manual transmission

p_angelo_1 · Post by **p_angelo_1** » Mon May 26, 2003 9:17 pm

hey all, I just needed to see how all the guys with manual fto's find the quality of the shifting.

I've found in mine that its not so smooth (even after replacing the fluid with whats in the workshop manual and adding some treatment - which imho cost too much with little result). You really gotta manhandle the thing into 2nd if you've taken it to the end of 1st...

Is this what everyone else is experiencing? Is your manual a bit rough and notchy?

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Mon May 26, 2003 9:26 pm

1-2-3-4 is pretty smooth for me but 5th has been giving me some grief lately... it's very notchy going into 5th, as i often have to really stab the shifter into place...

...funny thing is when the car is off and you try to shift to 5th it's smooth as... dunno what's going on..??

oh but 1-2 can be slightly 'jerky' sometimes (clutch is starting to wear out too) at high revs but from 2-3-4 it's very easy...

G1 · Post by G1 » Mon May 26, 2003 9:57 pm

yeah my 1-2 change is so slow if i rev it to 7.5+ do i need a new clutch? (sorry this is my first manual ever)

it drops to around 4.5-5k after this first change if i try to get a clean change otherwise if i try to change to quickly you can hear it revving then rev again when the 2nd gear finally engages fully i dunno how best to explain this. i heard you should drop to only 5.5 correct??

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Mon May 26, 2003 10:53 pm

i think the reason why it revs again before 2nd is fully engaged (according to your description) is because you are feeding too much throttle before the clutch has fully 'bitten'... So in a nutshell, you are feeding too much throttle and releasing too little clutch...

am i making sense??

EURO · Post by **EURO** » Mon May 26, 2003 10:57 pm

my gears are fine in manual...it is hard to get from 1st to second without the revs dropping out of MIVEC range at 5.5, u can either be quick on it, or give a stab of thea ccelerator whilst your changing gears to keep revs up..if its crunching your gear box or clutch are dead..

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Mon May 26, 2003 11:12 pm

EURO wrote:my gears are fine in manual...it is hard to get from 1st to second without the revs dropping out of MIVEC range at 5.5, u can either be quick on it, or give a stab of thea ccelerator whilst your changing gears to keep revs up..if its crunching your gear box or clutch are dead..

i've tried it once, and it worked... it ain't easy, but you need plenty of practice... it's all about flat-shifting. very brutal stuff (on a stock clutch & gearbox) but if you flat-shift at 7700rpm or just before the redline cut-out, and if you're quick enough to catch 2nd, it'll drop off to just below 6000rpm (well at the start of the MIVEC range). I've managed this 2 out of 5 attempts (on various launches, but most are below 3700rpm)

i must stress - it's brutal ...and I wouldn't recommend it to be done often!

Chrisp · Post by **Chrisp** » Mon May 26, 2003 11:27 pm

for that extra poof-teenth of a second at the drags is it really worth thrashing the sh*t out of your drivelines. Personally I dont think it is. Save your clutch, trans, CVs, linkages, etc and let the car live a little longer!
my 2cents worth

p_angelo_1 · Post by **p_angelo_1** » Tue May 27, 2003 6:21 am

makes me feel better knowing that my manual is acting 'normal'

yeh i thought the manuals would stay in the mivec range when shifting from 1st to 2nd... but I can only get it shifted fast enough for 5 grand but not much else.

anyone experimented with a short shift kit? if so was there a difference in the quality of the shift?

AJY11Q · Post by **AJY11Q** » Tue May 27, 2003 6:24 am

does any one know how much does it cost to swap Auto to manual?
including ecu, pedal, tachometer and etc??
even rough??

