MugsyGallows

So, I will have had my car a week tomorrow. It is the first manual I've owned and the 2nd Rx8. My issue is with shifting gears.

When I take a turn onto another road, I'll brake till about the time it is to turn, clutch in and put it in neutral from 4th gear, then when I'm through the turn I put it in 2nd gear and start off. Now last night I was doing some practice driving and a couple of times, it slipped into 4th gear when i tried to go to into 2nd. I was at a stop sign that was pretty downhill (in neutral), then I rolled down a little bit to about 15ish trying to put it into 2nd when I put it in 4th. Another time, I was taking a turn onto a road that was up hill, once I took the turn up the hill I was going roughly 20 something when I pulled onto it, tried dropping it in 2nd, went to 4th, couldn't even get up the hill, had to put in neutral/brake/put in 1st then proceeded up the hill.

Also, today I was driving and there was this douche in a honda and he was riding my ***, so I wanted to accelerate and get him off my ***. I was in 4th going about 60, just cruising. I just kept punching the gas till the rpms were up to 7 or 8 and i was going 70 something in 4th, then tried to go to 5th. Bad idea.. I then went into 3rd, rpms skyrocketed I quickly put it into 4th and flew. I know that time was definitely all me, I then had some practice runs going at about 55 then dropping into 3rd for more speed, then proceeding to 4th. Its still jumpy when I go from 4th to 3rd at about 50 something, but that's just me needing practice I believe. Didn't want to try to go into 5th again, I don't want it to stick. When is the appropriate time to go into 5th?

Oh, & when I'm coming to a stop sign. Say I'm going 40, I brake to about 20, clutch/put it in neutral, and when I'm decelerating from 20-0 I try to put it in 1st gear so I'm ready for take off, but it grinds? So, I've just been waiting till I come to a complete stop before I put it in 1st.

I don't know if all of this is user error, but I would like to hear what someone with more experience thinks. I'm eager to learn.

Sorry if I sound extremely new or something, it's because I am.

-I love my car by the way. Manual > automatic.

wrightcomputing

iTrader: (5)

Firstly you cannot talk about street racing in this forum its illegal.
I think you just need to practice your gear changes the higher the revs the faster the car. My Rx8 does 41 Mph in 1st, 68 Mph in 2nd, and around 96 Mph in 3rd (these are when I hit the limiter). That is all I ever use when I am Autocrossing so no idea what the top speed of the other gears are.

Manual is the way to go with the Rx8. 60ish more HP and higher Revs = Much faster car

MugsyGallows

Sorry, I don't mean for it to sound like I was doing some sort of illegal street racing. I fixed it. Thanks for the info. So you think that when I slipped into 4th, it was just me moving the shifter the wrong way? Should I force it into 2nd next time?

wrightcomputing

iTrader: (5)

I wouldn't force anything, when changing gear it should always be relaxed and and done with the fingers, ease and squeeze, don't grab and stab. 1st to second I just put my fingers above and slide it straight down. Remember the gate it like a "H" so 1st to 2nd has no lateral movement same as 3rd to 4th.

VOODOO8

Different people drive manual shift cars in different ways for different reasons. Unless your doing something that is inadvertently damaging your car or endangering others, who is to to say what is right or wrong for any given person's technique. With that disclaimer out of the way, I have two comments to offer where the techniques you described are a little different than mine.

First, is about coasting through turns in neutral. While I suppose there may be some fractional increase in gas mileage possible from this, it also poses some concerns. For instance, your not using your engine to help regulate speed in a turn, your not prepared to react with the engine should something need to be done in an emergency when your in a turn (like avoid something that gets in your way unexpectedly), and your inserting a shift down at the end of the turn to get in an acceleration gear when you might be needing to look for traffic, pedestrians, etc as you are completing your turn.

Second is your grinding issue trying to jam the transmission into first when coming up to a stop sign. Initial comment is again using downshifting to leverage the engine to help reduce speed instead of just the brakes alone. Also think about the challenge you are trying to impose on the synchros in the transmission with this approach (and hence the resistance & grinding your encountering). Better to downshift in a controlled manner as you approach a stop sign until you get into 2nd gear and then approach the stop sign over the final distance in second. Shift into first after you have stopped for the turn. Then proceed on your way. Much less abuse on the transmission this way. Same concept goes for red lights too. While you may not launch like a missile if the light turns green just before you get to it (low torque rotary engine in second gear at very low speeds take a while to spool back up), your engine and transmission will like you a lot more.

