At 09:16 AM 6/18/99 -0500, Eric A. Yates wrote:
>Okay, I've been following this thread carefully trying to find out if my
>driving habits are rough on my car. Can someone please review (without
>reopening debate) what seems to be the general list consensus on these
issues:
>
>1. Starting with car in neutral, clutch pedal out: good/bad/no difference?
>I usually do it this way. It seems most listers think it's either a good
>habit or doesn't matter.
I've been driving stick shift cars for the last 34 yrs, 67 Spitfire,
65 Morgan, 55 Chevy, 65 Volvo P1800, and several Hondas, 71 Saab Sonett.
I always start the car with the clutch pedal depressed. Thrust washer
issue asside, on my 67 Spit, after some wear in the shift linkage, it can
be hard to tell weither the car is really neutral or not. By depressing
the clutch pedal, you ensure that you don't accidently lurch forward and
hit something.
>2. Sitting at traffic lights in neutral, clutch pedal out: good/bad/no
>difference? I often wait at red lights with my car in gear and the clutch
>pedal to the floor. No idea what the vote is on this one.
I never leave the car in gear at a light. This cause:
1. Excessive wear on the throw out bearing,
2. Excessive strain on you leg,
3. If anything happens, (your foot slips off the clutch pedal, you get
rear ended, etc.) you will likely enguage the clutch and lurch forward
again, probably damaging you car. Not worth the risk.
>
>And here's another couple questions I was wondering about:
>
>3. Coming to a near-complete stop at a stop sign and pulling away in 2nd
>gear. Good/bad/no difference? I have to admit I do this often too.
As long as you are rolling - preferably about 5 mph or so, it's no problem.
You want you rpms to be up about 1500 or so, so you don't lug your eng.
>4. The only manual shift vehicles I had ever driven before getting my
>Spitfire were motorcycles. My clutch habits come from that training I
>guess. When I want to slow down in my Spit, the first thing I do is depress
>the clutch pedal (as well as letting off the gas of course). Then I brake
and downshift. This sounds like such a dumb question, but is this the
>normal procedure? If so, is it good/bad/no difference? I imagine the only
>alternative is to let off the throttle and let the engine do some "braking"
>before downshifting. Seems to me that would result in increased wear on the
>mechanicals. Thoughts?
When stopping, I usually drop a gear (matching revs), then back off the
accelerator and then slowly apply the brakes. Depending on why I'm
stopping (or having to apply the brakes) I may just back off the gas,
and slow down, then if I slow enough I might drop a gear. This all
changes if you are trying to push your car. Back when I was autoxing and
rallying you want to keep the revs up in the power band so when you shift
is dependent on your speed. You brake hard to scrub off some speed so you
can down shift. Then either hold in the lower gear, or again brake and
down shift. You want to have the power there when you can start to
accelerate.
Eric, this is my driving style and my 2 cents. YMMV.
John
John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair@exis.net
Va. Beach, Va Phone: (757) 495-8229
48 TR1800 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V (B1109)
71 Saab Sonett III (71500840) 75 Bricklin SV1 (0887) 77 Spitfire
Morgan: www.team.net/www/morgan
Bricklin: www.bricklin.org
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