I have always heard that "skip shifting" is BAD for any manual transmission; e.g, dropping from 4th to 2nd gear, or going up two or more gears, say from 3rd to 5th, or 4th to 6th. Skipping gears raises hell with your synchronizers, and 6th gear may have only one synchro ring; that's the case with S2000s, but don't know if that also applies to G-car manual trannies.

Anyway, here's an item from Honda about skip-shifting that I thought worth a post:

http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SN/A060100.PDF

Perhaps the "MT techies" here can comment further.

I almost never skip-shift, except during city driving for times slowing down from a higher gear to a slow corner where traffic is heavy and I drop to neutral, giving the synchros time to slow down and then drop to 2nd or even 1st gear.

 

wat if u're coming to a stop? lets say u're in 4th gear can u just put it in neutral while u approach a red light? or do u have to row ur gears?

 

I just put her in neutral and come to complete stop, then back into first.

 

Maybe we should discuss what not to do so ppl know about the small things that might burn out the clutch?

For instance, I always thought feathering the gas to 1k-1.5k rpm is putting a "load" on the clutch that could help it burn out faster. Therefore I try to get perfect engagement, roll and gas everytime (try to)

 

dats wat i do most of the time.

is there any problem with holding the clutch down but not revving the car? would the wear the clutch too?

 

My general "rule of thumb": As long as you're rolling in the higher gear and decelerating with no gas pedal applied or needed, I drop it into neutral the moment the tach drops to 2,200 or so. You sure don't want to cause the engine to "lug" in ANY gear. This is on my S2K as an example and I assume everyone knows what "lugging" in a gear feels like and that it should never be allowed to happen. A lot of this is just about "feel" and knowing your car intimately.

Hope this makes sense.

<"is there any problem with holding the clutch down but not revving the car? would the [that] wear the clutch too?>"

Never a good idea to "ride the clutch," in neutral or otherwise. Pepeatedly engaging in this practice not only puts needless wear on the clutch surfaces, but wears out the throwout bearing. Some people seem to want to keeps the clutch depressed while in gear and waiting for that Red Light to change. This is bad news for that throwout bearing! Keep the car in neutral until you're ready to move, then clutch, put the car in gear and go.

 

Skip shifting depends on the RPMs involved.

Skip shifting UP is generally OK so long as you wait the additional time for the revs to drop at both the flywheel AND the lay-shaft. This means you put the clutch in, take the stick out of the gear, and WAIT before putting into the gear and declutching. The layshaft is spinning at the same RPM as the flywheel when you clutch and needs time to slow down to match the higher gear. IT can be done and not cause any extra wear on the synchros.

Skip shifting down requires at minimum a rev-matched downshift -- clutch, rev while moving gear from 6th to 4th, declutch when the flywheel matches the revs needed for that gear. In this case, the synchros are being called upon to get the layshaft up to the right speed. In some causes, mostly where the target gear involved will be at a high rpm (let's say, 5k or more), you should double-clutch rev-match your downshift to save synchro wear: clutch, move stick from 6th to neutral, let clutch out, rev to target rpms for 4th gear, clutch, move stick from neutral to 4th, let clutch out.

That said, the G37 has triple cone synchros 1st and 2nd and double-cone synchros 3,4,5,6. So, we're dealing with a fairly robust transmission here (at least in DESIGN), and so you probably do not need to double-clutch OR stress too much about skip-shifting (just do your rev match w/ a single-clutch shift) unless you are very concerned about saving your tranny's synchros, or you do it 50 times a day, or what have you.

 

i drive an 05 coupe 6mt. this is the best technique that no one ever taught me. if you're on a hill and want to take of with zero rolling back do this: before you let go of the break to hit the gas, let go of the clutch part way to where the car is 1) still not moving b/c you're holding the break 2) pulling forward slightly because you've engaged the clutch part way and yet 3) not stalling because you haven't let go of the clutch too much -- you have to practice to where you can create 1 2 and 3 all at the same time while you're on a hill. Next, I lift my foot of the break. If i did the first part right, the car should just stand still at that point or pull forward slightly without stalling. Then i hit the gas and move without ever rolling back.

I do this very quickly, in a matter of 1 second, and if I do this right, I dont' roll and I dont' have to feather the gas at all. Just smooth take-off.

I also use this technique in starting from a standsill in traffic (even of flat ground). Try this: from a stop, let go of the clutch slowly until the car starts rolling. That's it. No gas is necessary - no feathering, overreving, etc. Its just a nice smooth start (albeit lazy). Practice and you can do it quickly and then get on the gas like normal.

 

I haven't noticed any 'clunking' yet... but I will agree that the G's tranny is a bit harder to drive than some others i've had experience with. Namely 96 Camaro Z28 and a 91 Nissan Maxima. The Camaro had a sportier shifter and felt more similar to the G (in a way). The Maxima's shifter was solid as you could want in that old of a car. It felt more solid than the Camaro's like the G's does, but it drove more like a regular car than a sport shift if you know what I mean.

I looked up an article on heel and toe shifting last night. It definitely sounds like something I want to be able to do, but it will take some practice certainly. 2 feet, 3 pedals... why not :P

 

I like threads like these. I am also a newbie at driving a 6mt but had practice on my brothers car (lives with me) and learned a bit.

I keep hearing the rev matching technique coming up so much. I thought these engines or atleast the HR engine had rev-matching software or whatever to automatically do it when you down-shift. I guess that's not the case for our car.

Another one of my cousin's who has been driving manuals for years told me proper rev matching is when you are downshifting, put the car in neutral, give it some gas, and then shift into lower gear. Is that true? I have been doing it, but I heard the other way is just give it gas in the current gear, then shift down into the lower gear?

Which technique is correct? or what do you pros do?

Another thing for me that has pissed me off but, I do not do anymore is stalling. I am not going to lie, driving an auto for years, i am not used to idiots in front of me stopping for whatever reasons, and I have to abruptly stop and forget that I am in gear. I know I have stalled more than I have wanted too but, I am gotten to a point that I am extremely comfortable. What are the downfalls for stalling? NEWBIE ? lol

 

leeI35G35,

Revving in neutral while rev-matching is called double clutching. Rev-matching alone is exactly what it says, matching revs. You do not need to double-clutch, as a general rule, on today's synchro-equipped manual transmissions. But if you want to do it, go for it, it does save some (normal) wear.

No stick&clutch manual tranny car will automatically rev-match. The rev-matching on downshift you are referring to is for the automatic (5AT) models.

 

how would u do this?
Rev at the same time u have the clutch down and downshifting?

 

you should always rev-match in neutral. the thing about double-clutching is this... it will rev match the RPMs of the gears in the transmission to the engine without putting the load on the synchronizers. to double clutch you do the rev-match with the clutch OUT, as opposed to regular single clutching where you rev-match the engine with the clutch IN and let the synchros speed up the trans.

Single Clutch:
1. depress clutch
2. rev-match the engine rpms
3. shift into neutral and then into next gear in one motion
4. release clutch to point of engagement
5. depress gas

Double Clutch:
1. depress clutch
2. shift into neutral
3. release clutch
4. rev-match engine and transmission
5. depress clutch
6. shift into next gear
7. release clutch to point of engagement
8. depress gas

 

This will be my first stick car, so I hope its not to tough to drive.

 

Yes. You put the clutch down, rev the engine, put the gear in, take the clutch out. All as one smooth motion is fine. Again, this uses the synchros but that is what they are there for. I would double-clutch if going through a big rpm change like 6th -> 3rd, for example.