is our clutch meant for downshifting?

[Crypt0wind]

our car is difficult to get going off the line. you have to be a master with this clutch in order to pull off decently.

does the way our clutch perfoms make downshifting easier? by downshifting, i mean rev matching (rpm, dual clutch, match revs, heel and toe)...

Try a better seating position. A click or two forward on the forward/back, a click forward on the seat back forward and re adjust the steer wheel. It will feel way too close at first (elblow almost 90 and knees 45), but try for a 100 miles. Think all forms of racing/nascar position. Driver positions are cheap and effective mods...

Next, only use 1/2 the clutch travel, then get you foot ready for the heal/toe braking. Start slow with minor heel/toe down shifts and work you way up to bigger more aggressive braking/corning. It's all about practice and a good professional instructor will teach you more in a afternoon, than a lifetime of trial and error.

Double clutch is for big rigs and no synco trans. Focus and practice the basic racing practices and smoothness with come with time.

 

[ecniemann]

Try a better seating position. A click or two forward on the forward/back, a click forward on the seat back forward and re adjust the steer wheel. It will feel way too close at first (elblow almost 90 and knees 45), but try for a 100 miles. Think all forms of racing/nascar position. Driver positions are cheap and effective mods...

Next, only use 1/2 the clutch travel, then get you foot ready for the heal/toe braking. Start slow with minor heel/toe down shifts and work you way up to bigger more aggressive braking/corning. It's all about practice and a good professional instructor will teach you more in a afternoon, than a lifetime of trial and error.

Double clutch is for big rigs and no synco trans. Focus and practice the basic racing practices and smoothness with come with time.

Not trying to thread-jack, but I have some questions with this. I am 100% better at a manual trans now having my car over 1 year than I was when I got it, but with getting better I have found instances where I actually should be heel/toeing, but am unable as I have never done it. I would like to learn, but am not interested in racing, autocross, etc. I would just like to be able to drive my car to it's potential. I have found that sometimes I get stuck behind some ass that does not use their blinker and I have to brake, but also downshift and then give gas to rev-match/pass. Obviously with 2 feet this does not work and heel/toe is the only solution. Just giving an example where I would like to get better. There are obviously other instances as well.

So...after that long winded explanation, how much would say 1 day or weekend of professional driving teaching cost? I think I could learn a lot from it, but don't want to look like a dork if I am not interested in racing.

 

[freeflyfreak]

i'm not saying i have a difficulty getting the car in gear. i rarely stall the car, but in order to launch the vehicle well, you have to ease the clutch. IT'S SO ******* TOUCHY

The last time I had a car with a really touchy clutch (Not MS3) it turned out it had a broken engine mount, as soon as I replaced the mount, the clutch went back to normal.

Check your mount.

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

I hear a lot around here with heel/toeing. Rolling your foot off the brake to blip the throttle for the down shift. There is some video on utube that shows a racers feet while he is heel/toeing.

 

[CnoTataymo]

The clutch on MS3's are okay. Pretty soft for my taste because ever since my MSP, I loved stiffer clutches. When I got the MS3, it took some time getting use to but it's actually pretty easy. And when you start driving more and more, you just get use to the feel.

 

[NYSP33D3]

If you are downshifting properly, you are rev matching. If you are rev matching properly, the clutch isn't even necessary, and hardly involved if you even use it.

Agreed.. Its a little soft if you ask me.. I want a Spec Clutch upgrade soon.. when i have the funds but just rev match.

 

[UHATEIT]

i dislike that from a stop I always have to give it some gas as easing off the clutch as it DOES NOT engage and pull the car, so I feel like I am burning the clutch by having to do this rev to gain some rpm so the car doesn't die when going from a stoppe dposition.

with my toyota I could back off the clutch and the car would grip and roll forward, so I never had to give it any rev/gas or rpm raise to get it to go. Is there anyway to adjust the clutch engagement on this car? On my 350z there was a simple mod to lower the engagement point, which i did and worked like a charm made driving 1000 times much better from a stopped position.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

Speaking of all this clutch talk, here's a question for you. Does your car get seemingly louder when you release the clutch at a stop while idling? Yesterday I noticed it. I pulled up to my moms house let out the clutch and there was this loud chattering sound but push the clutch back in and no problem. Plus it didn't like going into first and would do so with a firm heavy thunk each time. It was hot as hell so I don't know if that had anything to do with it (btw heat soak ftl).

Chime in your thoughts before I have to take it to the dealer. And yes the clutch is very touchy!!

 

[Betelgeuse]

Speaking of all this clutch talk, here's a question for you. Does your car get seemingly louder when you release the clutch at a stop while idling? Yesterday I noticed it. I pulled up to my moms house let out the clutch and there was this loud chattering sound but push the clutch back in and no problem. Plus it didn't like going into first and would do so with a firm heavy thunk each time. It was hot as hell so I don't know if that had anything to do with it (btw heat soak ftl).

Chime in your thoughts before I have to take it to the dealer. And yes the clutch is very touchy!!

Been discussed many times before, yes that's normal.

 

[Betelgeuse]

i dislike that from a stop I always have to give it some gas as easing off the clutch as it DOES NOT engage and pull the car, so I feel like I am burning the clutch by having to do this rev to gain some rpm so the car doesn't die when going from a stoppe dposition.

with my toyota I could back off the clutch and the car would grip and roll forward, so I never had to give it any rev/gas or rpm raise to get it to go. Is there anyway to adjust the clutch engagement on this car? On my 350z there was a simple mod to lower the engagement point, which i did and worked like a charm made driving 1000 times much better from a stopped position.

