New BRZ - Manual tips?
 

Hey guys, just picked up my 2015 BRZ Premium yesterday and so far I'm loving the hell out of the thing. It's my first new/manual car and the thing is a blast, despite keeping it below 4k RPM for the break in period.

I'm curious as to how long it took you folks to get used to driving stick? I can start without any issues (including hills) and I have yet to stall my car or burn the clutch but my shifts from gear to gear (1>2, 3>4, etc) are rough about 50% of the time. Any ideas on how to improve? I'm honestly not sure whether I'm giving it too much gas or not enough in between shifts...

For the mean time, a quick snap I took with my phone yesterday at a popular location for car shoots:

http://i.imgur.com/v5whxAn.jpg

I noticed that the gearing for 1st and 2nd isn't that optimal. there's a big RPM difference between the two gears so it's more prone to jerking. I'm not sure what the exact reason is for the huge RPM drop when shifting from 1st to 2nd (maybe 1st is too short?), but I noticed that if you shift slower, it's smoother. I usually wait about a second after I'm in 2nd before letting out the clutch so that the RPM's drop the correct amount for 2nd gear. so lets say I shift out of 1st at 4k RPM, I wait about a second so that the RPM is roughly 3000ish before letting out the clutch to match the 2nd gear RPM. I'm not sure what the exact RPM is for 2nd gear when shifting out of 1st since I never paid attention to it. same for 3rd, but allow maybe like half a second for the RPM's to drop. 3rd to 4th and any gear beyond that just shift as fast as you can since the RPM's drop quick on those gears lol. keep in mind that I'm not a professional or anything so my way of doing it might not be what is done by everyone else. btw, I don't give the car gas at all between shifts.

I'm thinking if I get a lightweight flywheel or a lighter pulley that the 1st to 2nd shift would be quicker and smoother since the RPM's would drop quicker... but letting the clutch out later is my remedy for it for now. as soon as I clutch in, I'm practically in 2nd gear already before the RPM's drop much so that's why I feel impatient when waiting that extra second to let out the clutch. never had a problem like this in my MR2 but it did have a LWFW so RPM's dropped much quicker. the problem in the MR2 was that I sometimes wasn't shifting fast enough in normal driving, which is the complete opposite of this car lol

also, another good thing to do is to adjust the clutch pedal to the height you like it. I like mine close to the floor, about 1 inch off the floor before it actuates the clutch. I have heard people say that it's bad for the clutch, but this is what I have done to all my cars and haven't had to prematurely change out a clutch before (knock on wood). this thread tells you how to do it: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8040 . the stock clutch pedal height was way too high for me and I was not comfortable at all driving with it

Thanks for the extensive write up! Yeah- sometimes I noticed that when my shifts go perfectly smooth it's when the rpm needle drops a slight amount to the 2900-3000 range. I'll have to do some more testing with this in mind to/from work tomorrow... And it's interesting that you don't give your car gas between shifts. When I was learning how to drive stick in my friend's S13 and Impreza, I noticed that it was the best way to get smooth transitions consistently.

Thanks for the clutch height adjustment guide- I think I'm gonna try and get fully acquainted with everything as-is before I start dialing in my personal preferences.

Well, if you haven't stalled yet you're a much quicker learner than I was. I found that lowering the clutch pedal height (as ryoma mentioned) was immensely helpful in getting smoother and more reliable starts.

Smoothness comes with practice. Until you get very comfortable with the timing, try releasing the clutch pedal a bit slower, especially in the lower gears, and see if that smooths things out a bit.

PS: Ice Silver Metallic is a beautiful color :)

Hah, I did my fair share of stalls and unintentional launches on the S13 and Impreza I mentioned in my last post. I'm just glad I got it out of my system before getting a 6 speed of my own. Thanks for your input regarding the clutch height, I'll have to seriously put some thought into getting that done in the near future if it'll help my driving.

My first choice was actually white but a bunch of dealers in LA/OC/SGV seemed to have low stock of them in premium + manual. I swore to myself that I wouldn't get a silver car but goddamn, it looked MUCH better than I thought it would in person. Had no issues having ice silver metallic as my secondary choice.

Shift slower 1st to 2nd unless u are like 3.5k 4k. Other gears u can pretty much just let go? Atleast that's how I feel

Lots ppl say to adjust the clutch, I'm fine with the way it is after a while, but I heard that if u swap to a lightwheel flywheel. It feels very nice........like it's suppose to be like that from factory...


One last thing is that once u don't have to baby the car, it's alot smoother... car don't like to be babied. lol

I haven't heard of pushing the gas pedal in between shifts. maybe if your RPM's drop too low due to slow shifting, I would see why a blip to bring the revs up would make sense, but slowly letting out the clutch either way is way simpler lol. though, maybe you are talking about rev matching? you blip the throttle as you down shift to match RPM to the lower gear. that's only when you go down gears though and not when going up gears

maybe it is a technique for smooth shifting, I don't know. but I have never used it and I can get my shifts pretty smooth. it's all about how to work that clutch pedal

I used the shift indicator to smooth out shifts (kind of a bore as it aims for economy): with the car off press "Odo/Trip until G-Off is displayed. Press and hold Odo/Trip to turn it on.

Start your sexy new car and it will display the gear your in. I found shifting when the up arrow flashes helped smooth things out, I then ignored the arrow and am having smoother up shifts.

Since it's my first new car and all, I'm a little paranoid over the break-in period. From the day I got my license 9 years ago I was basically gunning the throttle on my old car to where I needed to go. Now that I need to pay attention to all these precautions, I might be treating my brz like glass on wheels lol.

Nah, definitely not rev matching. My hit/miss ratio on rev matching is even worse haha... Either way I need to get rid of the lead foot I've developed over the years.

I didn't even know this was a thing. Always thought that it was on auto models only?

if you havent stall the car then your a on a great start. I stall mine 3 times going right out of the stealership and about 6 more time the first day. Good thing i pick up on manual skills fast.

In regard the shifting from 1 to 2, yes, if you do it too fast you will get a jerk motion from the car. I took time for me to actual do constant smooth shift between 1 to 2. just try to do it slower and other gears, that seems to work for me. All the other gears are easy.

No stalls = better than I did. Just shift slowly- the synchros will take care of most of the work; there's no need to slam into gear. After you get used to the gearing, you won't need to take it easy.

It's available on both MT & AT, but it's turned off by default.

Then you are doing better than you think.

I've been driving manual transmissions for 22 years now, and I've still stalled my FR-S 3 or 4 times so far in the 2 months I've owned it.

Most likely cuz there's a clutch delay valve.

I got a higher clamping force pressure plate and matching clutch disc which mitigates the issue but won't totally eliminate the delay.