Newbie Help

[MikeyMatrix]

I just recently purchased a standard. Very new at the whole process. Trying to do as much research as I can and gain as much information from experienced drivers regarding starting out driving stick. My Fire Dept has a standard truck which I find alot easier to drive compared to my first experience in a standard car. I had no problems driving the fire truck but first day driving the car I kept stalling it on take off. I've later figured this out to be from not completely releasing the break (drove an automatic for 10 years now) when engaging the clutch. I'm not sure why this didn't affect me in the fire truck; assuming it has something to do with the higher engine revs? Anyways, I've gotten over that bad habit, and have been practicing stopping on a hill using the e-brake as my lifeline. Any other golden rules that are often over looked by automatic drivers switching to a standard for the first time. Appreciate any help, suggestions or training techniques. No suggestion or idea is too general or vague...every bit of help is greatly appreciated to make my standard experience more enjoyable. Thanks guys!

[theholycow]

The difference between the fire truck and your car (I assume a Matrix by your username) is probably a matter of the truck having more torque and low gears. Also, just that every clutch is different.

[AHTOXA]

Welcome and congrats on purchasing and driving a standard.

Sounds like you are doing ok so far. One thing you will notice is that while driving standard not only will you learn to fine-tune the motions of your left leg but also the right. Throttle precision will be much more important in a manual than an auto. Many auto drivers just mash the pedal and go.

Seat time will be most important and most valuable to you as opposed to what you read. You will learn fast within a few weeks but then the learning curve will flatten out drastically so do not get discouraged when you think that you are seemingly not making prgress. It only takes a few days to start driving but it truly takes a long time to start diving really well. I would say that for man people driving a manual becomes completely autonomous after a year and sometimes more, depending on how much you normally drive.

I'm sure you will have specific questions going forward so don't hesitate to ask.

[MikeyMatrix]

Ok thanks guys, seems like a helpful community in here. Just a quick question that came to my mind. We live in a very hilly area. When ascending the hill you never want to switch gears? Is this statement true? or when your RPM's dip low can you downshift or will this cause the vehicle to jerk / clutch damage?

[94Corolla5Speed]

Ok thanks guys, seems like a helpful community in here. Just a quick question that came to my mind. We live in a very hilly area. When ascending the hill you never want to switch gears? Is this statement true? or when your RPM's dip low can you downshift or will this cause the vehicle to jerk / clutch damage?

Usually you'll want to keep it in a lower gear with low load (minimal throttle application) so as to not make your engine struggle going uphill.

[theholycow]

Shift pretty much any time you want to. After a few botched attempts you'll learn when you don't want to. You won't break anything while learning.

I've never needed to avoid shifting just because I'm ascending a hill. At worst, I've needed to let it rev up a little higher before shifting. Where I might normally shift once I reach 1500rpm (I shift really low), I might let it get up to 2000rpm before shifting while ascending a steep hill.

[MikeyMatrix]

Alright thanks the driving around is getting better and better. Still have the occassional stall starting off in first gear...and reversing is slow is pretty tricky. Is it common to use the clutch if you're going very slowly in reverse and start to feel it bounce?

Also sometimes (not very often) when I up shift I don't have my foot on the gas but after shifting I hear it Rev up. Are my RPM's too high for the next gear because I've tried shifting everywhere from 2200 - 3000 RPM. Not sure what I'm doing but I'm trying to catch it.

[mad_finn]

the reving up is caused by slow shift without a blip of a throttle, sho after you have clutced in, the engine revs start to drop, without a small blip/fast enough change and clutch release the engine revs fall under the next gears ratio, and when you let the clutch out the engine revs up because the engines frywheel is spinning slower rate than the cluch disk.

you will learn to shift a bit faster as you get mose used to driving standard, and I bet that soon you will be able to shift and relese clutch before the engine revs fall below the "right" RPM... allso you will -bit sooner or later- learn wich is correct RPM / gear / speed ratio

For example (foget the car you drive I just invented this)
if you are driving let's say 30 mph
if you are in 1st gear you need to have 7k RPM to relese clutch
if you are in 2nd gear you need to have 5800 RPM to relese clutch
if you are in 3rd gear you need to have 4600 RPM to release clutch
if you are in 4th gear you need to have 3400 RPM to release clutch
and so on
now remember these are invented figures and DO NOT match in real life.
(and even if they would match wich is possible, but I dont know to wich car could those figures mach)

[theholycow]

Still have the occassional stall starting off in first gear...

I used to stall a lot. I eventually learned that I was trying to continually move my clutch foot once the car started moving, but I needed to pause for a moment even after the car was already moving. Just because the car is moving does not mean my left foot's job is done.

and reversing is slow is pretty tricky. Is it common to use the clutch if you're going very slowly in reverse and start to feel it bounce?

What do you mean by bounce?

It is common to use little or no throttle and only partially engage the clutch while reversing.

Also sometimes (not very often) when I up shift I don't have my foot on the gas but after shifting I hear it Rev up.

So, it revs up while your foot is not on the gas? Presumably, this happens when you let the clutch pedal up? If both of those things are true, then your RPM has fallen too far while you shifted and you'll need to give it a little gas during the shift to get a smooth shift (or you could shift faster).

[RomPirate]

I'm surprised no ones asked: Pictures of said firetruck?

[MikeyMatrix]

haha why would you want pictures of the firetruck? It's our oldest truck, going to go out on a limb and say it's late 80's, early 90's model. 10 speed - Hi /Low. Since than everything's been phased out to automatic. We have about 11 between our two departments and only one standard and it's our tanker. Our pumper and Rescue's are all automatic.

Been getting alot better driving. Can take off now without using the accelerator pretty smoothly. The main thing I'm trying to work on now is not using the gas as much before I engage the clutch when starting out from a hill, as well as getting the blip in Neutral during downshifting. Everything else has been going great though. Thanks for the help, any more advice is greatly appreciated.

[eggwich delfiero]

let's see teh firetruck!

[94Corolla5Speed]

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[LHOswald]

what word starts with f and ends in uck? firetruck!
what word starts with p and ends in orn? porn!....oh and popcorn i guess

[MikeyMatrix]

haha alright I'll work on getting a pic over the weekend. How do you post them here? Assume it's as simple as using the upload attachment box at the bottom?