joesc

And once engaged, do you let the rpms drop as the clutch is released, or should you keep the rpms constant or increasing as the clutch is released (i.e., prior to completely release the clutch).

I'm guessing that the "perfect" 1st gear engagement occurs around 1200 RPMs, and is a smooth and slight uptake/increase in RPMs as the clutch is released. Can someone confirm this?

I'm not a newbie, but I'm just trying to make sure I'm doing this totally correctly. It's my understanding that if you engage the clutch at too low RPM's you can damage the clutch. Too high is obviously bad.

Also, do you find it difficult to re-engage into 1st gear? I can't get into 1st unless I'm at almost a dead stop, which results in some lugging of the engine in 2nd gear in stop/go traffic.

Thoughts/tips on being the consummate shifter?

Thanks.

Sia Bani

from 1k-1500. Keep it at a constant rpm during engagement.

<= 5mph for 1st re-engagement, if not 2nd gear.

This is what I do.

BiggerTwin

acceleration. Generally, your feet should be going in opposite directions. Push in the clutch and let off the gas to let the revs drop to match the higher gear. Foot off the clutch to engage the gear as you give it gas to keep the revs from dropping while you engage the gear and accelerate.

Downshifting into first can be difficult on most transmissions unless you are going very slow(I don't think first gear usually has syncro). Rev matching or double clutching help. I drive in NYC traffic and have never had a problem downshifting to first when second was too high a gear but will pay attention to my rpms in second gear this afternoon.

Alan

AvramD

I am basically always in a rush, so the starts you're describing only apply to me if I'm behind somebody at a light, who isn't in a rush. There is a spectrum of tradeoff between acceleration and clutch wear. Also you can go beyond that scale at the high end and actually damage (melt) your clutch.

Anyway, engaging at low RPM can't hurt the clutch. The concern is engaging at a slow enough speed that you put the engine at or below idle; this is bad for the engine, especially if you make it lug (judder).

Under no circumstances do you want the revs increasing *during* clutch engagement, that's more likely to induce a slipping fully engaged clutch, which is very bad. Keeping revs constant at 2k +/- 200 or so is a good tradeoff getting you strong acceleration and moderate clutch wear.

If your goal is to maximize clutch life, then start at 1500 and let them drop to around 1200 as you engage. You'll get pathetic acceleration, but your clutch will last 100,000 miles.

If your life depended on beating the Car & Driver test reports, my guess is the fastest possible start in this car would involve revving to 3.5k, engaging, and increasing throttle enough so the engine speed & vehicle speed "meet in the middle" at around 2.5k rpms This would give significant clutch wear including a little smell, but it wouldn't have to much risk of fully engaged slip.

Fully engaged slip or any sort of long-duration slip will heat the clutch up enough that it will melt, and could either fuse or at least get an irregular surface, which would then be rough and grind on future engages, and slip more easily.

AvramD

if it weren't, you would hear grinding when shifting into it while moving, and also while stopped if you had just disengaged from neutral (the flywheel and input shaft would still be spinning).

The resistance you're getting is the synchro's trying to do their job - match the input shaft speed to the drive shaft speed for the gear in question - but they are taking a very long time to do it b/c the speeds are so mismatched. You *could* just keep waiting or press even harder to speed the process, and they'd eventually match. However, that would be slipping your synchro's excessively, bringing you to an early need for a transmission rebuid.

BT is right, if you need to do this, you need to double-clutch; put the car in neutral. then engage the clutch. Then pump the throttle to send the engine up to 3k, or 5k if you're going anywhere near 10 (i.e. 2nd is probably fine here). while the engine is at that speed, disengage the clutch again, and then shift into first.

This uses the engine to wind the flywheel/input shaft up to 3k or whatever; it is much more suited to doing that then the puny little friction based synchros on the gears themselves.