First time 6mt owner, few questions

[AJ5.0]

Hey guys, I'm pulling the trigger on either a pp gt with 3.73 gears or base with the 3.31s. It will be my first manual car and I had a question regarding the correct way to shift and preserve the clutch for the life of the car.

1) is it bad to start off in second?
2) in traffic is it bad to "ride" the clutch without giving it gas so I can idle with the flow of stop and go traffic?
3) when I downshift is there a certain amount of "blip" I have to give the throttle so the car doesn't jerk?
4) if I don't rev match can I just let the clutch go slowly to avoid car jerk?
5) when making turns should I be in gear? Or can I just fully engage the clutch to a neutral position?

Sorry again for the incompetence. I plan to get at least a day of driving in a rental. Any pointers would be appreciated as well!

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[hiccup]

1.no
2.yes ..put in first gear and crawl with traffic
3.no
4. Yes
5.yes and no or vise versa

 

[AJ5.0]

1.no
2.yes ..put in first gear and crawl with traffic
3.no
4. Yes
5.yes and no or vise versa

Thanks!! Just some emphasis on #2....so let's say I'm in traffic and in 1st, it's okay to be half way on the clutch so that the car is just kind of idling without gas? Or is that bad?

 

[Brad]

I am pretty sure the clutch should be fully engaged or not at all.

 

[Socalmustang]

do a search, there is a few, long threads on manual driving here.

 

[Charles147]

You may experience premature clutch wear being your first MT car...It's good that you are trying to avoid bad habits though.

 

[slcoddity]

1.no
2.yes ..put in first gear and crawl with traffic
3.no
4. Yes
5.yes and no or vise versa

I doubt the 3rd one

 

[Khyber]

just get off the clutch, if it's flat pavement car goes forward on it's on with 3.73s. you don't even have to touch the throttle.

 

[Brad]

Lots of information at the end of this thread. Kid burnt his clutch pretty fast.
http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33651

 

[hiccup]

I doubt the 3rd one

I guess it depends on the purpose of downshift....whether its for passing speed or slowing down

 

[jasonstang]

Hey guys, I'm pulling the trigger on either a pp gt with 3.73 gears or base with the 3.31s. It will be my first manual car and I had a question regarding the correct way to shift and preserve the clutch for the life of the car.

1) is it bad to start off in second?
2) in traffic is it bad to "ride" the clutch without giving it gas so I can idle with the flow of stop and go traffic?
3) when I downshift is there a certain amount of "blip" I have to give the throttle so the car doesn't jerk?
4) if I don't rev match can I just let the clutch go slowly to avoid car jerk?
5) when making turns should I be in gear? Or can I just fully engage the clutch to a neutral position?

Sorry again for the incompetence. I plan to get at least a day of driving in a rental. Any pointers would be appreciated as well!

1. Depends, are you on a hill? Are you trying to get away fast? What's wrong with starting in 1st?
2. Is it bad? Well from clutch wear point of view yes but keeping rpm low while slipping clutch will minimize wear.
3. You want to blip the rpm to match the rpm the gear it will be. Like if you are in 4th 2000 rpm and you want to get to 2nd, you will blip the rpm to at least 4000rpm. It's always better to over blip than under.
4. Also depends, if you are in 5th doing 50mph 2000rpm and you drop in 2nd, you are going to wear the fuck out of the clutch by let it go slowly dragging the engine up to 5000rpm. Use rev match.
5. There are two ways to do it. If you are driving aggressively, heel and toe before turning. However the pedals are not really setup for the amount of braking you use on the street. If you are driving normally, you can press the clutch in while turning (don't take hands off steering wheel to change gear mid corner), when you are almost done with turning, just pick a lower gear and release clutch and keep moving.

 

[Horse]

Hey guys, I'm pulling the trigger on either a pp gt with 3.73 gears or base with the 3.31s. It will be my first manual car and I had a question regarding the correct way to shift and preserve the clutch for the life of the car.

1) is it bad to start off in second?
2) in traffic is it bad to "ride" the clutch without giving it gas so I can idle with the flow of stop and go traffic?
3) when I downshift is there a certain amount of "blip" I have to give the throttle so the car doesn't jerk?
4) if I don't rev match can I just let the clutch go slowly to avoid car jerk?
5) when making turns should I be in gear? Or can I just fully engage the clutch to a neutral position?

Sorry again for the incompetence. I plan to get at least a day of driving in a rental. Any pointers would be appreciated as well!

For me:
1) always start in 1st, unless the car is rolling.
2) stay in (proper) gear all/most of the time. If I have to be in neutral, I put it in neutral and lift the clutch pedal (i.e., engage the clutch).
3) rev-match when down shifting.
4) see above.
5) see my 2) above, so stay in gear. (With my new mustang, I find it hard to heel/toe (but still practicing). So now when approaching a turn, I do it the way before I learned heel-toe, which does not feel secure to me. I like knowing that my car is in proper gear thus having power ready when needed.)

There are many sources (book, internet, etc) where manual transmission is explained. I learned how clutch and gear changing (yes, including synchro) work on youtube. Once you know how they work, you can decide (for example) whether you would rev-match.

 

[Grandmarshal]

Or you can forget all that and do what i do... put it in "D" and be faster. :bolt:

 

[Firststang]

With the 3.73 gearing you can start in second gear if you like. I don't but you can.
The mustang has hill assist and will easily "idle" similar to an automatic if left in first gear in slow traffic.
Don't keep the clutch depressed! You want to be as binary as possible in normal driving. If you half on the clutch and applying throttle you are in effect grinding or burning your clutch.
Finally remove the spring assist on your clutch pedal when you get your car. Lots of threads here on how to do it. Takes 5 minutes. It will make your clutch pedal "heavier" but you will have more feel to the clutch. Best thing I ever did.

 

[Rob00GT]

To preserve the life of your clutch try to think of it as an on/off switch. Perfectly acceptable to slip a little to get you moving from a dead stop but after that keep you foot off the clutch unless you're shifting.

You might get away with starting off in 2nd if you have the performance pack, but I don't think I'd recommend it with stock 3.31 gears. You won't break anything, but will shorten clutch life.

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