masonholmes

Hey man, thanks for the reply. Do you mean something like this? http://www.beneficialdesigns.com/rec...nd.html#manual If so, that's something I just recently ran across, and we've been pondering on here. The two issues seem to be how hard it'd be to twist-actuate a clutch, and then the fact that you can't throttle/clutch at the same time. Of course neither me or Wikked have had the chance to try it out either, and I have some thoughts there.. one of which is put the clutch as a lever on the stick. The problem I haven't mentioned right here, is how little steering control you'd have when doing allll this at the same time, but oh well, lol.

I also did some digging last night and found a disabled guy who drives a manual WRX. He's got a "5Zigen Twin Clutch" setup, which basically takes the clutch out of the picture. It aint cheap, like $2100, (which I'd gladly pay if it was a winner), but the setup also seems to be impossible to get ahold of now too. (was JDM only to begin with, and the supplier, at least that this guy used, seems to have gone out of business) I did email him, though haven't heard back yet. I didn't run into any pics on his site, but if anybody's interested, here're some links that at least explain it a little bit. I also found mention of it on the rx7 forums, (and a disabled forum), but the thread was old & short lived. (which I revived, at least temporarily, haha)

http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/transm...ystem-yet.html
http://www.subarureview.com/showreview.php?id=869

Of course now I can't find the link to the WRX drivers page, lol, but rest assured, if I get any further info, I'll post back here. Also, I ran into another company doing something similar to Rediauto, years ago and just recently, called Drivematic. When contacted, I was shot down due to price, right off the bat - so apparently they're not even interested in sales.

Totally off-topic, but great to see the quote from Jeff, (Mazdamaniac), in your sig WantedTwo. He was one of the kings over @ mx-3.com, till he bought the rex for a new project & eventually left us. Damn you guys! haha. I'll have to shoot him an email..

masonholmes

The WRX guy got back to me, and like I figured, the 5zigen setup has been discontinued.

Livea

Ressurrection again...

Have you looked at the Duck Clutch?

I am looking for an alternative for my daughter's Mazda 3 5-speed. Chemo and radiation have damaged her hip and the pain/weakness has progressed to where she can't shift very well, and it makes the pain worse. I have my 6-speed Shinka, so swapping isn't an option.

I am thinking about enlisting help from a high school robotics class.

The company than make the Duck Clutch hasn't returned my inquiries. An adaptive specialty company in Houston couldn't offer any solutions and Mazda certainly wasn't any help.

We don't know if this is permanent or not yet, but she is ready to get on with things...

I appreciate your information and truly respect and admire your drive to live.

masonholmes

I've not heard of it, time for some more digging!

Really sorry to hear of your daughter's condition & I pray for the best. Definitely post back if you guys come up with anything. At one time I had a college robotics student working on a setup which pneumatically moved the stick of a manual MX-3 through a metal gate, by way of an up/down toggle. He had that part of the system in operation, though unfortunately wasn't able to stay with the project.. sometimes those guys come up with interesting solutions!

Oh wait, I almost forgot about this Ebay listing I ran across recently. I'm unsure if they are still looking to sell and/or if it'd be of any help in your daughter's situation, though upon speaking with them, the owner seemed very knowledgeable on the subject.

I've also recently been in contact with an adaptive specialty company myself. While they agreed they likely had components which could perform some of the desired functions, they were hesitant to offer help. Unfortunately their name escapes me at the moment..

cajunrx8

Guys you both are totally wild!!! Most folks would still be crying in their cereal bowls and ya'll are rocking life.
This is prolly been covered but why couldn't a motorcycle clutch lever or brake lever assy be used to actuate the cars clutch? You could use a hydraulic booster to raise line pressure to push the release fork.
Anyhow just a thought, keep on rocking guys!!!

masonholmes

Thanks man. I've got horrid luck with cars, though for some reason can't stay away from them!

Regarding your mention of a motorcycle clutch, as per a few posts up, I ran into this awhile back.. tho as WikkedOne pointed out: "I just don't understand how you can do a clockwise twist to do the clutch and a counterclockwise twist to do the throttle at the same time?", I'm not entirely sure how you'd manage things..

