Just wondering if anyone shifts their 6mt 350z without using the clutch?

You always hear that if you rev match perfectly you wont need to use the clutch.
Or "I used to do that in my old civic"

So I was just curious if anyone has enough guts/skill that they frequently only need to use two pedals in the manual Z.


....Note I don't do it nor have I tried and I don't take any responsibility for damage that your Z may incour due to trying to shift without the clutch

 

Hehe I actually did used to do that in my 98 Civic.

But I think it is too tiresome to do it all the time, and I doubt you save much time in a drag to make it worth while...

but I have never dragged so I dunno..

 

It won't work in a drag, because you would have to let off the gas until the revs reached where they would be in the next gear...

 

Yes good point it does take time for the engine to rev down and match.... I am not sure that clutchless shifting is ever really a good thing...

I used to do it in traffic when I was too tired to use my left foot hehe.

 

While it's possible to do "clutchless shifting" in a street car (I could do it in my 2nd Gen. RX-7 TurboII with ease), it's not very practical because in most street cars, the RPMs just simply don't fall off fast enough to make getting into the next higher gear a rapid transition. You end up having to offload the transmission to get out of gear and then pause while the engine decelerates down to the appropriate RPMs for the next gear. With a standard engine/flywheel, that pause is way too long to be worthwhile.

I love the sound of many race cars because the RPMs of the engine seem to be strictly linked to the position of the gas pedal at any moment in time...no lag. It's a sound of beauty.

 

well, if you accelerate, right after you let go the accelerator you can pull it out of gear into neutral, there is a split second when you can stick it back in gear when you rev the car to around where the revs were sitting previously.

 

I do it all day long in my wife's civic. It's fun to know a vehicle that well

 

racecars still use the clutch. Just the drivers shift real fast.

unless its a doggbox like on te E36 M3 racecars. or sequential.

 

I read a good article on this in the back of Road and Track a few months ago. A guy wrote in with an S2000 wanting to know if clutchless shifting was (a) possible and (b) advisable. The article said that clutchless shifting in newer cars damages the synchros and can seriously mess up a transmission. Not sure if that is 100% accurate, just what I read.

 

I didn't realize you can shift out of gear without pressing down on the clutch?

 

Sure. The stick will slip right to neutral if you pull towards neutral right as you come off the gas (i.e. the engine is not pushing against the transmission or vice versa). Then if you pause until the RPMs drop 1500K-ish, you *could* slide the stick right into the next gear, just takes practice. It's fun to do it just so you know that it works, but there's really no point in doing it continuously.

 

Hrmmm, the only times I've been able to pop out of gear without the clutch in my Z is when I'm coasting down to a stop. At around 1000rpm (near idle), I can easily nudge the shifter toward neutral, and it slides rather than pops out. I can't see doing this at higher rpms. though. Although, on my dad's old '85 Corolla SR5, I was able to shift into neutral as long as I wasn't on the gas.

 

I can do it all day long in my 350. I can upshify, downshift, etc.. You just have to know your car. Usually in any gear if you are coasting in neutral, you can just blip the gas and pop it in gear... I do it when I am bored once in a while....

 

Thanks for the info. I know my car pretty well but I guess I am just not brave enough to even try it!

 

Actually, alot of racecar drivers don't use the clutch in road courses especially on high horsepower racecars. They do this to try to have the clutch last the whole race. Also, some drivers due left foot braking which is clutchless downshifting. On another note alot of racecars have electronic clutch engagement which allows the driver to due cluthless shifts.



Under full throttle acceleration, I just tap the throttle to get the gear out and then hold the throttle to about 75%. I then hold the gear shifter on the next gear's gate and wait until it gets sucked in. Then its back to 100% throttle. I have a video from inside my car from an AutoX and you can hear how fast I can due clutchless upshifts and downshifts. PM me if you want to see it.

 

at 155000 miles my neon tore a clutch out after that I felt it was absolutely necessary to not use the clutch anymore heh

 

Okay, so of course I tried it today. It's tough, but you can still pop the shifter out of gear above 1000rpm. It just doesn't slide as smoothly as at 1000rpm. Haven't tried letting a gear suck it in, though. Or at least, haven't had a success yet.

Question though: Isn't this bad for the cltuch?

 

If you're able to do it consistently, it's not bad for your car. Accurately rev-matching and clutchless shifting is essentially doing the job of the clutch and the synchros, so you'd actually be reducing wear to these components.

 

I see you've updated your sig. Awesome!!

 

I learned how to do clutchless shifting back in my VW days. (air cooled ones) It was necessary to learn how when the clutch cable broke on my '64 Bus. It doesn't hurt the transmission or clutch if done properly, as has been noted above. I'll take my 350 out of gear without the clutch, but haven't yet engaged a gear without the clutch, usually when coasting to a stop. Just apply light pressure to the gearshift and it slides out when the revs are matched.
rich
'04 350 ZR touring, 6MT, SS/BO