Do you know anything about cars at all? The way it feels when he moves the shifter doesn't have anything to do with the clutch plate when it's depressed. Clunkly or grinding gears is all the fault of the synchros in the transmission.

This is correct. If you wait for the revs to drop after you push in the clutch and THEN shift it usually helps it. I've owned probably 12 manual vehicles in my life and none of them shift as crappy as the tC. You shouldn't have to wait for the revs to drop between shifts like that.... it's rediculous. At first I thought that this was due to the electric throttle, which I don't really like, but I'm starting to think now that they probably just put a HEAVY ___ fly wheel in the tCs. I'm hoping that someone comes out with a good 7lb flywheel soon, so when I get rid of the stock clutch (which is quite easy to slip under heavy load), I can replace the flywheel while I've got the trans off.

One thing that I'm going to do when it's time for my car to go in for its transmission service (since they'll be changing the trans fluid anyway) is to replace the Toyota trans fluid witih GM synchromesh transmission fluid. GM synchromesh is the ____ when it comes to stopping grinds and aiding in smoothness... because it was developed by GM so they wouldn't have to recall a bunch of transmissions that SUCKED. It worked great in a 93 Civic hatchback I had that we dropped a Teg LS motor in with a GSR trans w/ limited slip. Stopped the clicking on the limited slip altogether and completely eliminated the grind from a word second gear synchro. I'm hoping that it'll help smooth out the tC's transmission too... The only thing that sucks about synchromesh is that it's like $12 per pint.

 

Amen on this. The flywheel in here makes it feel like I don't know how to drive a manual. Takes forEVER for the revs to come back down, it seems!