Newbie guide for Manual Transmissions

[07 Figi Blue Si]

Now you need to right one up for how to parallel park and not scrape your rims on the curb, for the women of course. Make sure to mention bead protectors, as these are the only tires I will put on and let the lady drive the Si.

[E. Honda]

Nice thread OP.

I taught myself stick about two and half years ago and since that time I'd like to think that I've gotten pretty good at it. I can rev-match, double-clutch, and heel-toe smoothly and dependably without a second thought. Even so, I've still got a few questions about manual transmissions I'm hoping someone can answer.

• First of all, will depressing the clutch slightly at a stop wear on the throw-out bearing? My previous car didn't have a dead pedal so consequently I picked up a habit of (lightly) resting my foot on the clutch at lights. I'm trying to break this habit but in the meantime it be nice to know if I'm slowly killing my clutch or not.
  
  
• Second question; how bad is slam shifting for the transmission? That is, pushing the stick into gear before feeling it "open." Even with perfect rev-matching, I notice more resistance when shifting at my fastest than when waiting that extra half second when getting in gear.
  
  
• Third, I keep hearing about clutch-less shifting, and it'd be a neat trick to learn (on a beater, not the Si) for the hell of it, but the whole concept seems like asking for trouble. How's this done and does it have any practical use aside from impressing my friends?

Thanks.

[06Civic2nv]

How are the steps to DOWNSHIFT???

[E. Honda]

06civic:

The short version's like this...

1. Clutch peddle in.

2. Rev to the speed that the lower gear will have to be at to maintain the same speed as you are traveling (rev-matching.)

3. Physically down shift.

4. Let out the clutch peddle.

5. Engine brake or accelerate

So long as you rev-match to the right RPM as you let out the clutch peddle, the shift should be smooth.

[thaijai114]

good one man, it really helped me out a bit

[Swank]

Originally Posted by E. Honda

Third, I keep hearing about clutch-less shifting, and it'd be a neat trick to learn (on a beater, not the Si) for the hell of it, but the whole concept seems like asking for trouble. How's this done and does it have any practical use aside from impressing my friends?

The only way I've shifted without using the clutch was 2 cars ago, I don't know if this will work the same on ours, but someone can correct this if I'm off track.

So I was cruising along on a country road in 4th, no traffic, straight road so I was able to focus more on the task at hand. I made note of the RPMs while in gear as that would be close to the 'target' RPMs for what I was about to try. I put the car in neutral and was still coasting along not losing much speed at all, and I let the RPMs drop all the way (foot was off the clutch too). I slowly began giving it gas while GENTLY pulling the stick to 4th gear (not pressing clutch). The stick wouldn't move when the RPMs weren't near the aforementioned 'target', and there was no grinding or anything, but as soon as the RPMs were at the right speed to match the engine, the stick moved effortlessly into 4th.

I can't imagine a practical use for this, and the chance of being off with your RPMs is pretty easy, in which case you'll grind, and we all hate that feeling. It's fun to try out, I thought it felt kinda cool, but otherwise use your clutch, it's not just there for looks!

[swarm]

I just thought I would chime in real quik about the OP, our transmissions DO NOT have DOG engagement or dog gears. Dog gearing or straight cut gears are for sequential transmissions only! Our gears are helical cut or angled gears. The engagement is completely different from the way the teeth run together to the actual physical shift. If our transmissions had straight cut gearing the tranny would whine very very loudly and would be almost annoying. The upside to DOG engaugement is you get much stronger shifts, more controlled up and down shifting and the transmissions themselves are designed for much higher power applications. Great write up though, very informative and concise.

[E. Honda]

Originally Posted by Swank

I put the car in neutral and was still coasting along not losing much speed at all, and I let the RPMs drop all the way (foot was off the clutch too). I slowly began giving it gas while GENTLY pulling the stick to 4th gear (not pressing clutch). The stick wouldn't move when the RPMs weren't near the aforementioned 'target', and there was no grinding or anything, but as soon as the RPMs were at the right speed to match the engine, the stick moved effortlessly into 4th.

Thanks. That's about what I thought the process involved, but like you said, it's so easy to rev-match wrong and get a grind that I'm hesitant to try it. My parents have a POS Sportage 5-speed though that I might try this out on anyways.

[Swank]

^As long as you're gentle, if it does grind it will kick you into neutral quite easily and immediately, so it should hardly cause any wear. But yes, if you have access to a POS then that would be ideal!

[E. Honda]

Originally Posted by Swank

^As long as you're gentle, if it does grind it will kick you into neutral quite easily and immediately, so it should hardly cause any wear. But yes, if you have access to a POS then that would be ideal!

As a matter of fact, I did take the Sportage out last night to give it a try and guess what? Success! I wouldn't call it easy but I was able to get into gear a good portion of time. Not consistently though, so I did end up grinding pretty often. I can't imagine it having any practical use at all but it was at least fun to learn.

[bangmonsta]

Originally Posted by radiocontrolhead

Reverse does not have syncro's. It's a straight cut gear that slides right into the idler gear to create that reverse rotation. You're literally meshing gears together in reverse which is why it's very important that the car is at a complete standstill before attempting a shift to reverse.

Yeah u'll feel a really nasty grind if u try to move into reverse while the car is rolling... I know it from 1st experience. Not planning to make this mistake again lol.

