shifting
 

Hey guys. A bit of a noob question but bear with me because I've only had experience in one manual car, which was also my first car, which I bought at the ripe age of 29. That also means that I learned to drive stick at 29 and things that you learn past the age of 5 don't stick (no pun intended) very well lol.

So my previous car was a Mini and the clutch pedal travel was long. The biting point was fairly high and hard to detect. It's quite a bit more prominent in the 86 and I've been struggling with shifting smoothly. The clutch travel is also shorter. So at which point during the clutch travel do you start to apply throttle? And how much of it? Thanks

The stock clutch pedal on our cars is tricky, there is a helper spring on the pedal that "numbs" the feeling of the engagement. Search the forums and you'll find a tutorial on how to remove said spring and it makes a huge difference and much smoother to drive.

But to answer your question, slowly lift off the clutch until the car feels like it's about to stall, that's when you can gradually apply gas but then push the clutch again, Keep practicing that until you get a good feel of the engagement point.

Welcome to the FR-S clutch ......:clap:

If you kill the engine ...... that's too little throttle; if you smell burning clutch, that's too much throttle.......;)

Finding the mid point just takes practice.


humfrz

Thanks guys. Setting off actually isn't TOO bad. I'm more concerned with shifting smoothly from 1-2 and 2-3 etc. That's when the car tends to lurch a bit cause I'm not sure at what point to start feeding the throttle in.

There is simple mod also to adjust clutch pedal bite point to reduce dead travel, but one should be careful with it, with bite point moved to almost very beginning of travel, slight clutch drag is very possible, making harder switches in gears and putting extra wear on synchros. Also wanting "to disengage clutch for sure" and thus pressing further/harder quickly eats through stock thin rubber clutch pedal travel stopper.
At the end i reverted a bit this mod, dealing some of dead travel back, to just enough to leave no impact on in-gear switch.

Adjust the clutch pedal and it will be a lot easier. I usually only add a little gas when going from 1st to 2nd to smooth it out. Just lightly touch the gas pedal is enough. You'll get the hang of it eventually

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Thank you. But when exactly do you start touching the gas pedal? Just before biting point, at, or just after? I'm guessing somewhere between "just before" and "at"? My theory is I'm adding too much, which is why I'm experiencing that forward jerk on upshifts.

It's not all about the gas pedal but how smooth you lift off the clutch. Like I said, the clutch spring makes it difficult to ease off the clutch pedal smoothly so removing it did wonders. Just find an empty parking lot and practice, in first gear, slowly let off the clutch until you feel the car moving (if you let off slow enough, it won't stall), then ease into the gas. When shifting, don't let off the clutch too fast or it will get jerky.

Oh I see, thank you. I guess I just need more practice, like my math prof used to say

Absolutely remove the helper spring! Makes a world of difference and only takes a few minutes with basic hand tools.

In terms of 1st to 2nd to be smooth you want to really take your time. Shifting too early will lead to jerking. I usually try to shift at around 1500rpms for the smoothest transition when driving normally.

Just before the biting point. You just want your foot to slightly rest on the gas pedal as you hit the bite point of the clutch. You don't need to push it much at all. You definitely don't want to see the revs increase or hear it. It's kind of hard to explain; you just need to get comfortable with your setup and keep driving. I personally adjusted my bite point close to the floor so it's really simple to find it. It's all personal preference.

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Don't go crazy, don't complicate it, don't change everything, practice.

You won't break it.

I didn't feel totally comfortable rowing the gears in this thing until I put 30k miles on it. I stalled it last week after owning it for 4 years and approaching 60k miles on the clock. Pobody's nerfect.

Just drive everyday. Thats how I learned it. I bought the car for 1 year, i drove it about 350 days.
Once you get used to it, apply throttle and hold the clutch's bite point for 0.3-0.5 sec and release slowly for smooth transition.