Thud when engaging 1st anyone else?
 

2nd day with my brz.. not my first m/t car I've owned many

When at a stop and i go from neutral to 1st i sometimes feel a thud when i engage the gear.. it shifts into the gear smoothly but once in i feel a jerk in the car.. the first time it happened i thought a car behind me tapped my rear bumper.. its very strange and doesn't do it every time.. its subtle but definitely noticeable.. and its before i slip the clutch its only immediately after engaging the gear

Anyone else notice this?

Mine does it as well.

Might this have something to do with the hill-holder?

sounds like the rear diff, pretty normal on rwd MT cars

I hate it when people tailgate at a stop. I hate tailgating period.

Glad I'm not the only one

I hope this is the case any data on this for the frs/brz specifically

My S2K would do it every once in awhile also.

The BRZ is very hit and miss with it.. today it hasn't done it at all, yesterday probably 50% of the time.

My BRZ does it as well. It's as if the clutch doesn't fully disengage.

I'm having trouble getting my shift points down. I think it's a mix of a lighter rotating assembly and overly light clutch.

Oh hey I just posted about this in a different thread.

I think its just the syncros stopping output shaft.

I haven't tried this yet, but try waiting for a while after you stop before shifting into first gear, for the output shaft to stop moving.

That works, I suppose I could have mentioned that before since I tested it at lunch and came to that conclusion :)

Slightly off topic here. But does the manual BRZ/FRS actually have a hill holder feature?

Just wondering because this will be my first manual car and I would love to have this feature. One of the things which scares me is starting on hills with a manual. So the whole automatic break thing is pretty sweet.

I'm just not 100% sure the BRZ/FRS has this or not.

bneale

Mine rolls nicely on hills :) So I'd guess no.

The e brake is basically where your hand rests. It works well as one if needed.

That's what I expected you to say.

Thanks for this. I didn't think this car had such feature.

bneale

OMG that quote made me laugh out loud at work!!! I know you weren't trying to be funny or anything, but in my head w some random guy's voice reading that quote made me laugh

same here. Feels similar to any miata/s2k Ive driven just a bit louder/more noticable.

Which would make sense. Aren't they using basically the same transmission, minus their own custom tweaks?

they all start with the same Aisin AZ1 unit, yep. :D

mine thuds too.

Considering I've driven a RWD car for all of 10mins in my life, I'll have to get used to this. :D

ok so apparently this is pretty normal as many others are experiencing this too..

is there any actual technical data showing the actual cause of this occurance?

i'll try doing the stop and wait next time i drive

Gonna test the delayed entry tomorrow as well, since the "thud" caught my attention as well.

It's just a matter of being somewhat quick about it when you let off the brakes. Build the revs a little more than you normally would and slowly slip the clutch out as normal. And don't panic. Even if you do stall, just brake and start the engine again and go. I think I've only stalled on a hill once and that was because I was being super lazy with the clutch and gas. It's really no big deal at all unless somebody is literally on your rear bumper. I actually like being able to roll back without engaging reverse sometimes. :D

This thud issue was commonly discussed on the RX8 Forums. Try disengaging the clutch, wait for 2 seconds so the input shaft stops spinning, then engage the gear and see if it still thuds. If it does not, the thud is being caused by the shock through the drivetrain when you force the spinning input shaft to suddenly stop by engaging 1st.

A quote from RX8Club:

"FYI: The transmission mainshaft is turning when the clutch is engaged (i.e., pedal out) in neutral. (Listen for the sound of the shaft "rattling" against it's bearings in a quiet area.) So when you push in the clutch pedal (disengage the clutch) it takes a bit of time, like a second or less, for the main shaft to spin down. If you shift before that happens, you can get a crunch, thud or whatever you want to call it."

Yeah mine does this also

Thanks was wondering what this was. This doesn't happen in AWD?

Very good info thanks

I've never noticed this in 2 awd subis 1 rwd truck and 1 fwd car all manual trans

Yeah, mine does it too every now and then. I'll try leaving it disengaged a bit longer to see if it stops.

i haven't really payed any attention to it yet...my S14 and my FC3S both had the "thud". It was most noticeable in my 300zx.

Same deal in my Frs. Today was better then yesterday due to me getting more using to it I think. I honestly dont mind it. I do however love the short throws!

yup, same with my s2k.

my brz also does it.

I also had two AWD subies that did not do this, my main theory on this is that Imprezas have a center differential, which probably dampens the shock going in to the drive-line and rear end.

Just guessing at this point. I also noticed this only on RWD cars. (My RX7, RX8, 240SX)

Yea didn't notice it in the evo either. Reguardless, it hasn't been doing it since i leave it disengaged for half a second longer.

I could have sworn I read somewhere that the brz was going to have one. I couldn't find it in the manual and I tried all day to activate it... but it never came on.

Yeah never experienced this on my Subies. But they have a totally different transmission and their own funkie issue. Driveline lash in those cars is just as annoying as this it.

It does not, and thank [insert deity] that it doesn't! The only car I've driven with a hill holder was a Mini Cooper S and I kept stalling it becuase the car wouldn't let go of the damn brake fast enough!

Totally. Shift, thud, shift, thud....

I agree, I had a clutch on a car like this, and it always clunked going into first.
But for 100% you can replicate this if you take your foot off the clutch while tranny in neutral and engine running. Quickly push in the clutch, and put in 1st gear, and thud. Next just push in the clutch and wait a couple of seconds or more and put it in first. No thud.

This is caused from the tranny being in neutral with the clutch engaged, and its spinning all the parts in the tranny. When you quickly put it in first from this postion (pushing in the clutch then first) the input shaft and gears all come to a stop quickly creating the thud.

This is something that happens in my STI as well. Its very common, its just that not everyone knows it.

Are you posting while driving!! Shame shame! :)

Others have mentioned this too, but its hard to figure out how to shift this car smooth. Sometimes I feel like its my first week driving a clutch. I think its the weird "dead" zone in the accelerator pedal. Does anyone else notice that the first say .5" of accel pedal travel doesn't do much, then the next bit really revs the engine?

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...7&postcount=14

Seems like that's how the electronic throttle is mapped :O

Yup, I agree. Its funny because you would think that Subaru would make their cars all drive the same. My STI accel pedal is much more linear at low input.