Until the turbo spools we have little torque down low (small displacement)so it's not going to jump off the line like a car with a bigger engine. It's just something you have to get used to.

 

[J-Villa]

it will roll a little from a stop, once it moves just a bit; thats when i give it gas to get her goin smooth

 

[ForceFed]

I personally think that 90% of the "Clutch Issues" on this car..Or any.... can be directly Related to Drivers with Sub-standard Manual operation Skills....IMHO.

Some people just never get the Real Feel for driving and shifting a standard tranny in a perfomance oriented fashion.

Sorry to say it..but its the truth. (wrc)

 

[phillyb]

it's not that it's easy to downshift in our cars... your just that good of a driver... the stig could learn something from you.

hahahahaa, thanks.

Try a better seating position. A click or two forward on the forward/back, a click forward on the seat back forward and re adjust the steer wheel. It will feel way too close at first (elblow almost 90 and knees 45), but try for a 100 miles. Think all forms of racing/nascar position. Driver positions are cheap and effective mods...

Next, only use 1/2 the clutch travel, then get you foot ready for the heal/toe braking. Start slow with minor heel/toe down shifts and work you way up to bigger more aggressive braking/corning. It's all about practice and a good professional instructor will teach you more in a afternoon, than a lifetime of trial and error.

Double clutch is for big rigs and no synco trans. Focus and practice the basic racing practices and smoothness with come with time.

i actually just did this the other day. and so far it has helped with shifting but not launching. i am not afraid of sitting in a proper driving position. in fact, i hate the st00pid look of leaning all the way back so it's impossible to see over the steering wheel.

The last time I had a car with a really touchy clutch (Not MS3) it turned out it had a broken engine mount, as soon as I replaced the mount, the clutch went back to normal.

Check your mount.

mount's all good.

I hear a lot around here with heel/toeing. Rolling your foot off the brake to blip the throttle for the down shift. There is some video on utube that shows a racers feet while he is heel/toeing.

heel and toeing is another thread that should be started. i am not good at it. i find our pedals' placement to be difficult with heel and toeing, but again, i've never been good at it with any of my cars.

here is the link for a video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPj9XXW25GA

 

[UHATEIT]

Until the turbo spools we have little torque down low (small displacement)so it's not going to jump off the line like a car with a bigger engine. It's just something you have to get used to.

on my GS-T eclipse years ago it wasnt an issue and the turbo kicked in pretty good at 2200, and on my mr2 turbo it wasnt an issue either and the turbo on that kicked in around 2400 or so. Both of those clutches had over 100K on them as well. It was like you started lifting the clutch pedal out and the car would grip and roll so I didnt have to give any gas. I miss that. Otherwise people think I am deliberatly trying to show off by reving up a little rpms before driving from a stop. Since my muffler is loud its much more noticeable to others.

On the 350z they are notorious for a nasty feeling clutch with a high engagement point, there is a bolt on the clutch pedal silver stick thing that gets puches in. turning the screw gave the clutch pedal height a lower feel and engaged sooner so you didnt have to rev to keep rpm before coming from a stop. I wonder if this can be done on the MS3, I may have to check this out today.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

So someone brought up something that i've been contemplating as well:

The clutch won't engage even though i'm giving it gas, or if I don't give it enough gas, it'll clunk the trans. It makes me cringe everytime. It seems like my car is really soft, but yet i've driven other cars and they're alot stiffer. But they also have rear Motor mounts. That may have nothing to do with it huh?

 

[Betelgeuse]

So someone brought up something that i've been contemplating as well:

The clutch won't engage even though i'm giving it gas, or if I don't give it enough gas, it'll clunk the trans. It makes me cringe everytime. It seems like my car is really soft, but yet i've driven other cars and they're alot stiffer. But they also have rear Motor mounts. That may have nothing to do with it huh?

If you're easy on the gas and feather the clutch, you shouldn't get a clunk. If you're hearing a clunk regardless, then you should check the mounts (rear, passenger and tranny). Also, some people have had issues with mods (like intake/downpipe etc) causing noises in the engine bay under acceleration. So you should probably look over your engine bay to be sure nothing's loose, mods or not.

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

The clunk is when i'm tryin to feather the clutch with gas. And if it's not enough gas, or if it's abrupt clutch engagement, the trans clunks and it makes me feel like it's hurting something.

 

[dkswim]

the only problem i have is when trying to be smothe and quiet i tend to bog the engine a little. but if im trying to go it works great. ive had better clutches but ive also had worse. pulling away form green ligh im left in the dust generaly but i think part of the problem is having to shift 4 times just to get up to 60, exzaguration mabe its 3.

 

[djthom]

I personally think that 90% of the "Clutch Issues" on this car..Or any.... can be directly Related to Drivers with Sub-standard Manual operation Skills....IMHO.

Some people just never get the Real Feel for driving and shifting a standard tranny in a perfomance oriented fashion.

Sorry to say it..but its the truth. (wrc)

sorry but what kind of car do you drive?

 

[shane02pro5]

From what I've read everywhere a stiffer rear mount is highly recommended and totally tranforms these cars! But get the lower durometer or you will hate the vibrations!

So someone brought up something that i've been contemplating as well:

The clutch won't engage even though i'm giving it gas, or if I don't give it enough gas, it'll clunk the trans. It makes me cringe everytime. It seems like my car is really soft, but yet i've driven other cars and they're alot stiffer. But they also have rear Motor mounts. That may have nothing to do with it huh?