Hey guys,

So I'm still having issues taking off from a complete stop to 1st gear. Sometime it is smooth, sometimes it is a bit jerky.. I think since the OEM's engagement point is so high that I give it gas, and let off the clutch slowly, that the RPM's fall too low, and I get a jerky take off.. which brings me to a few questions:


1. Do you always push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor when shifting? I don't want to "ride the clutch"..


2. Second gear doesn't make much sense to me if driving a bit quick.. I find myself going directly from 1st to 3rd, or even 4th (if really gunning it). It's a smooth transition with no jerking. This is okay right?


3. Going from 1st to 2nd.. the shifter itself feels kinda notchy. It's not as smooth and straight down from say, 3rd to 4th. Is this common? It's not like blocking the motion, but it's not entirely smooth either. Feels like about halfway through the shift, there's a notch that makes it go a few mm's to the right..


4. If going on a highway and you want to downshift (I know how to rev-match), but I hear people downshifting just to make their engine roar.. Do they not even rev-match? Does this hurt the engine? I would imagine so..


5. When do you find yourself using 6th gear?.. I only do it when cruising on the highway, but not sure on morning commute when I'm only on the highway for around 5 minutes..



I'm really excited to install a Rev 4.0 RJM Clutch Pedal. I think that could make a world of difference. But then again, I see people arguing that we should keep the engagement point high vs low because it's better for takeoffs etc etc.


Thanks!

 

1. I always push the clutch down to the floor, I suppose it'd be fine as long as you go past the engagement point.

2. You can switch to any gear you'd like, probably be out of your power band though. I like 2nd, has some of the most grunt IMO.

3. Occasionally shifters have a notchy feel to them naturally, if you have a stock shift **** that might be why, I had a weighted **** for awhile and it eliminated that problem.

4. Some people downshift differently, also depends on the vehicle, dropping a gear or two without rev matching might not damage the engine/transmission instantly, but isn't good over time.

5. 6th gear I only use when I'm on the highway longer than 10 minutes. Otherwise I have no problem staying in 5th at 3k-3500rpms.

Good luck with the clutch install! Wanted to say I could help you install it since I'm semi close. But I've never done a clutch job on my own and would probably do more harm than good in trying to help.

 

I'd agree with what he said.

Also, there is an adjustable linkage behind the clutch pedal that you can change to lower and raise the clutch engagement point. Just don't overdue it. Right in the middle of pedal travel is what I consider ideal. Everyone has their preference though.

... and OP is not installing a clutch. Rather an adjustable clutch pedal kit.

 

I would also agree with most of what Mignav said as well. As far as staying in 5th on the freeway remember that the more rpms your engine's running at the more gas you use. So I get up to speed on the freeway and then shift into 6th for cruising any length of time. Does that save a bunch of gas? No, but these days every little bit counts. In my GTO I'm only running at 1900 RPMs at 80 mph in 6th gear. My 5AT G is running at 3200 RPMs at 80 with the 3.5 diff swap. No surprise the Goat gets significantly better mileage out of the LS2 on road trips than the G lol.

 

1. Clutch always to the floor

2. Go to any gear you like as long as you're not bogging the motor too hard or revving it too high. I skip all the time. I think the owners manual actually suggests it too IIRC.

3. I never personally noticed much resistance from 1st to 2nd in my G other than the normal overall notchyness of the tranny.

4. Rev matching helps to reduce wear on your synchros in the transmission (if you double clutch it) as well as smooth out the engagement of the clutch so you're not suddenly loading the transmission fully and upsetting the balance of the car. Double clutched rev matching on downshifts is overall better for the whole drivetrain than not rev matching at all.

5. I use 6th gear all the time when coasting around at a constant speed of anything greater than 45 MPH... you get great fuel economy doing this and it doesn't lug the motor at all provided that you aren't climbing an incline. This car is actually not geared too tall at all considering the weight of the vehicle and the decent power output of the motor. If the engineers and marketing direction for this vehicle wasn't so oriented towards 0-60 times we could probably easily have this thing geared much taller (maybe 3.1 final drive instead of 3.538) and still have plenty of grunt to loaf down the highway at just over 2500 RPM @ 80 MPH instead of the just-under 3000 RPM that we currently pull at that speed and still hit the same top speed, just in 5th gear instead of 6th. It would make the motor last longer and increase fuel economy. I wish I could screw around with driving a G that had an infinitely adjustable final drive ratio... that would be so fun.

 

Thanks for the replies so far guys!

Yeah I'll try to get a weighted shift **** for the notchy issue. May fix it. I'm looking for a shop to get the RJM Clutch Pedal install done, so that may help greatly.

And yeah I think I've learned good practices. I always rev match when I downshift, and I've got it to the point where it seems like nothing happened, which is what all shifts should feel like.