Before we start, my enthusiast driving history is: 2010-2011 '02 Maxima 6MT, 2011-2017 '05 Maxima 6MT, 2017+ '05 G35 6MT. So this isn't a "help hwo du i shift fasssssst lol i smell my cluttttttch" thread, but it is a "Help, why is the G35 so different from my FWD Maximas!?" thread.

The Maximas were very easy to launch and very easy to shift. Basically do the 1-2 as fast as possible, you get a little chirp from the wheels, and away you go. The increased power in the G has me struggling to do a clean 1-2 shift.

I have a "Stage 1" (ever-so-slight increase over OEM) Exedy clutch and the medium-lightweight Exedy flywheel. New Luk master+slave cylinders were installed with the clutch and flywheel. It has Whiteline diff bushings (all 3) on the rear diff, and thoroughly mediocre Kumho Ecstas. I installed an RJM adjustable clutch pedal to make the setup driveable--it's glorious. You should buy one (full review will be posted soon, because, seriously, give the nice Canadian man your money!).

My 8 years of habit from the Maxima almost always results in my fast 1-2 shift causing the rear wheels to lose traction and the back to kick out sideways a bit. If I've _really_ botched the shift, I'll experience wheel hop like this is some kind of worn out Mustang!

The back-end sliding wastes a ton of time, but I'm also not sure what a perfect 1-2 in a ~300HP RWD vehicle looks/sounds like. Should there be a little chirp like the Maxima? Should there be a bit of wheel hop? Do I need to consciously slow down the shift?

 

The shifting dynamics will change because of the lightweight flywheel and the lower inertia to transmit power into the transmission. Personally I spend about half of first gear slipping the clutch and try to hit second at exactly 6800 rpms since there's a little runaway rpm anyways, the trick is to KEEP RPMS HIGH and not just let off the clutch as fast as humanly possible, you need to slip the clutch for just a split second because you won't have as much inertia from the rotating assembly.

For straight line driving you're better off with an OEM weight flywheel, lightweight flywheels are meant for road course conditions.

Wheel hop generally means the suspension isn't up to the task and you need to find out what components have too much play OR the suspension is too stiff. Chirp is fine but just realize that any tire rotation that doesn't match the road is essentially wasted power and the answer is better tires for more grip.

The Maxima feels completely different because it's a totally different layout, you have weight shifting OFF the power tires, you have drivetrain torque applied parallel to the power tires, basically the FWD game is completely different.

Try slowing down your clutch engagement it will probably cure all that ails you.

Hopefully this improves your track times a little but you might consider going back to the OEM dual mass flywheel if your game is all straight line driving.

 

Very interesting. So you shift under 7K to ensure you don't hit the fuel cut? And, by slip the clutch halfway through first, you mean you aren't fully off the clutch pedal until ~18 MPH?

If the goal is to preserve RPMs between shift, doesn't a lightweight flywheel make it more tolerant of quick shifts, since the revs drop off faster?

Some quick Googling implies that lightweight flywheels do not hurt drag racing times (sponsored by Fidanza, but still: http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/flywheel/LWF_DRAG_TEST.pdf). Have you had trouble matching the OEM performance after switching to a single-mass wheel?

 

I set my dash rev indicator at 6500 and basically my first shift is the moment I see it blink, with the muscle delay it hits about 6800 and I stay on the throttle most the way so the rpms don't drop much from 1-2, mostly it's second gear that pulls them back down.

By slip the clutch I mean that I basically try to juggle that really fine line between wheelspin and clutch engagement until I'm moving fast enough I can keep the tires from spinning, street tires don't respond well to tire slip like a track tire does so you definitely want to keep the spinning to a minimum. It's harder on the clutch material though and I wouldn't recommend it for a stock clutch because it's going to get glazed pretty quickly.

As for the lightweight flywheel that's been pretty hotly debated for as long as I've been alive but there's no arguing that inertia gets the tires moving quicker, HOWEVER you need to be able to have traction to put it to use. Most of the pro street guys I know wouldn't touch a lightweight flywheel because they need the inertia for better 0-60' times. My buddy who still drifts uses one because he needs to be able to BREAK that inertial barrier quickly to make the tires spin. Couple other guys that run EVO's use them because it's mostly road course tracks they see which is all upper rpm work.

On a daily driver it doesn't make much of a difference other than what the driver feels when initially accelerating, it's OEM equipment because it's a lot more user friendly. As far as what I feel it does to the G (in daily driver form) you trade a little launch friendliness for upper rpm power which is fine for me because this one isn't a race car and I rarely do hard launches but I DO like to fly up the on-ramps quicker.

 

You could be sliding around because of bad rear Diff bushings and suspension bushings too!

https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...r-p-12008.html

New product for upgrading subframe waggle.

 

I didn't even know those things existed until a couple weeks ago, definitely on my short list of items to purchase.

 

I'm already all urethane back there... really thinking hard about these.

 

If anybody who reads this thread has 'em I'm also curious as to how much you actually notice these in daily driving versus WOT pulls if you've already done poly diff bushings.