Quick Manual shifting advise!

[BrettT]

Agreed ↑↑↑

The whole point in having a multi-speed transmission of any sort is so you can keep the engine operating within an rpm range that's comfortable for it. Not too many rpms for the conditions of the moment, nor too few. Use the transmission for its purpose of keeping the engine happy, and let that make you happy.

In most normal street driving, there's no need to always be running some gear out to the point where using the next one up becomes pointless. The only common exception I can think of involves skipping 5th on the way to 6th when accelerating up to speed on a limited-access highway and you've already matched the prevailing speed of traffic in 4th.
Norm

100% agree here...Skip a gear if and when it makes sense. Don't think I have ever skipped 1-4. Downshifts is of course another story.....

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[Rover]

Skip gears if shifting is a burden and you wish you got the automatic

 

[boos550t]

i go 1-6 almost all the time

plus the rev-hang kinda messes you up and you have to wait a little longer to match the revs when you skip gears

 

[TomcatDriver]

Some of this is a pilot-vehicle interface problem and common on virtually all manual transmission cars, worse with more power. Your body has inertia and moves (to a degree) independently from the vehicle. In a car the gas and brake pedal (intentionally or not) have a built in safety factor to make you go slower. When you press on the brake, your leg (and entire body if not strapped in tight) will shift forward applying more brake pressure. When you press the gas, the acceleration will shift your leg aft reducing acceleration. As you release the clutch, the acceleration is going to encourage you to release it more. If you have particularly noodlly legs you can get a lurching harmonic, but any driver can have this happen a little. As you gain experience on a manual transmission you will become accustomed to this effect and compensate, even if you don't realize it. Best bet - practice.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Some of this is a pilot-vehicle interface problem and common on virtually all manual transmission cars, worse with more power. Your body has inertia and moves (to a degree) independently from the vehicle. In a car the gas and brake pedal (intentionally or not) have a built in safety factor to make you go slower. When you press on the brake, your leg (and entire body if not strapped in tight) will shift forward applying more brake pressure. When you press the gas, the acceleration will shift your leg aft reducing acceleration. As you release the clutch, the acceleration is going to encourage you to release it more. If you have particularly noodlly legs you can get a lurching harmonic, but any driver can have this happen a little. As you gain experience on a manual transmission you will become accustomed to this effect and compensate, even if you don't realize it. Best bet - practice.

Interesting thought that's absolutely never occurred to me. Thanks.

Makes me wonder if that's the reason I've learned to plant my right heel on the floor midway between the accelerator and brake pedals and just flip the ball of my foot between those pedals as necessary. Referencing the part of your foot that works the pedals first to the car and only after that to the rest of your leg (and the seat, which is also somewhat flexible) does make fine modulation of those pedal inputs much easier. But it sure does get in the way of learning how to heel-toe.


Norm

 

[CrashOverride]

Is that possibly something a tuner could program out?

Yes, easily.

 

[CrashOverride]

Just remember that the hanging rev is actually there to make it engage better in the next gear. If you shift exceptionally fast, then yes the driveline will jerk as the engine spins down to match the new input shaft speed of the trans.

Programming is an easy way to get the throttle feel closer to a cable. You can also tweak the accelerator position-to-throttle blade setting to get it close to 1:1 ratio. The stock setting isn't too bad though as long as you are in normal mode. Track mode is worse. Practice is best. Getting the shifter under control better than stock will help. Getting the clutch spring out (Or a smaller assist) will help. The truth is you'll never be able to replicate a DCT or even a good auto though, it's just the way it is. The auto trans has multiple shift elements that can clutch/de-clutch simultaneously because each of planetary gear sets (Or "Packs" as sometimes called) have multiple clutches. With the DCT, obviously there is zero "shift" time as all that needs to happen is a brief clutch application to switch trans output shafts.

