5 Things you shouldnt do in a manual car
 

Great vid! Helpful for novices. Thought it a worthy post!

https://youtu.be/_cbZlhduYJY

I like how he's using a Z. thanks for the vid!

Good info for new manual drivers.

Most people I know are guilty of putting pressure on the stick & poor hill starts... Most rock back and forth on the incline till the light changes.

Good info :tup:

Didn't know it was bad to lug the engine though. Yes, I understand the gearing disadvantage and poor gas mileage. But if you're not looking to accelerate fast, is it really hurting anything? If so, what specifically?

I like my exhaust note when I roll into the throttle pretty heavy around 2K RPMs. I'm not going WOT or anything, but I am deliberately giving it more throttle than is necessary.

I'm not sure it's bad for our modern engines, since they are computer controlled.

Stalling is a bad thing to do too.. :icon14: :stirthepot: :ugh2:

:driving:

A nice clutch-kick can be fun, though :icon17: :driving:

always wondered about that... I do that too... maybe going like cruising in a gear then add gas because deep growl vroom.

it's not bad just embaressing

Sure it's bad... do it enough and you'll wear out your clutch prematurely. One stall isn't going to cause much wear. But it'll add up over time.

Same with holding your hand on the shifter in between shifts for a few seconds. That few seconds isn't going to cause much wear either. But it adds up a lot quicker when you rest your hand on the shifter constantly.

Is granny shifting and double clutching OK?

One is ok. The other is not.

:icon17:

Absolutely!


As long as your car is so old it doesn't have syncros. Or like my truck where the 1st - 2nd syncro is **** so I have to double clutch into it, or it grinds like hell. It's **** because the slave cylinder died while I was about 100 miles from anywhere, no clutch and had to rev match gears everywhere. I got pretty good at it though, but 1st to 2nd was hard on me and that transmission.

when my transmission is cold i double clutch and find it moves into the gears a lot more easily. especially the 1-2 shift..

I don't completely agree with what he says their. Weighted shift knobs must be destroying so many transmissions if the weight of my hand damages the transmission. And we're not driving old diesel trucks so lugging isn't much of an issue in a modern computer controlled gas engine.

It's not really about the weight though. It's about letting the shift assembly vibrate with the car to minimize the wear. If you put your hand on it, you are holding the fork in place while the rest of the car vibrates. The pressure plate vibrating against the still fork causes more wear than if they are both allowed to vibrate freely.

At least that is my layman's understanding :twocents:

are 370Z AT's CVT's?

The 7AT sucks don't get me wrong :stirthepot:

But it's no CVT :barf:

i know its not cvt. :p

I know ;)

Thought it was DSM 0_o

When I visit my girlfriend I have to parallel park on a hill. Yes, there are a few here in Chicago...nothing like San Fransisco of course. That hand brake trick saves me every time. Especially since I usually have some damn SUV parked right on my ***. Also handy in our underground parking garages. The inclines exiting them were obviously not designed with manual transmissions in mind.

The distinction he's trying to make is don't apply the throttle quickly when at low rpms. I'll often putt around town in 5th at 35 mph, or even 6th at 40 mph. My rpms are low, around 1500. Giving it just enough throttle to maintain the speed (this is chicago, it's flat here). Any acceleration is done slowly. I'll downshift when quicker acceleration is needed.

I'd say stay away from full throttle unless you're at 2500-3K rpm or higher.

Last comment in the vid was my favorite.

Good fine, Thanks.

My mechanic switched me over to a heavy-duty synthetic truck oil. Says it is a lot better for the higher mileage cars. But now shifting into 2nd is a nightmare when cold and double-clutching is required until it warms up.

Now in reference to the video...

All these little DOs and DONTs are for the idiots that are mysteriously breaking their cars and don't know why. Other than that, cars are designed to handle the abuse of a typical driver. You aren't going to break your ******* transmission by placing your hand on the gear shifter! I don't do this because I don't find it necessary to rest my hand there. I use it to shift and that's it. But you won't break your ****. Too many super-paranoid people, I say!

I agree. I consistently rest my hand on the shifter. Always have. I am also guilty of resting my left foot on the clutch pedal at all times. I have owned many manual transmission vehicles, and doing these things has never been an issue for me.
Now, mind you, I am not ape-swinging on the shifter, or kick-drumming the clutch pedal, either. I am confident enough to realize that it will take more than me laying my HUGE foot on the pedal for it to even consider starting to engage, and causing issues.
(related story) I owned a 1990 chevy s-10 manual that went to the junkyard (fell asleep and hit fire hydrant) with 196,000 miles on it. My hand rested on that shifter for 7 years, and my foot was on that pedal for the same. It went down with the stock clutch and parts in it.
Like you said....paranoid

I'm only paranoid because everyone is against me!!

vrooooom vrooo verrrrrrrrrr... oh wait the car has a nice engine I won't need to do that.

