Hello everyone, my name's Dawson & I am a brand new forum member and owner of a Daytona blue '03 350z! It took me a while to find one like this one, near mint condition and most importantly, unmolested. That's right, the previous two owners managed to keep this beauty stock for 12 years. No carbon fibre hood, no nothing! 12 years old at ~68,000km. This is my second car, previously owned a '01 Toyota Celica, though this is my first manual car. So far, only frustration with learning manual, but starting to get the hang of it.

Any tips or pointers for the new Z owner would be much appreciated!





Had to take one of these

 

Also any tips/pointers for a new manual driver would be even MORE appreciated (seems to be burning the clutch a lot because of the strong smell from the engine).

 

Congrats man & welcome. The Daytona blue is a good color. The MT is a must IMO.

 

Congrats and welcome! Nice, UNMOLESTED example!

S'far as the manual trans, just takes practice to get the coordination right. No worries, you'll be fine in a few days.

Mic

 

Welcome and congrats.
Daytona Blue is a great color, it looks like you have a Touring model, great choice.
Please keep it unmolested, i.e., don't do any of the things the owner of that Genesis(I'm assuming that's what it is) did to the z, your z looks 100x better than that Genesis stock.

 

Thanks everyone, I'm glad I went with the Daytona blue. I had initially only wanted black/white, but because everything else (be it condition or mileage) this was the obvious choice. Now the colour is definitely growing on me, not to mention I don't recall seeing the same colour Z at all where I live.

I'm just a bit worried as a clutch replacement is an expensive fix. I was told the weekend I bought and drove it, I had already taken 2-3 years of life span off the clutch.

May be a silly question, but how could you tell it was a touring model?

 

Awesome car! Such a unique color. Also, welcome to the forum!

The best thing you can do while learning manual is practice. I was in the same boat as you about 2 years ago, but you learn really quickly, in a few months it'll be a whole different world (and you'll laugh at the mistakes that you make now). You should try and avoid slipping/burning the clutch as much as possible because that will end up being costly to replace.

PS: To me the 350z is pretty hard to stall, so don't feel like you need to give it a lot of gas in order to start.

 

Thanks for the pointer, though easier said than done haha. I've been focusing on not burning the clutch but that just makes me stall at stop lights Hopefully I will get everything down soon cause "in a few months" I will probably need a new clutch if I continue this

 

Welcome to the forum OP!

The Z was my first manual car as well. I don't know what plans you have for it, but I would suggest finding an exhaust you like the sound of (if you can afford it) and install that. The Z isn't quiet by any means, but at a busy intersection or with cars behind you there tends to be "tunnel listening" meaning you can't hear your own car over the thoughts in your head!!!

I would also scoot your seat up to give your knees a 50-70 degree angle at the pedals (depending on your height). It won't be "comfortable" at first but it helps have your legs take the weight of feathering the clutch rather than your toes or foot. When I take the Z on a rare long journey, I scoot the seat all the way back for leg room. I can still drive like this, but it doesn't feel as controlled.

If ALL else fails, you can have the dealer or a tuner raise your idle a couple hundred rpms but this will cause your mileage to suffer (a tiny amount). I was going to do this since I didn't feel like I would EVER get it.... but I did. And now I prefer the touchy clutch of the Z to my huge engagement area of my Mazda 3 hatch.

Keep at it and as mentioned, don't over rev if at all possible. Watch the Tach as safely as possible and keep it at ~1k to take off in most cases!

Welcome to the Z world!!

 

Thanks for the heads up, been aiming for ~1.5k for taking off but always resorted to ~2k so I won't panic and stall. Already loving this forum with all these warming welcomes.

 

Give it time.... the forum has a way of crushing your hopes and dreams...... NOOOOOOOOBBBB!!!!

hahahaha!

I'll tell you like I told my fiancé when I was teaching her to drive our Mazda (5 speed) If you stall and the person behind you is 5 seconds late to work because of you, well whoopty doo. Stay out of your own head and don't worry about what the strangers around you are thinking.

 

Exactly what others have said..... forget about the person behind you.

You might try the technique of goosing or blipping the throttle while releasing the clutch. That's exactly what it sounds like, instead of pushing down and holding it at 1500-2000rpm, you blip the throttle up there (don't look at the tach, just go by feel) and let it fall to just above stalling to get 'er moving.

Once moving, don't read the tach, concentrate on the feel until you are at the point of needing to know how high the engine is revving.... like after heel-toe downshifting for a corner. That's next week's lesson. Hahaha.

 

Your wheels are the v1 Touring wheels, and it appears that you have power heated leather seats, those options came on Touring models.
I have an '04 Touring that I bought back in May of '04.

 

This is good advice. I think it's harder to do for beginners though (It was for me anyway) I use this technique pulling into the garage or backing into parking spots.

Another tip I used with my fiancé was go to a parking lot and SLOWLY let out the clutch until you feel the car start to shudder and IMMEDIATELY push the clutch back in to keep the car running. Do this 5 times or less and note the point of engagement of the clutch and your leg's position. Replicate that position slowly each time and only a millimeter of gas will be needed to get the car up and running.

 

I appreciate everyone's input and suggestions. Everyone I talk to tells me they had the same struggles with learning manual. I hope I'll get it all down in a couple of weeks, or else you'll see a thread "HELP NEEDED, HOW TO DRIVE MT?".

 

It was easy for me when I bought my first vehicle with an MT, I had a lot of experience with riding motorcycles, it's the same concept.

 

Rev it to 6k and dump the clutch.

Jk dont do that. Lol ive taught many to drive stick, and i tell them all the same thing. Its better to stall than to be a clutch rider.

Eventually youll get it. And once you do, you wont ever forget it. Practice, pracetice, practice. And then practice some more.

 

Congratz and welcome.

 

Nah, more like "ANYONE HERE EVER CONVERT A 6MT TO 5AT?"

 

You'll get the hang of it! I can definitely relate to the being really scared about stalling part.. and i live where there is quite a bit of hills and that is a whole different challenge when learning to drive MT lol.