Follow Up Question To my Noob Shifting Thread

[EdwinDrn]

Given this is my first manual car, I am still wondering if I am doing this right...In short I want to know if I am 'slipping the clutch'.. I seem to pull out of first, I rev the engine until about 2500 RPM, but I feel like its pulling out soo slow. Its almost like I am holding the car back by keeping my foot on the clutch too long?

I know that by no means is this car fast.. But I feel like everyone in traffic seems to pull out way out ahead of me.

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[Aguirre129]

So when you press the clutch in to shift to second gear you rev the engine to 2500 RPM and then start letting the clutch out? Or do you rev to 2500 RPM in first gear and then shift to second? If it is the first then you might be causing excessive wear on the clutch, not much but enough if you're doing it repeatedly. If it is the second one, my only advice, meaning no disrespect, is don't be a wuss lol. I too learned stick by buying an si about 5 years ago and trust me it gets better. Don't be scared to rev the engine to 3000-3500 and then shifting to another gear. I am not saying put your foot to the ground to get to 3500 RPM but just accelerate normally and don't shift too early. Practice makes perfect! Don't get discouraged, Civics are probably one of the easiest cars to learn on and drive stick in.

 

[EdwinDrn]

So when you press the clutch in to shift to second gear you rev the engine to 2500 RPM and then start letting the clutch out? Or do you rev to 2500 RPM in first gear and then shift to second? If it is the first then you might be causing excessive wear on the clutch, not much but enough if you're doing it repeatedly. If it is the second one, my only advice, meaning no disrespect, is don't be a wuss lol. I too learned stick by buying an si about 5 years ago and trust me it gets better. Don't be scared to rev the engine to 3000-3500 and then shifting to another gear. I am not saying put your foot to the ground to get to 3500 RPM but just accelerate normally and don't shift too early. Practice makes perfect! Don't get discouraged, Civics are probably one of the easiest cars to learn on and drive stick in.

When I shift into second, I ease into it the throttle and slowly let out the clutch.. I usually shift to second when I;ve reached 2500-3k RMP. I think my biggest problem, as it may be for many, is the first gear. I dont think I am pulling out from a stand still correctly. Not sure if I really know how to explain LOL..

I've had the problem of not putting enough gas when I first started.. So it may just be that.

 

[EdwinDrn]

In regards to my comment about not getting out of first correctly;

A better way to describe it is like when you'd pull out from an uphill with the manual break slightly engaged. The engine revs up quiet a bit, but it is barely moving forward.

 

[Aguirre129]

When I shift into second, I ease into it the throttle and slowly let out the clutch.. I usually shift to second when I;ve reached 2500-3k RMP. I think my biggest problem, as it may be for many, is the first gear. I dont think I am pulling out from a stand still correctly. Not sure if I really know how to explain LOL..

I've had the problem of not putting enough gas when I first started.. So it may just be that.

Ok so when you're starting in first you rev the engine to around 2500 while you're letting the clutch out? This could also cause some wear on the clutch, I don't think it'll wear it out immediately. When I first started out I had the same issue where I wouldn't give it enough gas and the car would shake a bit because of it. So what I did was I would give it more gas before I started letting out the clutch. You grow out of that in a month or so. It's all about getting the feel for the clutch. What I would recommend is going to an empty parking lot and practicing. I know it sounds stupid but it'll let you get the feel for when the clutch "bites" and how much gas you need for the grade of the road. Level road is not so much, downhill you could practically start it without the gas, uphill obviously more gas.

 

[Honda_RacerX]

It sounds to me like your biggest issue is that you've been granny shiftin' and not double clutchin' like ya should.

 

[COOL COUPE]

Here is a better way to think of it. Only push down hard on the accelerator when you are OFF the clutch. You want to feather the clutch gingerly upon take off. Fake it till you make it. When you rev the gas to 2500 3000 rpms you what to pull the clutch out FAST chirp your tires only -no rev hop. Under normal conditions try s l o w l y giving gas and slow clutch engage ... try to make it so slow the steering wheel rattles then give good gas to accelerate ... When you can get the car rolling and feel a slight chatter in the steering wheel and not stall you got the every day to day going. Then launch off a red light with just a slight chirp ...then you got aggressive under your belt.

 

[COOL COUPE]

It sounds to me like your biggest issue is that you've been granny shiftin' and not double clutchin' like ya should.

. What are you laughing at? Dude - I almost had you! Had me? Had me? You never had your car what with the granny shifting ... Now me and the mad scientist have to replace the piston rings you just fried

 

[Honda_RacerX]

Guys look at who the OP is in this thread.. its Edwin. Edwin happens to know a few things, and one of the things Edwin knows is, its not how you stand by your car, its how you shift your car. You better learn that.

 

[aighead]

I'm going to kind of agree with the guy that kind of said just dump the clutch. At a stoplight I only rev to maybe 1000rpm as I'm letting out the clutch, then once the clutch bites I dump it. It'll be a little shakey and it may not feel right for a while but you'll get better. Practicing, as someone else mentioned, in a flat parking lot, really is useful. If you do that find a place where you can just sit, not rolling at all, with no brakes applied, then push the clutch in, and release it without any gas at all. Then do that like a billion times. Your muscle memory will start kicking in around a million times. The car will roll with no gas, in first gear, and it teaches you where that engagement/disengagement point is. Once you get used to that, then start doing it while adding a bit of throttle and you'll find the spot.

It sounds, though via text on a forum it's tricky to diagnose, that you are just letting the clutch out too slowly. Try going faster, worst that'll happen is you'll stall and feel silly.

 

[xcivicx]

if i'm understanding this correctly, your releasing the clutch to slow. should take not much more than a second if that. let the terms double clutch, rev match leave your mind. took my wife less than a week to learn. is there some one to actually watch driving a clutch? don't look at the tach, listen and feel the engine and where its at. its double hard to learn on a car that's this smooth and quite.

 

[COOL COUPE]

Import parts from JAPAN. Yup ... Not a bad way to spend ten grand. He owns you now ... If you can't find the tool you need in this garage Mr Arizona.... No need to dump the clutch ... Sounds expensive! Rowing the gears is like being on the river ... Rowing in water ... s l o w down.

 

[A2typeR]

Go to a huge parking lot and just keep practicing lifting the clutch slowly until the car starts to roll forward on its own, using no throttle.

After a few dozen times of getting the feel down start to practice applying gas as you are letting out the clutch as previously described. Within time you should start to get a natural feel and build up some muscle memory.

Most people’s biggest mistake when they are new is keeping pressure to long in the clutch which can provide wear and tear that is not good. I had a buddy driving an BMW rental 328i Manual. We had only gone like 60km from where we started but upon arriva the car started smoking bad and coming in through the vents in the car. He literally fried the clutch, I guess he just kept riding it the whole drive I don’t know.

Anyway just keep practicing and within a few hundred of few thousand launches you will start doing it without even thinking about it.

Good luck!

It’s a ying and Yang Type relationship once you get it down you will be bringing the clutch foot up while applying pressure with the gas foot simultaneously and you will find the magic spot where it engages and you let off the clutch and start applying pressure on the gas. It’s actually quite difficult on this car because the clutch has a very very numb feeling, it’s almost non existent.

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