G_A_V · Post by **G_A_V** » Tue May 27, 2003 5:50 pm

i tihnk your gearbox shifting depends on a couple of things, looking after your gear box ,and not droppingthe clutch when u have a full boot and 3 other people in the car !, also not rushingthe gears when changing at high revs and giving it at least half the clutch.
I cant really talk cause my gearbox has had a nice thrashing.
But one other thing, when i changed to motul gearbox oil I found that shift was great, the gears glidded into place ! BUT !!!! the motul gear box oil is way to thin for our gear boxes so after doing 10,000kms with motul gear box oil, my syncros are starting to go on 3rd gear, and it is very hard to change gears when cold.
Basicly motul gear box oil is good if u warm your car up before you drive it, but if u dont i think u will get problems

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Tue May 27, 2003 6:51 pm

so which is the best gearbox oil to use??

dannyboyau · Post by **dannyboyau** » Tue May 27, 2003 11:23 pm

does anyone know someone who has strenghtened there manual gearbox, or is there anyone here that has.

If so where did they get it done and how much did it cost them.

also does anyone know of a manual fto gearbox for sale.

MintFTO · Post by **MintFTO** » Wed May 28, 2003 2:22 pm

Does anyone have a pic of the standard manual shift knob or know where i can see a pic of one, cos ive only seen manual fto's with after market ones, like mine...

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Wed May 28, 2003 2:27 pm

There are plenty of them on the Internet... Or you can visit the Picture Gallery on this site - I think there is one pic with a factory manual gearknob in it (though' a bit small if you're running 1024x768 on your screen)

p_angelo_1 · Post by **p_angelo_1** » Thu May 29, 2003 1:56 am

on another note...

i find that in my manual, when slowing down, you really cant get it into first gear until you're almost (but not quite) stopped.

is this just another 'quality' of our gearbox or is mine screwed...

mintfto: i still have the stock gearknob but if I took a photo of it where would I put it for you to see?

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Thu May 29, 2003 2:46 am

same here... i thought it's a general rule of thumb that u r not suppose to shift into 1st unless you are at a complete stop??

anyway, i find that on cold mornings, the shift quality from 1-2 is very jerky, esp. at clutch pickup point... no matter how gently i feed the clutch in, it'll always jerk from 1-2, but after a while, it's smooth as usual...

does that mean i need to change my gearbox oil or clutch??

p_angelo_1 · Post by **p_angelo_1** » Thu May 29, 2003 5:24 am

yeah i heard that was a bit of a rule too, although I've rode in other manuals where the driver was able to shift into 1st at higher speeds at least. oh well if it happens for you too then it should be ok i guess...

i get that jerkiness too in the first few minutes of driving... maybe the car just needs warming up? or both our clutches are wearing out...

i've changed my gearbox oil recently and didnt really notice much change... maybe the tiniest bit smoother

G1 · Post by G1 » Thu May 29, 2003 11:04 am

So who manages to only drop down to 5500 rpm on the 1-2 change, after hitting 1st gear to at least 7500rpm?? (not doing a EURO/O2NV

)

Best I can manage is around 5000 or below

I can manage to get it into 1st when Im going about 20-30kph, but you gotta be ready for some whiplash there

p_angelo_1 · Post by **p_angelo_1** » Thu May 29, 2003 12:23 pm

i've managed to get in at about 5500-6000 a few times now... but it feels so abusive on the car I dont do it that often. I take it to just before the rev limiter kicks in and ram it home... there a bit of an audible click for me. It shows about 6200 before I ease the clutch in, and ends up just in mivec when it starts pulling again.

It happens so fast I'm not too sure if I'm stabbing the throttle while doing the change, but I don't consciously do it. Can only seem to do it when the car's been properly warmed up though... otherwise its too slow to get into 2nd and drops to 5k

GPXXX · Post by **GPXXX** » Thu May 29, 2003 1:22 pm

usually i don't go into first unless i'm doing below 5kph... as for whiplashes, i tend to get them during cold morning starts on the 1-2 shift. but after 5 mins, it's OK for some reason... ???

btw, i heard that if the car is running cold, you will not get past 6000rpm because the factory ecu will limit the amount of rpms as a safety measure (presumably to protect the motor).

but yes, as i've said before - it is a very brutal thing to do, especially on a stock gearbox and clutch so if you love your baby too much, don't do it...

having said that - yes, it is possible to stay on the MIVEC range on the 1-2 shift, but you must be very quick to catch it... to be honest, the first time i managed to do so was kinda fluke-ish, and i practiced again and again (and managed to do it one more time) but after 5 attempts i gave up because i didn't wanna break anything LOL...