AlphaX99

Well lets say i just plain out suck. Once i get the car going i'm great i shift okay and all. Just getting the car started to move from a stop is a problem. Needless to say i'm in my RX-8 when doing this. I have yet to go out into traffic which is what worries me. Red Lights are a big concern and stop signs and the sort. Any tips that may help me personal tips and stuff?? How to work the clutch. Tips would be helpful, thanks in advance guys..

Jasonawojo

iTrader: (2)

I've always found that being overzealous with the throttle makes things easier with this car; especially when I first started or am frustrated. Rev to ~3k, and gradually take foot off clutch; should avoid any stalling or bogging down, and it takes ~5k to accidentally spin out.

TheWulf

iTrader: (4)

Practice on a cheap car so you can ruin a cheap clutch

AlphaX99

haha believe me i would, none of my other cars are Manual. I dont know how i could practice. Unless i throw down a few grand which i dont want to do. I'll just keep practicing i guess. How much is it to replace a Clutch in this, say.. at the dealer?

TheWulf

iTrader: (4)

Safe to say probably more than buying a performance clutch and getting a performance shop to put it in (hint hint)

Flashwing

Practice practice practice! You'll get better.

daisuke

altho the clutch in the 8 is very good, it's not the best car to learn on. I still have trouble with the car on occasion because it's so quiet and the clutch doesn't give any feedback since it's hydraulic. Best way to learn is with a car that has a lot of torque like a v8 or a diesel.

Revving to 2k is about best to get it going, when you let off the clutch to get the car going it shouldn't drop below 1k or you'll feel it start to shudder. You'll get used to it soon, but if you have acces to a high torque engine with a manual I suggest you try that out since those car can usually be put into motion without using the accelerator. Once your foot develops the muscle memory for the sweet spot on the clutch the revs won't matter that much and it'll become mechanical.

dbright007

Quick blip blip blip to keep the rpms up and the clutch catches nice when you are learning.

imput1234

iTrader: (6)

Find the engagement point, depress the clutch pedal until you feel the car move, once it moves get on the accelerator gradually, and you can get off the clutch pedal. Go to a parking lot or somewhere and practice this. In a stop sign/light don't be on the clutch, just go to neutral.

Try to avoid down shifting in to first gear, if you do double clutch (get on the clutch twice). The syncros are sensitive.

If your on a hill and find it hard to move, don't be afraid to use the e-brake.

Other than that, just take your time, enjoy, drive safe, and happy motoring!

picnik

When I got my 8 I had no idea how to drive it, was a MT. Had to have a familly member come down to drive it home for me. I would recommend to read one or two of those "how to drive manual" sort of things online. Try to practice in a residential road with lots of stop signs, I did alot of driving at around 1am to make sure there is no cars or pedestrian around. I also got alot of practice at my office. I would stay late and just drive around the giant parking lot.

When you take your car out in traffic for the first time, try to get somone you know to drive behind you. So you will feel less nervous, and will have more time to take off from a red light. Also just rev your engine up to 3k rpm and ease off the clutch. If you start to lugg your engine and its going to stall, instead of flooring the gas, push the clutch back in and start over. Took me about a week to get comfortable driving around town.

Just remeber to keep it cool when your at a red light, don't get nervous and you will do fine. Don't worry about your damaging your clutch too much, I had three familly members learn to drive stick on my 8

If you do manage to destroy you clutch, witch is highly doubtful. Beter reason to buy a new and better one!

msenzo

Percy Sledge : Take time to know her.

Shifty Devil

To start moving from a stop, if your heel can touch the floor with the ball of your foot or your toes on the pedal you pivot your foot to release the clutch. You'll get your best fine control at the clutch contact point this way as you start moving. If you are trying to find the spot by moving your entire leg you have no "feedback" to control fine motion. You'll have your best control this way throughout the time the clutch-plate starts to engage as you start moving.

Wargoose

My advice would be to check with local driving schools to see if they offer a course that might help you out. I know here in the Toronto area there's a school called Shifters that teaches folks how to drive a manual.

I've never owned anything but manuals in my 26 years of driving, but my sister recently wanted to learn after exclusively owning automatics when her partner drove a stick-shift and their instructors are patient and well versed in getting people trained in this.

Maybe there's something similar in your area. Reading is one thing, but when I taught my wife how to drive a manual, there was no substitute for having me in the car with her, explaining the basics of how a clutch functioned so she could understand what was happening when I walked her through getting the car moving from a stop. Practice a lot in parking lots and industrial drives (preferably off peak work hours so traffic is all but non-existent). Once you can manage to understand working through the threshhold of clutch engagement and how much throttle to add, you can then move on to starting on hills, smooth downshifting for turns, etc.

j67345

Are there any parking lots that have a hill that you could go practice on? If so, I'd hit one of them up! You'll get the hang of it pretty quickly though. Soon enough, you won't even think about the clutch or shifting or anything....it will just be second nature!

mysql

For a new driver, it will take you a few days to move from a dead stop without fear of stalling. It will take you a month or two to drive from a dead stop into 1st gear smoothly without the car lurching and bucking.