Know that the faster you shift, the harder you apply the synchros, and the faster they wear - there is no way around it. Technique helps with the wear though. I can't say how long the trans will last with hamfisted shifts, because each person varies with their shifts. I do a lot of city driving, and even though I drive like a grandpa most of the time, if I'm shifting more than you, then my trans will fail sooner. So you can take that into account as well.

 

[w3rkn]

Has to rank as one of the most idiotic (to use your word) posts I've read on this forum. Drive your Prius this way to eek out every last mpg possible. Drive the Mustang M6 the way it was meant to be driven.

Oh?

Is that (given your remarks) you drive like an asshole on the streets..? And not knowing, or have ever learned how to drive on the streets. I bet driving like that daily, comes with a mullet too. Seriously, racing through EVERY GEAR from light to light...?

Or, (like I said), learn to skip gears, BECAUSE YOU ARE IN TRAFFIC...

Thus, you must do traffic..! Chaos theory on public roads means you don't have the opportunity to race through each gear and drive the mustang like it meant to be driven... or to even suggest that. Given, the OP is asking how to drive more smoothly and lower speeds, etc.


This isn't a racing thread..

 

[w3rkn]

Will agree with the others but will also say this...Drive your car as it suites you and try not to put others down for doing the same for them. I've had zero issue going through every gear and maintaining my place in traffic or keeping up/passing other people with their 4 wheeled toys. I also mainly do the 4-2 thing as well at around 35-40mph because auto rev matching is one of my favorite sounds. I will ask though, when skipping half the gears, why not just get the A10?

To the OP, try everything and do what works for you. You'll get better with time and patience and then you'll shift just like you breathe.

Right..!

Rev matching the next gear, or one that is 3 up from it, takes the same amount of precision and clutch/engine control (aka automatic like precision). And if you read back, I said it all depends on how fast you are going and how quickly you need to have presence in space.

Stroking every gear, always... on city streets? Is a part throttle mini-racing.

 

[DuRsT]

I can't understand your opinion that accelerating and hitting every gear on the way up is "part-throttle mini-racing".

I've driven a manual since 1996 and the only times I actually skip gears is when I accelerate hard up to the speed limit and then just kind of lazily put it into the appropriate high gear. The rest of the time when I'm just driving normally I just run 1-whatever in order of gearing. No one said that you have to go full acceleration when shifting 1st-6th.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Or, (like I said), learn to skip gears, BECAUSE YOU ARE IN TRAFFIC...

Which means that you're either running a lower gear out too far (so you don't need the very next gear), or you're not running it out far enough (and making the gear you skipped to lug).

Thus, you must do traffic..! Chaos theory on public roads means you don't have the opportunity to race through each gear and drive the mustang like it meant to be driven... or to even suggest that.

Your misconception is that a Mustang only has one way that it's "supposed to be driven". You should be driving a Mustang, or any other car, to whatever the prevailing traffic permits. If that means you don't need to rev past 3000 rpm while in traffic, so be it; the Mustang will drive just fine anyway.

This isn't a racing thread..

True. It's not even about trying to pretend you're racing even momentarily in a single gear.


Norm

 

[Sivi70980]

I can't understand your opinion that accelerating and hitting every gear on the way up is "part-throttle mini-racing".

I've driven a manual since 1996 and the only times I actually skip gears is when I accelerate hard up to the speed limit and then just kind of lazily put it into the appropriate high gear. The rest of the time when I'm just driving normally I just run 1-whatever in order of gearing. No one said that you have to go full acceleration when shifting 1st-6th.

Exactly. If the speed limit is 35, I generally start from a stop in 1st and work my way to 4th and hang out. 1,2,3,4 shifting nice and easy sometimes not even going over 3k RPM. If I choose to accelerate faster to the speed limit, the transition from 2-3 and 3-4 might be shorter because I used more RPM in 1 and 2. I could just go from 2 to 4 in that instance but it's never felt right to me. I don't know but do the syncro's like or dislike it? It likely doesn't matter mechanically, just different methods to accomplish the same thing. Now if traffic dictates me speed to go slower then obviously I control my right foot as any sane driver should and just shift as needed.