MugsyGallows

Thank you, thank you very much. This helps.

So let me get this straight... When I'm coming to a stop, I'm going 45 and I'm in 4th gear braking lightly, I should then shift down to 3rd without matching rpms and continue coasting? then do the same with 2nd? and when I'm at roughly 10 mph about to stop, put it in 1st?

Just making sure I got that straight. The more I learn the more I kick myself for driving it like a dumb ***. Hope I haven't messed anything up..

MugsyGallows

I have read some other threads similar to mine, and I've learned that "blipping" the gas whilst trying to downshift helps tremendously! I'm glad I learned this.

My take offs from a stand still, are still a bit jumpy.. Do I just need to feel out my take off better? am I reving too much before letting completely off the clutch? Is that whats causing me to "jump"?

Oh and I still haven't made sense of what you said about rolling up to stop signs.. I've just been cruising up to them in 4th gear, braking till I'm at a lowish speed (30 roughly) then I clutch and put in neutral, then 1st. Is that alright? Would there be a more appropriate way to come to a stop?

wrightcomputing

iTrader: (5)

I blip the throttle when I down shift to match the revs to the gears but if you are decelerating to a stop it is not necessary. I do it because I am practicing for when I am at the track, to make it instinctual.
If you can correctly match the revs to each gear then once the car is moving you can change from 1st to 6th though every gear and back to 1st without using the clutch. Changing up is easy. slightly increase the revs and apply pressure to the gear leaver and it will pop out of gear then hold it over the gate as the revs drop if you get it right it will just drop in. changing down a gear you need to blip to match the revs and then hold it over the gate and it will drop in.

Warning although this is fun and feels good when you get it right, if you get it wrong it will grind the gears at best and if you try to force it you may do permanent damage to the transmission.

Arca_ex

iTrader: (10)

Don't put the car into first while it's moving.

sjschutz

This is partially true. You can pull away in 2nd gear from single digits (I've took off in 2nd gear instead of first before). Once 2nd starts bogging down and needing a downshift (when coming to a stop) just clutch in and shift to neutral, then come to a stop. No real need to shift into 1st. If you prefer to, do so at low speeds, and NEVER above 20mph as this could severely damage your transmission/engine.

VOODOO8

I've driven moderate to high performance manual shift cars most of my life (as well as motorcycles and other assorted vehicles), and I choose to combine breaking with downshifting in concert to slow my vehicle. So I do drop it into increasingly lower gears as a habit when decelerating under almost all circumstances. It is second nature to me, and something a high revving rotary engine is especially good at. I don't try and match gear rotational velocities as I am doing so. I do blip the throttle as noted by others though to bring the engine up to a higher RPM point before I downshift. So in a sense, this does constitute rotational velocity matching. You really need to know your vehicle well to do this right though. Popping the clutch in too abruptly at a high RPM you have blipped the trhottle to can be very counterproductive to your main mission (which is slowing the vehicle down ).

I never engage first gear unless I am stopped or just barely moving. Again, the feel of the shifter in your hand is the ultimate feedback mechanism. If the transmission drops into first easily (and noiselessly) then you did it at the right time. If you encounter any resistance at all, don't go for it right then. Either re-engage second until the car slows a bit more, or take a neutral approach (pun intended ) and put it in neutral.

jasonrxeight

you slow down in whatever gear you are in, when you about half way through the corner, clutch in pick a lower gear, give a bit of gas before let off the clutch. thats a lazy way of doing it.
orrr, you can do heel and toe. slow down for the corner, and revmatching at the sametime before entering corner then you just turn and accelerate away.
1st gear is for moving away from stop, as long as you moving, you can use 2nd and slip the clutch.

whatever you do, you need to know the gear you should be in at what kind of speed.

jasonrxeight

when you coming to a stop just slow down in whatever gear you are in, and clutch in when the engine is close to idle. then you stop, put in 1st and start moving.

MugsyGallows

Thanks for all the input everyone.

I've gotten much better with my car. Shifting is going much smoother. I love driving it more and more, got my friends wanting rx8's now haha.