When we say it will get easier, it might not seem like it, but it really will.

Rhawb

I think everyone's making the learning process sound a bit too complicated for a first timer. The simple fact is, you have to learn for yourself, no amount of technical explanation is going to make any sense at this point. Here's how to make it easy on yourself:

1) Launch the car using ONLY the clutch.
2) Stop the car.
3) Lather.
4) Rinse.
5) Repeat.

This will give you a feel for what happens when you begin stalling and how to stop it from happening (hint: push the clutch back in if the car shakes too much). Do this all without using the throttle. After you're comfortable with that, adding throttle will be a no-brainer. Eventually, getting started WILL be a quick nudge of the throttle and a smooth, quick clutch release, but without knowing exactly how everything works and feels, it's a very difficult thing to do.

(Really, you could use this method to reliably get around town, but getting started with no throttle is a VERY SLOW process, so you'd probably have lots of angry drivers behind you. I'd recommend getting to your closest big, empty parking lot early in the morning and just clutch-starting in circles until you feel comfortable)

whitebeau

+1... it's like sex, you'll find your groove

Wait till you get on hills, then you'll have to feather the clutch, right foot toe on brake while blipping the throttle with the right foot heel...

AlphaX99

oh joy..

whitebeau

Look into practicing rev-matching when you get comfortable for the downshifts. preferably when there isn't a car in front of you the first couple of times

It's also referred to as 'heel-toe', ball of foot on the brake, and heel on the gas blipping to match the rpm's usually near the same angle/speed of the mph... uhh being there isn't an mph needle, it's also by 'feel' also... hehehehe hope you saved money for alot of rubbers! you'll be burning tires in no time.... (vica versa?)

astrozoom

There was a pretty steep learning curve when I first go my manual RX-8 as well. I had only driven one other manual and that was for all of like 30 minutes. The trick with the 8 is finding the "sweet spot" with the clutch and the right amount of pressure on the gas pedal. I pretty much went to an empty parking lot and worked through most of this. I started by putting the clutch all the way in and slowly bringing it out until I found the point where the car starts to want to roll forward a little bit (assuming you are not on a hill of any sort). I would push the clutch all the way back in and repeat this a couple of times to try to start developing the muscle memory of that spot; the "sweet spot." Then, I tried getting to that spot and adding enough pressure to the gas pedal to start moving forward. The trick with the gas pedal is it is fairly sensitive, so you have to be careful not to step on it too much. Getting the engine to about 2k rpms at this point is a good estimate, but you will find that it is just more of how it feels. From there, it is just finessing the transition from completely releasing the clutch and adding the right amount of gas. Practice is key to this though. You will get it though. Just keep at it!

Rhawb

Just don't panic about it. It's a bit scary at first, but you'll realize it's not so bad after a week of driving around town.

Easiest way as a beginner on hills is to just hold up the ebrake with the button pushed in. Let it down as you engage the clutch and start moving. Eventually most hills will be as easy as starting from a flat stop - you won't need the ebrake trick on anything but the most steep hills.

xsnipersgox

I did the same.. just with an SE-R spec V

now.. as someone said, the best way to feel that engagement point.

1) bring car to a flat surface, aka one tat ur car won't move when u pop it in neutral

1) with car in manual, find a way to depress the clutch, then put your heel somewhere so that u can release the clutch by pivoting your foot. once you found this spot, this is your sweet spot for your heel

ADjusting the set so that you can depress the clutch fully with feet not fully extended

2) start the car, put it into 1st gear with the clutch down.

3) using that pivot point on the heel, release the clutch slowly.. i mean.. SLOWLY, there is no too slow, between engagement and stalling is like... 1/2 an inch? slowly let go of the clutch.

3) watch for when the car react/rpm drops, do not let it drop too low, if the car stalls u were going too fast, reengage clutch when engage point is found.

4) practice finding that point several times. remember, just engage barely, than depress the clutch and repeat.

5) now you get to play with throttle, find a nice pivot angle on this, then next time when you engage, add a little bit of throttle, think of it like trying to park very carefully, tats the amount of throttle you should give it.

6) slowly add gas while letting go of the clutch till full engagement, remember its only like 1/2 an inch between no engage and engage.

7) remember, when learning, be a little THROTTLE BIAS. then once you got it down, start making it perfect so that time between 1st touching VS complete match is minimal.

8) do not ride the clutch.. ur clutch will hate it and u'll smell it.

Rhawb

I agree with everything but these 2 points.

4) I think it's better to actually get the car MOVING with the clutch fully disengaged, using no throttle. I've found that people tend to learn how to balance between stalling/moving better this way.

7) Burnouts. While over-revving a bit does help beginners start more reliably, I think telling this to someone who has never driven stick before AT ALL can be bad. Bringing the clutch back too fast with the car sitting at 3000 RPMs can be a recipe for a panic-stricken blast through a parking lot.

YaXMaNGTO

Have somebody that knows how to drive a manual ride along with you. Don't go get Aunt Myrtle. Find an fellow enthusiast driver that's changed a clutch before, so they can describe what youre doing to the clutch when you start or shift incorrectly.