Shifting questions

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Alex
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Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:29 pm

Shifting questions

Post by Alex »

Hey there! I recently bought a 96 Mustang Cobra which is a manual car, of course, and I have a couple of questions:

1) When leaving the freeway in 5th gear, there are lights just after the exit and I tend to stay in 5th gear as I am braking until I am close to stopping (RPM around 800 or so) and then press the clutch pedal and switch to 1st gear until I come to a full stop. Is that the proper way to stop/ switch gear or is that bad that the RPMs are dropping so low before switching gear?


2) When upshifting from 1st to 2nd gear, the car jerks if I dont depress the clutch pedal very quickly. Is it ok to depress the clutch pedal all the way up very quickly? If I do it slowly, the RPMs drop too much and when I switch to the 2nd gear, the car will jerks (since the RPM difference becomes quite high).
Or should I try to depress the clutch pedal until the friction point very quickly, but then slowly depress it back all the way up?
Sometimes I can hear a 'clunck' noise coming from the engine if I do it too quickly, but it's still a smooth gear switch for the passengers...
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Shadow
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Re: Shifting questions

Post by Shadow »

Welcome to the forum. I'm a Mustang fan myself. Used to own them, but not at the moment.

1) No harm at all the way you're doing it. I often do the same thing. Well, I don't normally shift into 1st gear, I just pop it into neutral and roll to a stop. If I'm in the mood to downshift, I'll do that instead. No right or wrong way to do it though...

2) Just shift (and clutch) at whatever speed works best for your car and the driving conditions you're in at the time. You won't hurt anything by moving the shifter or clutch pedal quickly.
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bk7794
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Re: Shifting questions

Post by bk7794 »

I get that clunk from 1st to 2nd gear sometimes. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
2004 Honda Accord 2.4 5 Speed
1989 Ford Taurus SHO 5 speed
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Squint
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Re: Shifting questions

Post by Squint »

Welcome!

1) What Shadow said. When stopping from 5th gear, I regularly just slow down in 5th, then shift into neutral once I had 800-1000 RPM where the engine would start struggling a bit. There are several ways to do it, and most are correct and safe as long as you're paying attention.

2) If you've been looking around, I believe it's His Bovine Holiness that usually says something along the lines of, "if it's smooth then it's probably fine." The only thing I would add to that is to not just rest of the clutch pedal. Use it, or don't use it, but don't mess with it otherwise. Prevents unnecessary wear. Alternatively, when learning, I played the lava game (like when you're a kid and the floor is lava?). The shifter and the clutch are lava. Only touch them when you need to and don't over do it on either of them.

Enjoy! Ask more questions! Someone else probably has/had them too... :D
'15 Mazda 3 iSport Hatch 6MT
'11 Ford Fiesta Hatchback SE 5MT
'14 Giant Escape City 24MT
'97 Honda Civic EX 4AT - Retired @ 184,001 mi

For Pony!
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AHTOXA
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Location: Irving, TX

Re: Shifting questions

Post by AHTOXA »

Welcome!
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
Alex
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:29 pm

Re: Shifting questions

Post by Alex »

Thanks everyone. Feeling more confident already :)
Knowing that I am 'probably' doing the right thing made a difference this morning while driving to work. Super smooth ride! :D
tankinbeans
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Re: Shifting questions

Post by tankinbeans »

Nothing to add, but welcome.

Pics?

My friend used to have a cherry red Cobra with the black cloth top. It was sweet.
17 Mazda6 Touring
18 Mazda3 iSport
InlinePaul wrote:The driving force of new fangled features to sell more cars [is to] cater to the masses' abject laziness!
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bk7794
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Re: Shifting questions

Post by bk7794 »

Alex wrote:Thanks everyone. Feeling more confident already :)
Knowing that I am 'probably' doing the right thing made a difference this morning while driving to work. Super smooth ride! :D
Just make sure that you don't smell the clutch. You would know if you do. Good to hear!
2004 Honda Accord 2.4 5 Speed
1989 Ford Taurus SHO 5 speed
Alex
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:29 pm

Re: Shifting questions

Post by Alex »

tankinbeans wrote:Nothing to add, but welcome.

Pics?

My friend used to have a cherry red Cobra with the black cloth top. It was sweet.

Thanks. Here are a few pictures :)

Image

Image

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bk7794
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Re: Shifting questions

Post by bk7794 »

I like the vertical tail lights over the previous gen horizontal tail lights.
2004 Honda Accord 2.4 5 Speed
1989 Ford Taurus SHO 5 speed
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AHTOXA
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Re: Shifting questions

Post by AHTOXA »

Great looking car.
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
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