*downshifts*
:rofl2:
we are :tiphat:

I almost had you bro!

Agreed. I'm fully aware of the wear I'm causing on the car when I do any of those things.

I have done all of these things in the Z. Even on my 10 mile drive into work this morning I found myself doing most of them at one point or another. But I don't do any of them constantly. My worst offense is probably my size 12 steel toed boots pushing into the dead space at the top of my pedal throw. Which like you said, is nowhere near engaging the clutch.

I also found one other thing funny, specifically because he did the video in a 370Z ;) :ugh:

He mentions not holding the clutch pedal down while stopped. But I am 99% certain that more pedal throws will equate to quicker failure of the OEM CSC. Now, it's likely the amount of force applied (i.e. how far in you push the pedal) has a lot to do with how quickly it fails, so holding the clutch firmly pressed to the floorboard while stopped is probably still worse. But if you make sure to hold the clutch just barely disengage while stopped, I bet that is easier on the slave than extra use of the pedal.

Or you can just dump the OEM CSC for Z1 or ZSpeed alternatives :tup: :driving:

I'm teaching my wife how to "drive a stick" in my Z:rofl2: and every one of these bad habits so the clutch will go. Won't be any arguing about needing a new clutch. Then I can throw in the "while they're in there might as well put the turbos on to save a little bit" comment:stirthepot:

Oooh! Let's debate this for a moment.

Holding the clutch pedal down while stopped really isn't a good idea because, like you said, it'll affect the CSC. But if you are in stop and go traffic and have no choice in the matter, either be fully disengaged or fully engaged. No riding the clutch. Your CSC and throw-out bearing won't like you much but they are designed to do a job and like all parts they are designed to fail. Lots of stop and go = more maintenance. End of story. But being fully disengaged when shifting or idling (in stop and go) is paramount and this is where we differ in view. If you are just mostly disengaged then your clutch can still contact the flywheel and wear in a not-so-good way. On the other hand, if you are just barely touching the pedal then you may likely be just barely disengaging the clutch which means if you gas it real hard you may slip it.

All it really comes down to is this. The clutch itself is designed to be the primary wear item. Trying to get a clutch to last 200k miles is really pointless unless you are a serious A-B driver. If that is all you care about then yes, it is possible and many have done it. If you drive a sports car then your clutch will not last 100k if you actually drive it with any serious amount of aggression. I love the comments by those that claim they do 1/4 mile runs all the time and they have 150k on the stock clutch. Sorry but your interweb claims are ********. Don't ******* lie to me.

So use the clutch. Slip the clutch when appropriate and when you need to but just don't burn/score the flywheel. It was designed to take the impact off the driveline. People that are 'instant-in, instant-out' are really doing more damage to the transmission and all the other components. Oh sure, you'll get 200k out of your clutch but you are going for a transmission overhaul at 70k. Have fun with that ****.

oh you need a new clutch?

might as well get turbos while you're doing the tranny :tiphat:



uhh i drive the sports car hard when i can... and i do get fairly fast in the in/out but i doubt anyone here is dumping the clutch on every shift. or maybe those who are blowing their csc's in 5k miles :roflpuke2:

but as for the stop and go... when i DD i actually get it into first and i'll let it lurch come to almost stall before clutching... would that be harder on the clutch/transmission/engine than just putting it into neutral and then engage 10 feet then disengage? hmmm

If I'm lucky and the cars are moving somewhat steadily I can gas it up to 5mph and then take my feet off everything and it'll maintain 5mph without wanting to stall. I tend to think of it as a feature. :tup:

I'm not sure if anyone else gets this but as it drops in rpm from 1.5 it kinda has a bit of a hiccup. almost like a stall but not? I dunno how to explain it other than hiccup.


but yea... the low rpm idle/coast is nice. i end up not using the brake and just coast as long as i can until a full stop :shakes head:

You know what? This will decimate all, after, you put about fifteen grand in it or more. If we have to, overnight parts from Japan.

u talking about the fuel cut-off? i use dat hiccup to disenage the gear without using the clutch. i do this on all my MT's.