I was just wondering when you shift from 2 to 3 , 3-4, or 4-5, do you start pushing on the gas before you completely come off the clutch? I know if you do this too slowly you will be slipping the clutch. So Im wondering if you wait to come off the clutch completely before beginning to gas. How do you do it? I want to make a fast but smooth shifts.

 

It's all each persons "feeling" as to when they shift...

Check Dynos to see when the major torque and HP of the tC hits... so you can see when the optimal RPM shift point is... but it also depends on if your shifting for Daily Driving, or For Racing/Auto-X...

My foot is on the gas before the clutch is all the way out.... if you waited till your foot was off the clutch, that'd be a fun ride... (Forward/Backward/Forward)

 

It takes a little time and practice, im assuming this ay be your first manual. I just had to teach my brother how to shift last week he just got his lisence. Its about a 50/50 mix of clutch and gas. It just takes practice as your coming off the clutch start going into the gas, and it doesnt take alot of gas because if you give t too much it will buck and bring the rpms down to where they should be. It sort of hard to explain in a post its easier in person but its really just finding a happy mix of clutch and gas and doing it quickly enough to not eat up the clutch. All i can REALLY say is practice practice practice.


Jay

 

I'm convinced that the flywheel in this car has too much inertia for someone to pull off fast, yet smooth shifts.

 

It's possible, but say goodbye to your synchros if you like shifting fast.

 

Actually, on 3-4 and 4-5 shifts are less of a problem, since they are taller gears.

1-2 and 2-3 are the biggest problem shifts (for smoothness). When you shift, your RPMS inevitable drop, and will continue dropping if you don't give it some gas. Even if you shift at the perfect moment, when revs match, the deceleration of the engine will make for some bumpy shifts. So you have to give it a little gas, right at the contact point. It's harder to explain and easier to do when you just practice. But on 1-2 shifts, you may need to feather the clutch just a tad (realease it a bit slower) on lazy shifts. Also remember to not rush your shifts (for smooth shifting) but don't go to slow. If you've found yourself to have been too lazy, you need to give some gas to match the revs.

Because of our short gearing, it makes smooth shifts a bit harder. But the clutch gives you enough feedback to modulate. Practice, practice, practice. The less your clutch slips (the less you have it pressed down) while still shifting smoothly is the ideal. And remember, you don't need to rev it too much on launch either. If you are a manual pro, your car will sound like an auto upon launch. It should be nice and linear.

vvvvvvvvvVVVVVVVVRRRRRRROOOOOOOOM vvvvvvvvvVVVVVRRRRRR. . . .

instead of

vVVVRRvvvvvvvvvVVVVRRRRRRROOOOOM vVVVVRRRvvvvvvvVVVVVVRRRR

 

first off no one gets in a manual for the very first time and can drive one efficeintly. It takes a lot of practice. The hardest part (at least to me) when starting out driving a manual for the first couple times is easing off the clutch slow enough when you are at a dead stop. YOU WILL KNOW WHEN YOU ARE LETTING OFF TOO FAST! make sure you do not pop the clutch and stall. A little advise from me to you is to go out the some country roads and just go up and down the road and practice switching gears at different RPM's. Something to keep in mind is the it is kinda like giving and taking when you are drving a stick. when you push in the clutch let off the gas and when you let off the clutch push in the gas. just my .02

 

oh yeah one more thing DON"T RIDE THE CLUTCH!

 

Ya... a burning smell fills the cabin when you do this... poor clutch of my neighbors SW tC :'(

But seriously, as people have said it, it does take finesse to get this transmission to shift smoothly. I still get a minor bucking when I shift and I've been driving the car for a few months now and had driven 2 stick cars for a year and half before that. I have noticed that before the car warms up, it is REALLY difficult to get a smooth shift off. for about the first 2-3 minutes after startup, i cant get a smooth shift, period.

