Tips for not stalling the car when entering 1st gear...

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: toekramp
i'm not the greatest manual driver either...i try and move my feet exactly opposite of each other (if that made any sense...foot up/foot down) and usually overcompensate by pressing on the gas a bbbit too much sometimes i squeal tires but at least i don't stall

You suck in driving a manual, you fvcked up my car the first time you tried it, remember?

 

[KGB1]

Originally posted by: Xiety

Originally posted by: toekramp
i'm not the greatest manual driver either...i try and move my feet exactly opposite of each other (if that made any sense...foot up/foot down) and usually overcompensate by pressing on the gas a bbbit too much sometimes i squeal tires but at least i don't stall

You suck in driving a manual, you fvcked up my car the first time you tried it, remember?

:Q I wonder how he handled it.... the shifter must have been big and long

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: KGB

Originally posted by: Xiety

Originally posted by: toekramp
i'm not the greatest manual driver either...i try and move my feet exactly opposite of each other (if that made any sense...foot up/foot down) and usually overcompensate by pressing on the gas a bbbit too much sometimes i squeal tires but at least i don't stall

You suck in driving a manual, you fvcked up my car the first time you tried it, remember?

:Q I wonder how he handled it.... the shifter must have been big and long

motorwerks shortshifter kit

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Worst case scenario, when's the soonest one has to change the clutch? At how many miles? Also, what's the average miles one runs through before having to change an automatic transmission?

I don't know how to drive a manual, still learning slowy. Thinking again maybe I should stick with an automatic. But then the cars I'm looking at are around 150,000km, meaning the transmission is about to go, right?

 

[NeoPTLD]

Definitely practice in a flat parking lot.

The last thing you want to do is stall in middle of the traffic or the intersection.

I tried driving a manual a few times and I can sorta drive it. The first few times I tried it, I either stalled or burned out a bit. The guy teaching me said it's better to burn out than stall it in the traffic.

 

[Sluggo]

What helped me more than anything when learning to drive a stick was learning how the clutch operated.

If you can picture in your mind what is happening, it is easier to relate that to how the car is moving.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/clutch.htm

 

[tcsenter]

One potentially fruitful way that may help you get the hang of it is to "listen" while someone else is driving who is good at driving a stick. You can hear how quickly they rev the engine, when they begin releasing the clutch, the engine RPMs decreasing as the load increases, watching how slowly they release the clutch, feeling the car begin to move, relating all these things together, and try to develop a 'seat of your pants' feel to it all. Then try to copy it.

Other than that, its practice and more practice. My learning curve for driving a manual was a little steeper than the average person, I think. Don't know why, it just was. Stall, stall, lunge, lunge, stutter, stall, lunge, etc.

But you'll get the hang of it, sooner or later.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: BaboonGuy
Too much gas = the way to send your clutch to an early death

just learn how I told you, once you have that contact point, it's easy.

LOL! It kills me when I hear these tips about keeping the rpms up and using lots of gas to do this.. It's so simple, every clutch has a point at which the disk engages the flywheel, and you simply need to learn where during pedal travel this takes place. Really, it only takes a few minutes to learn that, after which driving the car is a snap.

Why make the process harder than it is?

 

[iamme]

here's what i did (not sure if it's bad for the clutch):

in your neighborhood, try to get the car moving with NO gas.

just slowly let go of the clutch until it engages and you're eventually moving. your foot should be completely off the clutch.

do this over and over with no gas pedal.

once you can confidently do this, you just need to slowly add the gas pedal at that "point" where the clutch is engaging.

like i said, i'm not sure if this is bad for the car (although i can't imagine it's too bad)

 

[JulesMaximus]

Mash the gas pedal to the floor so the engine is bouncing off the rev limiter then push the clutch pedal all the way in and ease the shifter into first gear. Then drop the clutch and hang on!!!

You'll never stall it with my method.

 

[chrisms]

If you learn what is actually happening inside the engine when you shift gears, it makes driving a manual very simple. My truck doesn't have an RPM gage and after I went to howstuffworks.com and learned how the clutch works, I never stalled again.

 

[BadNewsBears]

A guy I know can be at a dead stop with the truck in 5th clutch in. Release the cluth without giving it any gas and itl go.
Its an international harvester with a 392. Ill find it for you.

 

[Tom]

The key is letting out the clutch correctly while applying the accelerator at the same time. It doesn't have to be slow, just synchronized.

It's like riding a bike, once you get it, it's easy.

 

[Jombo]

Originally posted by: iamme
here's what i did (not sure if it's bad for the clutch): in your neighborhood, try to get the car moving with NO gas. just slowly let go of the clutch until it engages and you're eventually moving. your foot should be completely off the clutch. do this over and over with no gas pedal. once you can confidently do this, you just need to slowly add the gas pedal at that "point" where the clutch is engaging. like i said, i'm not sure if this is bad for the car (although i can't imagine it's too bad)

i doubt that's bad for the clutch.

this method also helps out when parking, since the car rolls w/ the clutch half engaged, you can just slowly roll into the spot to make small adjustments while also being able to brake. (just like when you drive an automatic, the car has a slow tendency to roll forward, you get the same w/ the clutch slowly being engaged w/ no gas. i was pretty amazed the first time actually ^^;

after you get the clutch control down, try also to have your accel control. the accel revs pretty freely when the gear's not engaged, so you need to have the feel for it also, to keep the revs around 1500-2k range for a smooth launch with a slow release of the clutch. (also helps somewhat when trying to double clutch) too low a rev and too fast a clutch release will stall the car, and too much rev and too slow a clutch release will prob isn't good for the the clutch plate.