Help learning to drive manual.
Thread Starter
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 336
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Help learning to drive manual. I swtiched from an 81 corvette to this great SS 00 and I know how to drive it for the most part, I taught my self with out grinding any gears or anything but I am still having problems with 1st. For some odd reason reverse is easy for me. But I look so stupid jerking back and or worse ******* the clutch up. I really dont have anyone to teach me for the most part. What advice can you guys offer about 1st gear and in heavy traffic.
You will get better with time. Just keep driving it, and within at most a few weeks, you will be fine with it. Thats my first advice. First gear, you just have to be able to feel where it catches, and i try and get the engine up to about 1500 RPMs or so, and start to let off of the clutch, and when it starts to catch, give it more gas, and try to keep it around that same RPM. For traffic, i try and wait a while, till I have a good amount of room in front of me, and put it in 1st gear, and idle forward until I absolutely have to stop. Hopefully those will help.
I give mine very very lil gas...maybe so the rpms stay around 900-1000..then I start to let up the clutcha nd when it starts to grab...I give the same amount of gas that I use to let up on the clutch.
Don't worry about getting the rpms up to aroun ~1200 and just slip the clutch a little. Over time you will learn to get the car moving off the idle with no problem. If you can, try driving someone's car with a cam and strong clutch. After that, driving a stock car is like driving an automatic.
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TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 588
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From: Ohio
Here is something to help you get the feel for your clutch and its engagement/disengagement point. Sit in your driveway or open parking lot. Put it in first gear, and slowly, with your foot off the gas pedal, let the clutch out and slowly allow the car to move forward until you are moving, then let it out. I mean very slowly, but you will have to stop a second, then finish letting it out. If you do it too fast you will stall it. I did this just to get the feel of disengagement of the new OEM clutch vs. the RAM race clutch I had in there before.
Basically I think what you are doing it letting the clutch out with some gas, but then when you start to move you completely let the clutch out and not giving a little more gas so you almost stall but your momentum of "bucking" keeps you going. I guess when you start to move let the clutch out more slowly, and give it a little more gas, not just totally letting the clutch out. I hope this sort of makes sense.
Basically I think what you are doing it letting the clutch out with some gas, but then when you start to move you completely let the clutch out and not giving a little more gas so you almost stall but your momentum of "bucking" keeps you going. I guess when you start to move let the clutch out more slowly, and give it a little more gas, not just totally letting the clutch out. I hope this sort of makes sense.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 337
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From: Abilene, TX
ok, being serious this time, the one thing that made all the difference to me was my dad telling me to give it more gas, i felt like i was slipping the clutch way to much, but he explained to me how giving it gas right before the clutch is let out isnt slipping too much more than normal, so its no big deal, im use to it now, but before my dad told me that i wouldnt give it gas because i felt like i was hurting it, i can drive smooth w/ his method though
..right before it starts to stall, give it gas and then let the clutch out the rest of the way, not a lot of gas though
..right before it starts to stall, give it gas and then let the clutch out the rest of the way, not a lot of gas though
