I'm just learning to drive stick and doing quite well actually. My brother is coming over this Saturday to really give me the 101, but I want to gather as much information as possible to practice before he arrives; I have three questions...

1. When I try to get moving from a complete stop, my Z often luggs (bucks) or stalls (luckily only a few times so far). How can I improve this for a quick, yet smooth motion without burning the clutch and/or hurting the engine?

2. When I'm arriving at a stop sign (quick stop) and want to put the car back in 1st, as I'm approaching the stop, do I a) clutch in b) shift from gear to N to 1st and keep the clutch in while attempting to stop and only let it out when I'm ready to move again or should it be a) clutch in b) shift from gear to N c) clutch out d) stop e) cluth in f) shift to first g) clutch out to move?

3. When upshifting, often at times, my car luggs or bucks when transfering gears. What is the proper technique to upshift smoothly? I know I'm not doing it properly...

 

Your giving it too much gas while riding the clutch. The reason why it bucks is because your coming off the clutch too fast with throttle and rpm's being at about 4 or 5k.

When I come to a stop I put it in neutral, then when I begin to move I put it in 2nd, but thats just me. Some people I know down shift back in to 1st, but to me thats working to hard, lol. Have fun and dont burn your clutch up.

 

For the upshifts to be smooth, you need to rpms to match in the next gear. This will all come with time and experience.

 

When you jerk, its because your releasing the clutch to fast, as the posts above have mentioned. When I come to a complete stop, I put it into neutral, but at stop signs, I stop, and when i release the break, I'm still moving at about 3 mph or so, and I just put it back into 2nd.

When your shifting gears, you tend to jerk because you don't rev match. Just release the clutch slowly.

 

First off what year is your car. If it is an 06 it took me a while to get use to the rev up motor as well, and I have been driving manuals for ever.

1. Me personally when I start off pretty slowly so it does not really buck but to go smoothly I just start to release the clutch in first around 3k rpm and then it is just playing the game between the clutch and the gas. That is the part that takes getting use to.

2. I go with option 1 unless I am using the engine to slow me down. Other than that it is clutch in go to 1st then stop. Light green off clutch then go.

3. As for this like I said before if you have the rev up it seems to me to take longer for the rpm gauge to drop so you just have to take your time and shift slowly. Clutch all the way in shift ease off.

edit: after writing all that I realized that your sig says 03 but oh well you still might find this useful..

 

Doesn't it burn the clutch if you let it go at 3k rpm? Or maybe my understanding of 'burning the clutch' isn't correct. Can someone please explain? I've been afraid to work my clutch with anything past 1250 rpm (my engine idles at 750 rpm)...

 

I never let out the clutch at anything over 2000 rpm under normal circumstances and even that's pushing it. 1250 or 1500 is acceptable.
I think you just need to practice letting the clutch out slower. It's different on every car and it just takes some getting used to.

Also i would NOT start from second from a stop as someone suggested. This is a good way to wear out your clutch prematurely. Now on the other hand if you're still rolling, at 5mph 2nd is fine, just dont try to go from a stop.

As for your two options. If i'm hearing you correctly, you're wondering weather to let the clutch out when you're in nuetral at a complete stop. The answer is it doesn't matter you should be fine either way.

You'll get the hang of it before you know it, and once you get good you can start rev matching on your downshifts, manual transmission cars are a lot of fun.

 

hi, welcome to the stick shifting world =]

well... my best advice is to learn the clutch and all of it's properties.

the best way to start out learning is... learn to accelerate from 0mph using ONLY the clutch. keep practicing this until u feel the engagement point. after u have successfully learnt to start moving using only the clutch. try accelerating a bit faster (by letting go of the clutch faster.. slowly, but faster).

if u keep letting go of the clutch faster and faster... there comes a point where u see lights starting to blink in front of u and is ready to die. that's the point where u want to accelerate. how fast ur accelerating will depends on ur clutch full off + throttle in game.

some1 said above that he revs to 3000rpm before he let go of the clutch... dont listen to him lol.... if u turn off TCS... dropping the clutch at 3000rpm will spin ur tire... but ur not drag racing. u dont even need to rev anything above idle to launch. perfect smooth start is when u push in the throttle at engagement point (1/2 a second after the clutch tap the engagment point, u push in throttle).... and u let go off ur clutch all the way slowly....

the perfect smooth start.... is hard to accomplish quickly... it is all about timing.

the hardest practice to do... that even i cant do properly 100% is ...

going on a hill... let go off ur brake... and stay at 0mph (not sliding backwards)... and engine not stalling. the rpm should be idle too. the thing keeping u up is ur throttle... and that depends on the incline of the hill.

