OK so I know you guys are gonna eat this one up...

Someone wanna give me good advice, please? My "friends" all say different things, but I would like to know what would be the best way to make my transmission and clutch last longer. I usually shift up between 3,000 and 3,500, to save gas. Some people are going to say stupid stuff like, "drive like a bat out of hell to get ahead of everyone," but I can get ahead of everyone just fine shifting up the way I do... I would like some good mechanical advice about whether or not the way I am driving is wrong. The transmission in the car allows me to not necessarily take curves in 2nd, but often in third, I can speed up at 10 mph in second, without the RPMs raising past 4500. I don't really drive many other manual transmission cars, so I don't know if it's just my car being weird.

I copy/pasted this from my inquiry on the thread about "NA turbo lag."

 

I'm not quite sure what you are asking. What year is your car? If its an S5 the VDI and 5th and 6th ports can get stuck if you don't use them often enough. Thats not so much transmission or clutch, I'm just warning you about keeping the revs so low. Revving your car up much higher before you shift won't decrease the life of your trans or clutch as long as you don't pop the clutch, like for a burnout or whatever, or roast your clutch when you take off. Basically, just shift smooth without burning the clutch and you should be fine.

 

Shift at 3500 to save gas!!... i shift at 2500 when i'm trying to save on gas

 

87 NA

I shift whenever the car feels like she wants to shift up... not because the light said so, but cuz she starts vibrating like a ****... but should I just keep it varying, then? She gets about 19-20 MPG in city... not sure what it is on highway.

 

Honestly, as long as you are popping the clutch in and out and not riding on it, I don't think you have to worry about anything.

 

I have heard SO many definitions of "riding the clutch" please give me the REAL meaning of riding it, because the many different uses of that phrase confuse the crap out of me.

 

If you smell you clutch when ever you use it, that's bad. Or if you keep your foot on it too long, basically if you slip the clutch far too long when taking off or shifting.

 

Yea, like if you leave the clutch gripping halfway while your accelerating for better controll, that is riding the clutch. ^what he said too, if you can smell it then the little pucks that grip are being worn down far to rapidly than normal.

 

what happens if it grinds a little going into the gears? (not driving incorrectly for this one, it just does it sometimes, like it is going between two pieces of metal, then gets into gear happy as a clam.)

 

means you're not engaging the clutch all the way, so I think you might be shifting faster than your clutch foot can act. As long as you don't do it too often you should be okay, if it's constant whenever you're tryin' to get in gear have it checked out.
-Bert

 

Yeah it's not me... it really is the car, cuz I have the clutch pressed all the way down, and it's not a racing clutch, so it's not something I speed shift. It's definitely not the operator It's something else. Hehe

 

depending on what you mean (not really clear), it could be bad synchros or your shifter bushings are worn out like everyone elses. the latter is the most probable, and its like 60 bucks for a set.

 

Clutch wear only occurs when the clutch slips. This occurs when the clutch has to slide to match RPMs between the driveshaft and engine (similar to how brakes work).

The only place the clutch *has* to slip is when starting from a stop. The less slipping there is, the longer the clutch will last. One way to do this is to just drop the clutch and let the tires take the wear. This isn't good for anything except the clutch.

Personally, I've gotten good at starting out at 500 RPM or so. It takes a bit of work, but I can get the clutch fully engaged at a very low RPM and slide away from a stop light. Not terribly fast, but certainly easy on the drivetrain.

Then, shifting, if you properly rev match between shifts, you don't wear the clutch at all. It's actually not even really needed to shift, though the RX-7 transmission is tight enough that it's nearly impossible to shift it without the clutch.

When upshifting, let the RPMs drop to where they need to be for the next gear before letting the clutch out. If they're just right, you won't get any jolt at all when you let the clutch out.

When downshifting, blip the throttle before letting the clutch out, to get the RPMs up to where they need to be. Some cars don't need this as much (though it's always a good practice), but it really helps smooth things out on the '7.

Finally, just to be nice to the tranny, I suggest double clutching when doing a "wide jump" in RPMs (downshifting). Read up on it, but I usually will double clutch from 4th or 5th into 2nd at 40mph when slowing down for a corner. About 4k RPM is where it needs to be.

Pretty much, don't make the clutch slip more than needed, and you'll be fine. They're durable, just not when driving stupidly.

-=Russ=-