how long did it take you learn manual trans?

[NudeLobster]

well I guess I shouldn't say learn, but more of perfect it? I was just wondering cause I have about 8 days of driving the quest now, and I still get a clutch burning smell after about 20 mins of stop and go city driving. This is because I'm still learning/perfecting the clutch work with the throttle when taking off, but I feel Like I'm not making too much progress, and I don't want to be buying a new clutch soon cause I killed the current one within weeks of driving

 

thanks,

-Justin

[Alsandr]

At least you're getting around. When I first learned how, I was in a truck in a parking lot and tried going uphill in third gear for an hour or so. It was my friend's truck and he said I made the thing impossible to drive after that... When I got my first car, it was a manual and I drove all over the rest of the day figuring out how to do it. It just takes practice, but it helps having somebody there to tell you what you're doing wrong.

[Killtodie]

Took me about 3 hours over a period of 2 days.

 

After that I could drive anywhere, I maybe stalled the car ones a day or so for the first week and then maybe ones a month. that was over 5 years ago, last I stalled it was when I switched between my quest and civic, civic has a MUCH stiffer clutch.

 

The saying is, 2 hours to learn, 2 years to master.

 

 

It probably did take me a good 6-8 months to get it 100% correct, always shifting at a good band, not smacking my passengers around.

 

 

I burned my clutch maybe twice, that I could smell it. About 3 months into owning my civic I had to replace 4 syncro gears and the clutch, car was at 100K. new clutch made a world of difference.

 

 

 

Justin, you need to shift fast, dont put the clutch down all the way when changing gears, just enough to disconnect and slip in the new gear. let the clutch out in a controlled manner, dont take too long and do it smoothly enough not to jerk the car. In the end its all muscle memory, you currently need to think every shift and know if its good or bad, about 3 months time you will start to shift without thinking and make improvements from then on.

Edited March 20, 2010 by Killtodie

[Alsandr]

Took me about 3 hours over a period of 2 days.

 

After that I could drive anywhere, I maybe stalled the car ones a day or so for the first week and then maybe ones a month. that was over 3 years ago, last I stalled it was when I switched between my quest and civic, civic has a MUCH stiffer clutch.

 

The saying is, 2 hours to learn, 2 years to master.

 

 

It probably did take me a good 6-8 months to get it 100% correct, always shifting at a good band, not smacking my passengers around.

My Civic's clutch was unlike any I'd ever used, and near impossible to teach other people to use unless they'd done it before...

 

And I have to admit to still knocking people around occasionally, but it's pretty much always me by myself when I drive so I don't really care. The roads here are bad enough that nobody ever knows.

[Kougar]

I first learned to drive stick in my buddy's AWD '95 Eclipse GSX. He told me to rev it to around 6k and just dump the clutch. I refused to do it until he did it like 3 times in a row. That was the start of it. Translate a similar style to the quest when I first bought it (not literrally, but still aggresive) and it was tire-spin city the first couple hours, haha :-D.

 

Took a day or two to get it around town without making an idiot out of myself at every stop. I honestly don't remember how long it took me to REALLY get it right.

[Burton]

I guess I was pretty lucky. I learned it pretty well in one day, and after that, the only time I would ever stall much is if I was driving a car for the first time. It took me months to really master it, but I really had a pretty good handle on it fairly quickly.

[NudeLobster]

hmmmm. See I'm not stalling at all (only time it stalls is when the idle dies), and its not like I looks like an idiot going around town, most everything is smooth, just not fast enough on the clutch I guess? I haven't stalled it since my first day, and my shifts are all good. I guess it's just me being slow with the clutch then?

 

OH, and man these cars like to be sideways. It was snowing (didnt stick on the street though, just wet like rain), and the car was aching to get sideways. Happened to me once I got kinda really sideways but the whole car kinda slide, not just the rear (still on the old tires ) And just going through say protected left turns, I could feel the rear trying to get away from me... This car will be funnnnnn, once I learn to keep my cool and not freak out when the rear end gets away from me. I only really freaked out the first time cause I didn't expect it, but after that I was paying attention to it and I kept my cool from there.

[Indiana]

Well lets see, you're about 6 years old and you play with a garden tractor then maybe you have an old Willy Jeepster to play with after school up in a field and found out what overdrive was and don't forget about riding motorcycles or having to drive an old 68 Dodge crew cab around to haul trash (& still here dad bought it new) and an old Ford with power take winches for digging a pond with a slip scoop (that never did hole water when it was done) then you get a car with a manual transmission and its like hey, this is so much easier than those other things. It sort of comes natural, its a blend of rpms and pedal and not letting the motor die but not slip the clutch ever. You never leave your foot on the pedal or raise it on a hill to not move and you don't have to rev the motor way up to get it to start the car moving. Its harder to change gears than to take off but I know people that drive for 20 years and they still suck at manual transmissions I can't imagine why. You'll get it, just don't think you can only move the shifter with the clutch pressed down, I take the car out of gear as the pedal is going down and soon as it reaches the floor I'm started in or already in to the next gear and I still ride with people that make the car shake and jerk when they shift. The clutch is to take the load off the gears so you can change them its not like it makes the parts inside stop and wait for you to move the shifter. This is why if the linkage is shot in this car, and it usually is, the shifting sucks.

[Ironside]

Try to find someone with three on the tree to practice on.Thats how I learned of course that was 22 years ago.After that the quest will be a breeze trust me.http://www.starquestclub.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

[Komeuppance]

I taught myself when I was 12 driving around our D50 on our property. Of course I sucked hard at it at first, take offs were the hardest for me. I was doing everything in the right order, just too fast (clutch dumps). After about maybe 8 hours of actual practice, including sitting in the same spot for long periods trying to get it moving again, spread out over a few days I had it under control where I could drive it on the road.

