TheMustangLoveR

Yup man they're all right, just practice. The concept is super simple, but applying it is difficult at first. "OMG what do I do!? People are pulling up at the stop sign going across the intersection I'm at...OMG OMG...PANIC!!! *stall*

Haha, good times.

Here's a lil somethin that will build up a lil feel for the clutch: Go to a wide open area, and drive in a straight line. Do not touch the gas. Just go through each gear slowly, letting the engine idle bring it up to speed each time.

HamMach1

Dont worry you shouldn't be hurting it. Clutches aren't made of paper ya know And the noises yes...I still wonder what the hell goes on down there when I hear noises come from the tranny beneath my feet.

dyefreak315

driving a stick is entertaining.

sit at a stoplight, put it in reverse, and just let off the clutch a wee bit with someone behind you. They FREAK OUT.

dont hit anyone of course, but try it, its amusing.


anyways some constructive advice.

if you think you ride the clutch too much, then find a road where you can make u turns every mile or so, and then just start and go start and go start and go. I did it in my old Mazda and it helped me stop riding the clutch and after 20 or so miles of the same stretch of road you end up with alot better of a feel for your trans.
Its not that hard, just time consuming.

Good luck

96GTMustangCT

everytime i down shift or what? just pop the clutch rev it a little in neutral and then throw it in gear?? see my dad was like here bought this for you. and its not stock its go cai, 3.73, short shifter, alot of other things in it so i dont wanna f*** anything up and he went out driving a few times with me but now i do ok. its just smooth through the gears and knowing what to do when downshifting and what not. thanks for all your help

HamMach1

Say im in 4th... if I wanna downshift what i'll do is shift into 3rd but before I let the clutch out I slightly rev it and as the repms go up just a bit I let off the clutch not too slow but not too fast. Now I basically do all that in one motion. It took me awhile to figure out what the hell I was doing but it seems to be working so far!

96GTMustangCT

so everytime i downshift?

72MachOne99GT

If you're beginning to learn how to drive a manual, don't bother learning how to rev match, there really is no need to downshift at your point in driving experiance.

2K is usually a pretty good all around shift rpm, I learned on a car w/o a tach, and wish I had one when I learned.... Just shift, and let the clutch back out w/o gas... that should get rid of 90% of the 'jarring and jerking' you get between gears...

and if you start to feel yourself getting frustrated... give it a break for a bit,, when I'd just learned how to drive my car, i'd been dating my gf for like 2 months, and i'd take her out crusing,, start to get HORRIBLE jerks and stuff at launch and shifting gears,, i'd get so mad and things would just go downhill from there..

have fun with it, you probably wont break anything unless youre trying.. ;-)

meechuacon

Go out to the country roads and practice. You can practice slow starts, and race starts! Then when you get good, try powersliding when turning on a road from a stop!!

Jaybird79

Keep practicing and do not hot rod the car until you can drive it smoothly and normally to where it shifts like an automatic. Then once you get that down you can dog it a bit., but don't do it too early., good way to get into an accident or damage your car.

Here's a good trick, modulate the clutch using your ENTIRE leg, not just the ball of your foot. Your entire leg has to move with the clutch.

undefeated

I recently started to drive one 2 years ago. I think the hardest part is starting from a standstill. Once you're moving, it'scake. You just have to give it enough gas to avoid stalling. The more gas you give it, the less chance you have of stalling it because the clutch grabbing it loads the engine. Just give it enough gas and let 1st gear give you some decent RPM's to shift into 2nd. This just takes practice like everyone's saying. The fun starts when you learn to give it about 4000rpms and coming off the clutch quickly[8D]. Just don't do that in traffic.