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My Shifting 101 lecture. Posted by ChuckD [Email] (#2127) [Profile/Gallery] (more from ChuckD) on Fri, 11 Mar 2005 07:13:39 In Reply to: Tips for a beginner?, BZF, Thu, 10 Mar 2005 15:00:01 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I guess since I'm a die-hard shifter, I should offer some advice as well.
First, congratulations and...WOW...156K on a 2001! That tells me it was probably driven on the highway alot and that the clutch is PROBABLY not too bad. But I could be wrong.
Anyway, my take is this: maybe you know this, maybe you don't, but the nature of a clutch is two spinning disks that meet face to face that you are seperating to change gears and that then come back together when you release the clutch pedal. They are usually either together and rotational forces are transferred from one to the other (when you're driving), or they're apart.
Your biggest concern is that moment when they are either making, or breaking contact. There's going to be some sliding between the faces. That's by design. The surfaces are made to slide and then grip each other. It's that surface you smell when someone is 'burning' up their clutch, or not allowing them to be either apart or together, but somewhere in between (riding the clutch).
So you need to minimize that moment when they're sliding as much as possible, as that's where the wear occurs, while still smoothly accelerating thru the gears. That's the balance.
(When I was much younger I had a job driving one of those "ambulettes" for getting wheelchair-bound folk to doctor's appointments and such. This meant a lot of senior citizen passengers. As the new guy I was given the oldest van in the fleet which also happened to be the only manual transmissioned one. So I got plenty of feedback on my driving and learned to be ree-aa-ll smooooth).
Personally I like the idea someone here put forth where you find a vacant parking lot. From a stop, in neutral, you push in (disengage) the clutch, put it in first, and slowly let the clutch out (engage) WITHOUT ANY ACCELERATOR. Just so you can start to get a feel for that transition from disengaged to engaged. Do it a bunch of times. At that low speed you're not likely to cause too much stress to the clutch and you'll be training yourself to feel the pedal.
After a bunch of times (OK, let's say 15) then start to work in applying the gas while your letting the clutch out. I didn't learn this way, wasn't aware of it, but this is how I'll teach my daughter when she's old enough, if there's still such a thing.
Good luck and be smooth!
C.
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