Just Googled up the Duck Clutch & would love to have one (well, three! haha). That's exactly what I've envisioned for years.. for me, that in conjunction with both a throttle & brake ring/paddle behind the wheel of sorts, would be perfect. (I'd need to keep a basic set of mechanical hand controls installed as well, for tight corners/parking lots etc) Livea, definitely let me know if ya hear back from them & I'll see if I can get a response as well. (I'm guessing pricing is through the roof, though hopefully not)

WikkedOne

Nice ressurection guys.. looks like there are a lot of people trying to get something going for this.

The car that I drove was RediAutoSport - they had a miata with a clutch lever on the gear shift, that worked with a full on/off clutch button on the brake and some other confusing things.

I've come to the conclusion that a manual transmission hand controls is really only useful on the track when you're not coming to stops constantly and needing to take off a lot

masonholmes

Is this due to it being so awkward dealing with a separate brake lever, while steering & downshifting @ the same time? I think if you could have brake control on the wheel as well, it wouldn't be so bad. (taking off doesn't seem like it'd be that big of a deal, at least with the long throw of the Duck's clutch lever) Then again, none of the cars I'm really interested in come with manumatics either.. I think if I could have a 5-6spd automatic, I'd probably take it instead, as it'd be a good compromise between control & simplicity. I'd give almost anything to get away from basic 4spd's though!

WhiteDealershipRice

You, sir, are a badass

I think I saw an article in Grassroots Motorsports, or Sport Compact car (years ago) about the Handicapped Viper driver (his setup is Hydraulic & computer controlled to release the clutch at a certain speed so that he can feed the car gas as not to stall it. it took him awhile to get the setup righ, but he runs it as a h"happy medium" that allows reasonably firm shifts/launches, but doesn't become too harsh for street driving (I think his releas was on the .75 second ballpark)

I've actually been thinking about how to make a Handicapped accessible manual, Here is my take on it:

Put a Motorcycle twistgrip throttle on the shift lever, and a Hand lever clutch (like a motorcycle's clutch) that way you can accelerate, shift gears & operate the clutch with your right hand.

Use your left hand to steer

Put the brake handle (push to actuate) on the right side of the steering wheel so that it can be operated with the right hand as well.

This setup's limitations would be that you would not be able to Brake & shift at the same time, requiring setting the gear early, & Shifting into neutral before coming to a full stop.

As far as getting the set up to actually work, I'm thinking a cable actuated hand lever may be the easiest way to make the clutch (like your accelerator setup) but a Hydraulic "master cylinder" (like a motorcycle's front brake) would be easier to fine tune to make the pressure required to operate it easier on the hand.

Using Motorcycle parts would make for a pretty big shifter setup, but would make the cheapest/most easlily replaceable source of parts (Plus a sportbike's grip with a billet clutch lever could look pretty cool)

masonholmes

Problem Management Engineering, (the Duck Clutch guys), returned my initial email within 24h, though asked for a phone number to call.. so I'm unsure how responsive they may become once it's realized I'm in the US/not in Australia. Are you sure your inquiries went to the proper address/responses didn't hit your junk filter?

WhiteDealershipRice, sounds like an interesting idea. I've had a few that I think could work, (it remains to be seen how functional they'd be in the real world ), though am disabled to the point of not really being able to do much fabrication, nor have much $$$ to throw at it. I've heard of a disabled guy autoX'ing a Vette with a similar sounding setup to the Viper guy mentioned. He simply had street & track modes pre-set, in regards to shifting/launches etc. I've seen some other, very inventive disabled racer setups, though unfortunately either non-adaptable to the average street car, and/or well beyond the typical users budget. I'll be interested to see how much the Duck Clutch etc.

masonholmes

In response to your & my own posts Livea, it took a little time but I've finally found the US dealer of the Duck Clutch.. wound up emailing the Aussie's/PME, who contacted the Italians/Guidosimplex, who both contacted & gave me the American distributor! They allegedly tried to contact me via email many times. While their attempts never hit my inbox, they are Ride-Away & the specific email contact I was given is: GPizzato@ride-away.com . (which I've not yet tried) Let me know if you have any luck with them/it! I'd definitely like to at least try the system out, though between my three cars, currently have more pressing issues to tackle for a time yet.