Newbie on a Clutch
 

I think i F...ed up today.
I smell burned oil while learning
to drive it?

Am I in trouble, I have new clutch, shifter and
flywheel.

:wallbash:

nothing to bad...if it smells like ur burning shit that just the lcutch lol....dont rev the engine high while trying to get the clutch engauged...try to stay below like 2k RPM and let the clutch go slowly until u begin to feel it grab then walla.....

What you smell is burning clutch material.

Are you seriously trying to learn stick on an FD?

Dave

I don't know if you can do this on an RX-7, but on my dad's Passat, right before you stall out in first gear, it starts going by itself without you applying any gas whatsoever.

If you can get to that point and hold it, do it about 5-10 times just going to clutch depressed to just before the sweet spot. The car will hold still. If you come out to sweet spot it'll start going forward, at least on my dad's Passat, that's where you want to apply glass and release the clutch.

Likely you smeklled buring clutch. My son took is R1 to the track and launched in 2nd gear at 3500 RPM. The clutch smell was VERY obvious. Until he gets a street/race clutch he'll launch in 1st!

ya...wtf...go get a damn civic or something and learn on that, o well burn out that clutch and have fun replacing it, ull learn

i learned 5 speed on my fd. lol fun.

gl

i learned mine on a 6puck Built LS integra...i think i wentthrew more tires then clutch haha

Must not be able to keep the front down when launching?

Newbie on the Cluth
 

Hello FD3ers

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.
Yes..An old fart (50+) learning on a FD3 for the first
time (spoiled by automatics all my life).

Ugh hard to find the sweet spot. But, I will try some your suggestions.

Thanks !!!

:dubs:

Like I said, clutches vary from car to car, my dad said his Subaru wouldn't do the "sweet spot" thing, it would just stall out. Depends on the car :)

I learned clutch on my fd, took like 30 min, after stalling 3 or 4 times, but now burnd clutch.

An fd with a stock clutch/flywheel is easy to learn on, you can basically get it moving w/o using the gas, well i have but might have been a slight decline. Your probably just buring up the clutch but thats part of the learning process.

It may be a little hard on the clutch but I think the best way to learn is with using no gas. Teaches the newb that the clutch pedal needs to be actuated in little movements and also where the engagements point is.

Here are some details on how to *properly* drive a manual tranny car. Unfortunately I went through 2 clutches on my Honda (1st car) before getting to this kind of information:
http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...2&postcount=39

Dave

From another 50+ welcome. But damn....how in the hell did you manage that? It just sounds so strange. I can't remember NOT knowing how to drive a manual. Anywhoo, good luck. IMO a light car like the FD is way easier to learn on then the wheeled barges we grew up with. :icon_tup:

Newbie on a Clutch
 

Wow nice thread !!!
Thanks again,

:score:

Yes this Old Fart is a Newbie
 

Had to learn it, I took the FD3 back from my 20 year
away in college.
:wallbash:

I learned (am learning) to drive my first manual, also an FD, haha, gl is right.

ddkkww888 - i found it helps to understand the mechanics of it first, knowing what has to happen, then just figuring how to make that happen using what ya got.. thats probably the most useless advice ever

Newbie on a Clutch
 

↑↑↑

Well said...

Thanks

I learned to drive stick when I was 15 with my mom's Honda Prelude. It took up until 7 months ago today before I drove another manual car. Took me the night that I bought my car to get used to it all over again, but after that I was good to go. The biggest problem with driving them is the fear of failure. Once you get past the fear then its easy. lol

Wat ever u do, dont keep on burning your clutch or else ur gonna be stuck with a horrible clutch which is no fun. I learned on my infiniti I30, burned the clutch, and now dont feel like dropping money on it to change it. Driving it sux, especially on hills ( i live on a mountain basically). Another tip that helped me a lot to drive smoothly is to shift not too fast, and not too slow. Ounce u get used stick, u can easily shift fast but for now if u shift fast the RPM is gonna jolt down to match the gear which is gonna cause the car to hop. If u shift too slow, the RPM is gonna fly up to match the gear which is again gonna cause a hop like feel. HOPe this helped.

From my experience, FD is basically my first manual car to drive. I learned to drive a manual on sis's bf's civic 20 mins before I go buy my FD. But basicallly heres the trick.
1) Leave car at neutral
2) Clutch in
3) slowly, let go of clutch as slow as possible ( I learned thru 1/4 of an inch @ a time)
4) until you hit the point, where the car/engine has a tiny vibration or shakes a bit
5) thats your catching point
6) Keep doing this until you can confirm and clearly know where the catching point is (as many time as possible for you to feel the clutch)
7) when you finally get it,shift into 1st gear,clutch in, and right when you feel the clutch at this point, gas a bit(tapping of holdin it 1/2 an inch)
8) and slowly let go of clutch the opposite way of stepping the gas (The amount of pressure stepping on the gas, the same amount of pressure releasing the clutch I would say)
9) You should be moving by then =)
Good luck and have fun driving =)

I remember learning on my built GSR civic, 6 puck, unsprung nightmare. i think an fd in stock form wont be too bad to learn on, just take it easy on the ol' clutch. good luck man

Good advice. I've taught a couple people to drive on a manual transmission, and the first lesson is learning the gas & clutch, in 1st gear only.


1.)Find a parking lot, be sure it's level, so the car won't roll unless you want it to.
2.)Quickly press the clutch pedal to the floor. Shift into 1st gear, keep your foot completely off of the gas pedal.
3.)Release the clutch very slowly until you hear the engine speed drop.
4.)Let the car roll forward, slowly releasing the clutch pedal.
5.)Take your foot off of the clutch pedal as soon as you've stopped applying pressure to the pedal.
6.)Quickly press the clutch pedal, and coast/brake to a stop.


Repeat until you can do this comfortably (at least 10x), don't use the accelerator at all.




Next, add the accelerator. Use the gas pedal to keep the RPM's at 1500 when starting from a stop. Listen to the engine, try not to look at the tachometer once you've found how 1500 RPM sounds. You can release the clutch more quickly, but you'll have to use the accelerator to compensate. Stay in 1st gear, as in the previous lesson.
Do this another 10x before shifting to 2nd.

To shift gears:
1.)Reach down for the shift lever as you release the gas pedal smoothly.
2.)Quickly press the clutch pedal to the floor. (Should take less than 0.25 seconds)
3.)Change gears. Don't grab the shift lever like a joystick: push forward gently with the palm of your hand, or pull backwards gently with your four fingers. Don't use your thumbs, it will slow you down. When the shift lever slides into place, quickly bring your free hand back to the steering wheel.
4.)Release the clutch pedal smoothly and quickly. (This should take less than 0.25-0.50 seconds)
5.)Once your foot is off the clutch pedal, smoothly apply the accelerator again. Be sure to keep your left foot on the dead pedal when you're not pressing the clutch.

-s-