Fitness Stain

ive heard that this is just an rx-7 thing, but when i get to low rpms (like 2000) or so, the car starts to buck and if i dont put the clutch in it will most likely die....
this happens most in 5th when it goes below 50mph....
im new to a stick and this is the first stick i have driven, but my friends have sticks as well, and thiers never seem to buck like mine does....
Ive heard that getting some "brace bars"......or torque bars or something like that....
is that how i can stop this bucking or is that just part of owning a stick....
i am a newbie, and this post verifies that so please dont flame, its a honest question to a problem that bugs me


thanks in advance
-dustin

Wish it was a TII

I'm not a car expert myself, but my 88 GXL was doing the bucking thing when I purchased it in low rpm when in 1st, 2nd, and sometimes 3rd gears. 2nd gear was definitely the worst. Soon after the clutch started slipping. Replaced the clutch, now no more "bucking," so I'm assuming it was the clutch that was at fault. Might want to check that out. It never did it for me in 4th or 5th gears, though, and very rarely in 3rd gear.

Fitness Stain

its really all gears that do it....
if i go too slow in gear, and let the rpms get to around 2000 then it starts to buck as if it will die

Josepi

Mine bucked below 2K when my TPS was outa whack/bad.

Fitness Stain

i jsut adjusted my tps like a month ago after doing the TB mod.....
its not set perfectly, but its close enough for now....(idles at like 1000-1500rpm)
im gonna adjust it sometime soon
what about the brace bars.....i heard they can help with the bucking??

Mr. Eccentric

Racing Beat makes an engine brace that is designed to stop shuddering not really bucking. You'd know it to come across it. The shuddering is usually in reverse, sometimes in 1st. Rarely does it happen; probably more in some cars than others. Anyway, the bucking is just the nature of the car. Seems like most turbo guys don't seem to have the problem for whatever reason. My S5 only had 38,000 original kms (around 23,000 miles let's say) of 90% highway use when I bought it last year, so I'm sure the clutch is fine, and I still get the bucks in the parking lot.

I find that the FC is a very hard car to drive smooth, I also find that it is smooth when you drive it hard. Hey, that's almost poetic.

Fitness Stain

the car is hard to drive smooth, and yes it doesnt respond better...alot better....while im hammering it.....is the brace jsut the one that goes across the two front shock tower things....(not sure of the actuall term for them)
???

87racer

no.... that is a strut tower brace. Those help with handling.

Fitness Stain

is that a worth while upgrade....im not flying through road courses or anything?

ZoomZoomH

ah, so the bucking is a characteristic of the FC.....

and i thought i just suck at driving stick :p

Fitness Stain

thats why i was freaking out....i figured since i was new to a stick i was just retarded
=-dustin

Crionics

Well, you need to understand something, I think. The 13b's power band from my experiences runs from like 3k-6k or so. If you are cruising and your rpm's drop too low, then you are going to kill the engine. I don't think I've experienced what yoiu are talking about, but if I am cruising through a sub-division or something, I will go like 20-30 in 4th gear usually. Since the rpm's drop to around 1k-1.5k, the car is barely running b/c I am so close to where it idles. That is prolly the reason for what you are experiencing. Every car will do this.

Solution? Keep your revs up a little higher, say 2k-2.5k. I understand your confusion since you are new tro driving a manual...You gotta keep up with a few more things than with a slush-box And I actually find that the FC is a very easy car to drive, up until I rebuilt my clutch master cylinder, it started getting a bit hairy, but since then, it's been good.

Hope his helps.

Fitness Stain

yeah see if i wanted to cruise at like 20-30...in 4th....it would jar like it was about to die....unless of course i step on the clutch......

its not a big deal....i would just cruise in 3rd in that situation....but i would like to cure it if possible, which by the replies it seems as though im just going to have to get used to it, which isnt a big deal.....left leg just gets cramps......small price to pay for having a fast car

ZoomZoomH

yeah, for highway driving, if i'm going slower than 60 i usually downshift to 4th and keep it there. engine seems to like it much better than humming below 2k in 5th.

only time i ever use 5th is when i go 65+

question for FC old timers, when crawling in traffice (5-20 mph w/ stop & go), do you stay mainly in 2nd or 3rd?

1sts are pretty useless except for starting from a stop

ZoomZoomH

oh, and I NEVER go higher than 3rd if i'm going 20-30mph (well maybe except i'm going downhill and want to save some gas )

Fitness Stain

im no fc old timer, but i usually stay in 3rd for as long as possible.....it revs a bit lower at those speeds than 2nd obviously, so i try to stay in 3rd unless i get down to less than 10mph or so.....then its time to hit second...thats for me though.....
i would go into second more often probally, but i need new bushings and its hard sometimes to get into second while downshifting

Flyby116

Thought this prob was only with me, go figure

huntermk23

im having a similar problem just recently with my 88 NA, Starts up and idle's to 3k as it would normaly and it runs fine until it gets to the actual idle speed around 750 then the engine starts to shake and stutter like crazy and my rev guage bounces between 750 and i say around 600-575, it wont die out so i guess im lucky there, it drives fine as long as its going past 750 revs it works perfectly but when it gets down there it always does it, this started happening last week. my first thoughts is that there could be an airleak somewhere. any thoughts? suggestions? i was also thinking that could it be caused by having the belts loose? like around the air compressor persay? i checked the tension and my belts are a bit somewhat loose but i dont have the time to actualy tighten them between school and full time job. so if someone can please give me some recomendations on what i should have it checked out for thnx.