 

I did like to sit in the truck and make engine and tire sounds and shift as fast as I could... that probably helped a lot... lol...

 

-Robert

[ucw458]

Driving a manual is just like anything else in this world. You suck at at first and don't trust yourself. But after practicing you start to learn how. But you will never get good at it until you stop doubting yourself and be confident in your ability to do it. Once you get that confidence you can start perfecting how you shift and get really good at it. Be thankfull modern cars have syncrows so you don't have to double clutch to change gears.

 

If you don't know what double clutching is there are some good examples of it in the movie bullet. There's a chase scene with a 67 mustang chasing a 68 charger through san fransisco. Skip to 3:20, that's the start of the chase. At 7:30 is an excelent example of double clutching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcW-T-thdoE&NR=1

Edited March 20, 2010 by ucw458

[Killtodie]

after a few weeks, you need to drive with a friend who can complain at your shifting and tell you his perspective on when you need to shift and what you are doing wrong.

[ucw458]

Be very careful about teaching your GF or fiancee how to drive manual. She will get mad at you and you wont get sex for awhile.

[TexasQuest]

Took me about 1/2 hour to an hour. A couple days to perfect it.

[ucw458]

Hey it could be worse.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J02MUyr7zOY&feature=grec

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUdiaGkGfZ0

[lmwii]

I taught myself when I was 12 driving around our D50 on our property. Of course I sucked hard at it at first, take offs were the hardest for me. I was doing everything in the right order, just too fast (clutch dumps). After about maybe 8 hours of actual practice, including sitting in the same spot for long periods trying to get it moving again, spread out over a few days I had it under control where I could drive it on the road.

 

I did like to sit in the truck and make engine and tire sounds and shift as fast as I could... that probably helped a lot... lol...

 

-Robert

i learned on my dad's d50 at about the same age

[BC_99]

1965 F-100.bigblock, 3 speed column shift, about 20 years ago, dad told me if you can learn to drive this, you can drive anything. took me about 3 tries to get going the first time, after that just practice around town. when I finally turned 15 about 3 years later, drivers ed was a breeze.

 

BC_99

[strang3majik]

double clutching in 1968? The tranny for my Cuda is a 1968 4 speed, and, that one, the only time you have to double clutch it is to downshift...upshifting is just like normal...

 

 

...odd.

 

Also, took me about a day in my grandfathers Mustang Cobra. Those have a cable clutch that nearly takes two feet to push and is an on/off switch to boot. I stalled that car out once, and, ever since then, I've been good.

 

And, in the Quest I'm about perfect with the clutch...but, any other clutch car, it takes me a few starts to get perfect. But...I have the Omni about down now as well...however, that one, the shifter is so freaking sloppy, I'll be in 3rd instead of first, even though I went all the way over and up...but, that car, I can move the shifter about 3" either way when its in gear...lol

[Indiana]

1965 F-100.

Ya its even harder when those idler arm bushings are gone and the shifter linkage bushings are missing. I hear ya.

[Komeuppance]

It's all about the rev match heal toe yo.

 

-Robert

[strang3majik]

clutch pedals are for starting from a dead stop...using it any other time is just sissy stuff

[BandY]

The sweet thing about our 5-speeds is the hydrolic clutch. You can practically let the clutch out from a dead stop, without touch the gas pedal, and it won't stall. Very different with a spring clutch, like most Hondas have. I learned the 4-speed on an old Volkswagon dune buggy when I was eight years old. If you learn on a Quest, you're gonna have nightmares when someone asks you to drive their spring clutch car for em! The Quest will spoil anyone!!

[Killtodie]

Honda's dont have springs clutches? they have all been hydraulic since 1986...

[ucw458]

The sweet thing about our 5-speeds is the hydrolic clutch. You can practically let the clutch out from a dead stop, without touch the gas pedal, and it won't stall. Very different with a spring clutch, like most Hondas have. I learned the 4-speed on an old Volkswagon dune buggy when I was eight years old. If you learn on a Quest, you're gonna have nightmares when someone asks you to drive their spring clutch car for em! The Quest will spoil anyone!!

 

 

Honda's dont have springs clutches? they have all been hydraulic since 1986...

 

You're both sorta right and sorta wrong. All clutches I know of are spring type. The pressure plate is a spring of sorts and a steel disk.

 

 

For clutch actuation you have 3 basic types, hydrolic, cable, and mechanical.

 

1. Mechanical has physical linkage between the pedal and clutch fork. This uses pivots and rods to transfer the energy from the pedal to the clutch fork that pushes the throwout bearing that releases the clutch.

 

2. Cable is exactly how it sounds. A cable is run from the pedal down to the clutch fork. The cable transfers the power from the pedal to the clutch fork that pushes the throwout bearing against the pressure plate releasing the chutch.

 

3. Hydrolic uses a rod attached to the pedal that pushes a piston inside the clutch master. That piston forces a fluid into a line under pressure. That line transfers the pressure to the slave cylinder that has another piston in it. The pressurized fluid forces the slave cyl piston to push a metal bar that is between the slave cyl piston and the clutch fork. This action moves the clutch fork that pushes the throwout bearing against the pressure plate releasing the chutch.

 

Hydrolic is by far the best. It transfers the most energy with the lowest loss. Friction in the system is a minor problem in a hydrolic system. Friction does play a larger role in a cable and mechanical system. A little rust or lack of grease can make cable/mechanical clutches hard if not impossible to operate.

[strang3majik]

hydraulic sucks...its the most complicated, and, the most exspensive to maintain. I'll take a cable/linkage setup over it anyday. It either works or it don't with them.

 

Also...I like the feel of a stiff clutch, and stiff brakes actually. I'm not a fan of power assist, or hydraulic assist on anything.