oh and riding ur clutch is like having two sand paper rubbing each other. if u rev 3+rpm and u are going 0-5mph in 10sec.... then ya... u are riding the clutch.... u will smell it too =]

the cool thing about manual is... there's alot of ways to drive... 1 - 3 - 5 shifting... starting from 2nd gear... power shifting.... blah blah blah.... there's no wrong way to do it... yea some ways u wear the clutch out faster... but well... iono u feel what u want to do when u drive. i like starting in 1st gear rather than 2nd though.... 2nd gear feels too weak + too much throttle. it takes more effort to push the door when u are near the hinges than at the door ****.... that's the concept of torque =]

hope this guide helps... ive taught alot of people to drive my car already... chick finds it sexy

 

Oh, so you guys go into 2nd gear directly? I didn't know you could do that.

I always look like an *** hole cause I go straight into first gear and immediately rev high, going only about 20mph.

 

Dont over analize and make rocket science out of driving a stick. Practice and have fun. Dont start in second,start in first. Dont skip gears up or down cuz-----Why bother ?
If, as time goes on, and ur doin a 100 and u come up on a 90 degree turn, then u need to start thinking about skipping on a down shift. Get ur Motor Skills honed, and get to the point that shifting is done by the feel in the seat of ur pants rather than worrying ur Tach to death. Dont get snowed under by too many opinions, most are just the Fad for the day.
Transmissions have changed little in the last 60 yrs and I believe most trans "problems" are caused by poor shifting habits not poor transmissions.

Good Luck

 

After you learn to upshift smoothly, then start learning "when" to downshift. Just make sure you pay attention to the tach & don't mis-shift. Otherwise, you'll need a new motor . . .

 

What helps is to learn how the actual mechanics work.

Think about a bike and bike gears...It's really the same thing: Smaller gears allow for faster pedaling, but eventually they reach their limit and you must upshift to a larger gear, so on...

Larger gears have more power but are harder to "pedal" with.

 

Practice practice practice, it is not a thinking activity, it is a feeling thing.

Figuring out the clutch:
In an empty parking lot, brakes off, in 1st, start letting out the clutch slowly, try and feel where it starts to move the car. Don't press the gas, just let it out slow and the car will start moving at about 5 mph. Push it back in, stop the car and do it again. The clutch is a mechanical device that will always release at the same point (unless you adjust it). Once your left foot knows when things are going to happen, include your right foot.

Over time you will find that once you know the feel of it, you can drive the car at a wide verity of speeds in a wide verity of gears, especially with the Zs torque. Actually, you will have it nailed when you don't think of it at all, you just do it.

Chris

 

Practice makes Perfect. You seem like you have the right idea. Just keep practicingg and the next thing you know you'll go to push a non existent clutch when you start up or drive someone's Auto.

 

That is soooooo true.

 

I'm always reaching for that non-existent 6MT shifter on the G loaner. lol

 

Starting in second is NOT a good idea. First gear is there for a reason.

 

More throttle and/or slower clutch release. It bucks because you're letting the clutch out too fast and not supplying enough throttle. Stalling and bucking is not good for your engine either.

For a "quick stop", your second description is much better. As you approach the stop sign, push the clutch in, select neutral, then release the clutch. As you're finishing off the stop(a second or two before you're completely stopped) push the clutch back in and hold it, then select first when you're stopped.

You need not do anything more than shift to the next gear and release the clutch. It's all about timing. One of the two main problems people have is not allowing the RPM to drop enough, so when they release the clutch they get a surge/jolt forward. The second problem is waiting too long or shifting too slow, so when they finally release the clutch the engine has to be "pulled" back up to speed - it's as if you hit the brakes.

As a general rule of thumb, the lower RPM you shift at, the quicker you need to be because there is a smaller margin in RPM from one gear to the next.... and the higher RPM you shift at... the longer you need wait for the RPM to drop sufficiently.

I hope I have answered your questions and you find this post helpful.

 

^^ +1 on all them posts.

basically if you want smooth, it all comes down to the clutch.

learn how much travel it takes for the clutch to bite. and practice it w/ and w/out gas launching.

when it comes to bucking when you shift. you are not making a smooth transition when you shift which goes back to the clutch if you ease off the clutch smoothly the shift will be smooth. there's a certain "sweet spot" in the clutches travel where the shifting is smooth. it doesn't really necessarily mean letting the clutch go slowly but it's more about learning the "sweet spot".

 

Thanks for the advice so far guys; all this input has helped me quite a bit!