 

i got my manual tc about a month ago and this is my first manual car. So far i only have about 500 miles on it but have learned along the ride. Trust me - i have been a real student of myself.. i had some realizations and understanding through my experience - no one taught me and the tips i got werent that great. Take it from me and my experience, hopefully this will ease the ride and soon get u real comfortable with ur car and also let ur clutch live a little longer...here are my tips:
Think of it like a fan blades spinnning. If u just stick something in there hard, it will abruptly stop. But smoothly brush ur hand against it and it will slow down nice and easy. That being said, always remember that ur clutch is the same - never pop the clutch/quickly release the clutch (esp. from dead stop or in lower gears) unless you are quickly accelerating...which leads me to my next point:
it is not based solely on how slow/fast u let out the clutch, but on RPM level matching -car speed and engine speed- this comes with practice. But basically. the faster you give it gas the faster you can get off the clutch - to a certain extent - give it too much it will lurch forward, too little buck back. This takes "feeling" and repetition. I can even feel the vibrations in the clutch pedal and gas pedal when im shifting too connect properly . And last point - think of it as "letting out the paddles" if one paddle (pedal but i just think of it as paddles going up and down) goes down, the other goes up. so right when u press down on clutch, gas goes up, and when u start letting out clutch, get on the gas. Like i said before, the quicker u get on the gas, the quicker u can let out the clutch.
oh and one thing that i did was not leave my radio off when i started learning (to concentrate on sounds and whatever) i actually blasted my music so i just learn by feeling not by concentrating on sounds and whatever- its hard but its good later on when u actually do blast music, talk to friends whatever. Thats my advice to you, good luck man lata.

 

i think the jerky shifting can be attributed to weak engine mounts and a drive-by-wire system

 

Remember, if you are gonna pop the clutch from a dead stop, you better be fixing to burnout or you gonna stall. And when you do burnout, dont be scared and give it gas and when you feel the tires catching up, hit up second gear and punch it.

 

What RPM should you drop your clutch at to do a burn out?

 

There is no pre set RPM. You're going to serious wear the clutch at ANY RPM you decide to do it at. It doesn't mean that your clutch will be gone by tomorrow, but it's not good, either way. If you want to burn out, you should do it at the lowest RPM needed to break traction. If you are talented, you might be able to do it at 3k-3.5k. It would probably take about 4k though. But make sure you don't just redline it and drop the clutch.

From my understanding, feathering the clutch creates less heat that just dropping it hard. I feather a little bit, at 4k. If you want to do a massive burnout, you can do a brake stand (once the tires start spinning, engage the parking brake). And then drive to the bank to withdraw money for some new tires.

 

Ill give it a shot. lol

 

Just learning to shift and now hes burning out. God save his tranny. Atleast its not mine lol.

Jay

 

I learned how to drive stick on my friends civic( killed it about 25 times too) and when I got the TC the scion director taught me how to drive also. He wanted to make sure I got it down good. I think I must have killed it atleast 13 times between 11:00 am and 10:00 pm and once was on the ferry going to Galveston Island,( I killed it on the bridge to get on to the ferry, needless to say the guys that worked on the ferry hated me) but now I'm pretty decent.
...............and I've had it only a couple of months and I just hit 4414 miles

 

for daily driving i've shifted from 2800 to 4500 rpms.. heres my break down of each gear the best result ive gotten from the lovable gear rations we have lol

1st.3500-4000
2nd.4000-4500 max for nice daily driving
3rd 3500-4200 max max for nice daily driving
4th 4000
5th 2 sessions.. one from 3500 is good and 4500 is good. at 4000 its seems to dip alot and give the typical small jerk.

those figures are my dialy driving shift points... i usually dont go past 4k only to go into 5th.. and have found it to be very very smooth with little slip.

i dont know how the rest of you are doing it but from feeling and listening to the motor and the doo doo drive by wire system those shift points seem to be right on with the gearing..

 

for 2nd 3rd, 4th , 5th you should wait to step the gas after you let go the clutch if you want to reduce the wear on your clutch and save gas.. I like popping the clutch though.. i dont really care. I ride my car to 5000 rpm everytime i accelerate. I drive it like I stole it .

 

I've had my car almost a year now and i still get a little lurch in lower gears most of the time. Seat position seems to have an effect on how smoothly I let the clutch out when I'm not thinking about it, and also which pair of shoes I'm wearing. The shoes I wear to work are leather dress shoes with a thick rubber sole and i tend to drive worse in those than I do in my sneakers or when I'm barefoot.

Also since it's been cold lately it seems like the car idles a lot higher in the morning which makes it harder for me to shift smoothly on the way out of my apartment complex. Anyone else notice that? Practice is the main thing, but try varying your seat position a notch or two, it seems to have helped me quite a bit. But then everytime I get my seat where I like it it gets moved by some service tech or a friend, grrrrr!