[Swank]

Originally Posted by E. Honda

As a matter of fact, I did take the Sportage out last night to give it a try and guess what? Success! I wouldn't call it easy but I was able to get into gear a good portion of time. Not consistently though, so I did end up grinding pretty often. I can't imagine it having any practical use at all but it was at least fun to learn.

Nice, and that's exactly how I felt about it, that's why I've never bothered doing it again. Though now I want to give it one more go...

[tenVibes]

i know i may sound like total newb but..in the following quote, what does "off the clutch" (used in this context) mean?

Originally Posted by Tastycakes

Example 1: If you have to go from 5th to 2nd @ 40 MPH dont just drop it into 2nd. A example for this situation here is to pull it out of 5th (off the clutch) rev it to where you think the RPMs'd be at in 2nd (round 5k or so) Blip the gas to rev it up to 5k or so, then quickly hit the clutch and put it in 2nd. Should go in effortlessly unlike if you just dropped it into 2nd.

to clarify, does it mean...(while in 5th gear) clutch, drop to neutral, let off the clutch? or does it mean pulling into neutral without clutching?

[bangmonsta]

Originally Posted by tenVibes

i know i may sound like total newb but..in the following quote, what does "off the clutch" (used in this context) mean?



to clarify, does it mean...(while in 5th gear) clutch, drop to neutral, let off the clutch? or does it mean pulling into neutral without clutching?

Yeah it was a little hard for me to interpret what he wrote about downshifting 5th -> 2nd too... it sounds as if he's talking about double clutching. So your answer would be the prior, clutch down, shift to neutral, clutch up, rev, clutch down, shift to 2nd, clutch up.

I was under the impression that since our cars have syncros we don't need to double clutch to downshift. Double clutching could save syncro wear, but I usually don't do it. I do rev match all the time though (espiecially when I'm doing heel-toe thru turns)....

[E. Honda]

Originally Posted by bangmonsta

I was under the impression that since our cars have syncros we don't need to double clutch to downshift. Double clutching could save syncro wear, but I usually don't do it. I do rev match all the time though (espiecially when I'm doing heel-toe thru turns)....

In my experience, I've found that double clutching can help smooth out a big down shift quicker and smoother than just rev-matching alone. This is particularly true for 2nd to 1st down shifts, at speeds between 18 and 28 mph, where 1st gear is kinda difficult to shift into using rev-matching alone. You don't absolutely have to double clutch this shift but otherwise you have to force it into 1st slightly harder than I prefer to. I also double clutch on 3rd to 2nd shifts when I'm driving hard. Again, it's not 100% necessary but it helps with speed and smoothness, almost as if it improves the accuracy of the rev-match a little.

Even if you disagree with the purported benefits of double clutching, there's no denying it sounds cool to boot.

[bangmonsta]

yeah but it's twice as much work

[tenVibes]

thanks for clarifying that bangmonsta

[harbinger]

So does pulling the shifter into neutral without pushing down the clutch create more wear?

[bangmonsta]

Originally Posted by harbinger

So does pulling the shifter into neutral without pushing down the clutch create more wear?

It creates less wear, if u do it correctly. Else you can mess up your tranny and cause gears to slip out later down the line.

I personally don't do it, but if from someone's explanation on another thread.. if you do it while the tranny is not under load (best time is when u're pushing gas and just let it off). There's a split window play period where you can pull into neutral and it'll be ok... saves a bit of clutch wear.

So short answer to your question is No, but it can if you do it incorrectly. If you feel resistance when you're trying to go into neutral, don't do it.

Be safe, use the clutch if you're not sure . It's what I do

[Tastycakes]

Sorry, havn't been on in a while.

Originally Posted by E. Honda

• First of all, will depressing the clutch slightly at a stop wear on the throw-out bearing? My previous car didn't have a dead pedal so consequently I picked up a habit of (lightly) resting my foot on the clutch at lights. I'm trying to break this habit but in the meantime it be nice to know if I'm slowly killing my clutch or not.

Yea never "ride the clutch" It is bad on the throwout bearing. How bad, i dont really know, never really looked into it. Just doing it at lights should be fine cause your at low RPMS. Its when you do it 24/7 is where i can see bad things happening.

Originally Posted by E. Honda

• Second question; how bad is slam shifting for the transmission? That is, pushing the stick into gear before feeling it "open." Even with perfect rev-matching, I notice more resistance when shifting at my fastest than when waiting that extra half second when getting in gear.

Yea dont shift fast if you dont have to. The faster you shift the faster the synchro's have to line up the dog gears so they can fit together so the more wear. I just pull it back softly when i drive, when i drive like a normal person that is .

Originally Posted by E. Honda

• Third, I keep hearing about clutch-less shifting, and it'd be a neat trick to learn (on a beater, not the Si) for the hell of it, but the whole concept seems like asking for trouble. How's this done and does it have any practical use aside from impressing my friends?

Its like this. Lets say you shift each gear @ 3k RPM. You know each gear will fall about to 2200-2500 so you want to put the shifter into the next gear where you think the RPM would be, within that range. Start out like that, then once you can pretty much off the top of your head know about what RPM each gear should be at, at any MPH then you can really shift w/o the clutch.



Oh, and bump