(Manual noob) Had a little trouble starting in 1st gear at test drive

Roadster4Us

Smooth shifts, usually no noise. Rough shifts, or as Armonster stated, under load you might hear a littler chatter. Either way nothing to worry about.

You're overthinking a lot of this. Just get some time behind a manual and everything will fall into place...

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Greg


2013 Camaro ZL1

Vaughanabe13

I know I know, I even said in my post that I know I'm overthinking all of this, but that's my process and how I learn stuff so it helps me to get the details.

Yes, the word "chatter" is best to describe what I was hearing with the window down when I disengaged the clutch, and I remember I was pushing it in rather fast, so that must be it. For some reason I thought pushing it in slower would be harder on the clutch but maybe that is backwards thinking?

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2009 Nissan 370Z Touring, w/sport, 6MT, chicane yellow/black.

vividracing

Don't feel bad... When I was 15, I somehow got a Subaru dealer to let me drive a brand new STi... And I stalled 3 times I immediately went home and drove my friends 5 speed Accord for a few hours so I'd never stall again... Didn't help. The next high-hp car I drove (Fox body Mustang, 500ish whp) I stalled.

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Strangler

I've stalled 3x ever since I got this car. All the stalls were basically at a stop because I wasn't thinking. One at a dealership, that was the most embarrassing stall yet lol. For some reason I still had the car in first and I let go of the clutch. I was intending to turn the car off, guess the stall works haha.

Chimmy

Just wanted to drop a line! It's been 5 days since I bought my Z, and 5 days since I learned to drive a MT car.. I think it helps to know that 370z is less forgiving when it comes to clutching—don't be discouraged. You're probably a lot better than me still

mototrmpt

There seems to be a reason it's tough to shift smoothly in the Z and the culprit seems to be the clutch helper spring. In Nissan's effort to make the clutch pedal easier to push, they took away all feel for clutch engagement point. Many have solved this annoyance by disengaging the helper spring or replacing the OEM helper spring with a lighter spring. I've replaced my OEM spring with a lighter spring and my shifting has dramatically smoothed out. I had even better feel without the spring at all, but I preferred to keep the clutch mechanism as fully intact as possible. Here's a link discussing one of the best and cheapest mods available.

Clutch pedal too soft/no feel? Remove the helper spring!

Armonster

Very good point. I did this too, and it's great. Equally awesome is a stainless steel clutch line. The SS line combined with the helper spring makes the 370z clutch almost feel like a normal car (which is saying a lot).

Vaughanabe13

I've definitely noticed dramatic improvement but I'm still learning. I still need to work on my hill starts and various specific cases but overall I'm able to get around pretty smoothly.

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2009 Nissan 370Z Touring, w/sport, 6MT, chicane yellow/black.

Chimmy

Gonna hit up a neighborhood tonight where i can find a lot of steep hills :]
I know I'm gonna burn a lot of clutch tonight but might as well take advantage of that life-time power train warranty from the dealer! Good luck to you as well as to me!

Nick911sc

Not sure if I'm reading your post wrong. But they will not replace your clutch under warranty due to your driving abilities.

Vaughanabe13

Be careful, my dealer's lifetime powertrain warranty doesn't include clutch replacement. I do have a nissan warranty though that will replace clutch.

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2009 Nissan 370Z Touring, w/sport, 6MT, chicane yellow/black.

Chimmy

Thanks for the info. I'll take a note on that and find out what I'm dealing with!

poorazn

Rev to 4500. Drop the clutch. Hold on tight.

Vaughanabe13

Wouldn't the VDC go crazy?

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2009 Nissan 370Z Touring, w/sport, 6MT, chicane yellow/black.

EazyD

He keeeeds.^

Imagine two pieces of sandpaper. One is spinning, the other isn't. You want to bring the non-spinning sandpaper up to the same speed as the spinning one by letting them rub together. Not too long because you'll grind down the sandpaper... But just enough so they get you moving

Wait, what?

P.s. - stop looking in your rearview mirror so often. That car behind you is probably 5-10 feet away

P.p.s.- plant your left heel on the floor as a pivot point so the act of the car moving forward doesn't make you take your foot off the clutch all of a sudden

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Pearl White 2010 370Z Sport, Stillen CBE, tint, K&N drop-in filters, GT-R start button, Kenwood DNX-6980 with backup cam, LED bulbs, Raceseng shift knob.