@w3rkn Just out of my own curiosity, if you are in 1st or 2nd and going to skip to 3rd or 4th accordingly, and there's traffic keeping you at say 4k RPM, do you hang there till you have enough RPM to skip ahead in gears? Same question but I'll word it differently for clarities sake. You're in 2nd gear at 4k RPM and traffic is keeping you from changing your speed, do you just hang at 4k RPM till you get enough speed to shift into 4th? My brother likes to keep his cars hanging at higher RPM witch is why I ask. I've know other drivers that shift way too soon a lug their cars around too.

 

[SoZen]

I took a lot of time to get to know my Bullitt's transmission. This is like my 20th sports car with manual transmission - 3rd mustang. Whatever, it was still a couple of years since my last manual, track-car, a BRZ. So despite many high-performance cars, it took a while to figure out the way to shift it.

Shifting slowly but smoothly (been said on this thread already, but it's super smooth and i shift like this a lot because of the reality of traffic)

• Regardless of the rpm-shift point, do not look at the tach at all, just feather-touch the shift level towards 2nd and the car will almost magnetically (magically) suck it Into 2nd when it's ready to shift, just release the clutch and then apply the throttle & go!
• Super smooth. Even the wife accepts the shifts as smooth.

Shifting fast:

• WOT may be different - I have not tried this method at redline & WOT - just because I've not had many occasions to do so. Regardless, the car is really fun no matter how hard I'm shifting it.
• Here goes:
  1. push the go-pedal as hard as you want,
  2. begin to shift into 2nd gear (will work on 1-2, 2-3, 3-4 shifts - doesn't matter) at any RPM above 4k, (engage clutch & get off gas as you normally would, this phase of the shift is smooth anyways)
  3. put the car into 2nd (no need to wait - get it into 2nd asap, smoothly),
  4. release the clutch as-fast-and-smoothly-as-possible WHILE making sure you apply throttle just before the clutch engages.
• DON'T: fail to apply the throttle as indicated. Why? Making sure the accelerator is applied and the timing of it may seem a little vague - but I can tell you how to know if you're doing it correctly:
  • if you are not on the accelerator soon enough - you get a double jerk: once forward (because the engine adjusts rpms down to match the next gear causing jerk #1) and the second jerk will be be pushing you back into the seat under force of the late application of the accelerator.
• DO: apply the throttle as indicated. Why?
  • if you apply the accelerator correctly, you will hear a chirp of the tires and feel a strong, jedi-like force pulling you back into your seat. Your passengers cash and credit cards will fly from their wallets and embed themselves between the seatback cushions. Women will react as if you gave them the most rare beads on Bourbon St. Finally, the Mustang gods will sing a V8-pheromone-infused symphony just for you and everyone in your vicinity!
• DO: release the clutch quickly and smoothly. If you're too slow releasing the clutch (for example if you are slowly releasing the clutch like you would under the "Shifting Slow" scenario or as you would under normal driving conditions), you will hear a sound reminiscent of the Jim Carrey's "most annoying sound in the world".

Hopefully that helps someone - it works for me.

 

[Silver Bullitt]

Oh?

Is that (given your remarks) you drive like an asshole on the streets..? And not knowing, or have ever learned how to drive on the streets. I bet driving like that daily, comes with a mullet too. Seriously, racing through EVERY GEAR from light to light...?

Or, (like I said), learn to skip gears, BECAUSE YOU ARE IN TRAFFIC...

Thus, you must do traffic..! Chaos theory on public roads means you don't have the opportunity to race through each gear and drive the mustang like it meant to be driven... or to even suggest that. Given, the OP is asking how to drive more smoothly and lower speeds, etc.


This isn't a racing thread..

Me

And my Stang

WANNA RACE?

 

[Sivi70980]

Me

And my Stang

WANNA RACE?

Hhahahahahahah! Thank you!!

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