into gear, not clutch in then move into gear), 2nd gear will not be as hard to get into. I find myself still at times shifting too slow because I wait too long to move it into gear as I'm clutching in, and it feels like a b*tch to get into gear.