Is a CDV prsent in the ZHP? Remove it.

 

1st gear only when slower than 10 mph, 1-2nd you need to either let out the clutch slow, or apply a bit of gas before letting out clutch so you dont get the on/off gas transition. and dont ride the clutch, foot on the dead pedal unless you shifting.

if you slip the clutch too much, you burn it. stalling wont necessary causing damage. driving in high rpm in lower gear wont damage anything as long as you properly maintaining the car.

dont drive it. but not seriously, be smooth and gentle. any abrupt action will cause damage.

 

what do you mean 'dont drive it'?

 

1st gear only then taking off from a stop. Never downshift to 1st when coming to a stop.

Try and get fully off the clutch before 1.5k rpm. Once you get used to the feel, you will be more comfortable letting it dip even lower. I usually get it down to 600 when I'm not taking off in a rush. And like said, remove CDV if you have one, but don't beat on the car after you do, it was there for an albeit annoying, but purposeful reason.

 

Letting it down to 600 is not good either. The oil pump may not be producing high enough oil pressure to avoid metal to metal contact with a load at those speeds. That's yet another but very seldomly thought of reason of why engines wear quickly.

Always be at or above 900 minimum and optimal 1k rpm when taking of in 1st gear.

 

1-2 smooth shifting comes over time

its usually about balancing:

clutch release

and

how much gas you give

dont be afraid to hold the clutch at the friction point longer and gas more than necessary when going from Neutral to 1st on a hill

it is better to gas hard, burn the clutch, than it is to stall completely, lose your braking ability and roll back into the car behind you. Unless of course, you are quick to pump your ebrake

 

Amen

 

Search me and something like "how to teach to drive manual" in the title. I started the thread to help me teach my son how to drive a manual. I know how, but don't know all of what I do, so found that thread helpful.

Treat it like a psychotic, hot female patient in a mental hospital...really gentle and smooth and maybe you'll get somewhere with her.

The biggest issue I can figure out is your wanting to make the shift from 1st to 2nd both smooth and quick. The quick is the killer here. It's a bmw, not a dragster.

 

maybe he wants to do it quick so he can put his hand back on the steering wheel for safer driving.

so dragster is wrong.

 

Getting into 1st is the hardest part and it's easier from there. Let out the clutch slowly while also slowly applying the gas (I'm talking like no more than 1100 rpm). You'll need to give it some more gas when on a hill, but that'll just be practice. Once you feel the car start moving, let out the clutch more quickly and you'll be in gear. When you shift from 1st to 2nd, push in the clutch all the way at around 3000 RPM, let the RPMs drop to around 2200-ish, and start to bring the clutch in at a medium speed. If you did it right, you'll feel essentially nothing when you shift. That's the ultimate goal when shifting, because if you do excellent rev-matched shifts all the time, your clutch will be in good, good shape for a long time. Some members here have had their original clutches for quite some time now.

It just takes a lot of practice. Learning how to rev-match just comes with driving the car. You'll get your own shifting style and decide when to shift, and naturally begin to feel which RPMs are right to shift at. I'm personally around 2500-3000-ish. I find 3000 to be a sweet spot where you don't need to shift too quickly or too slowly to get a perfect shift. But honestly, once you get it in 1st gear, it's a piece of cake from there. Just don't forget to push in the clutch when you come to a stop, or let the RPMs drop below around 800 (you'll stall; embarrassing )

 

their right everythings about balencing gas & clutch i just replace my clutch & was stalling EVERYWHERE but give it about a week then its like muscle memmory . also just dont push it to hard & not knowing what to do or where your gears are, like going fast then shifting to wrong (lower) gear can result in a blown engine.

 

The technician really said THROW OUT BEARING, not throttle bearing.

The smoothest shift, especially from 1st to 2nd, at about 1500 rpm. The harshest 1 - 2 Shift happens when you wind the motor up to 3500 rpm. Shift early and often to get the smooth shifts. Never ever shift into 1st if the car is still moving. If you can keep rolling, then start in 2nd. With practice, you will learn that you can start in 2nd much of the time anyway, except on hills where you are going up. You can easily start in 2nd on a hill where you are going down, and can even begin in 3rd if other conditions are working in your favor.

You can drive through the neighborhood in 3rd gear and still be below 20 mph. You can idle through a parking lot in 2nd or 3rd.

I can drive my car in stop-n-go traffic on the freeway in 3rd gear from about 5 mph all of the way to about 70. If you figure out how to stay 3 seconds behind the car in front, you will be able to make the ride far more comfortable for your passengers than if you are constantly mashing the brakes and shifting the gears -- keeping a healty following distance lets you lift off the gas and coast to a slower speed, and this will give a far more comfortable ride than following tightly and slamming on the brakes as soon as the guy ahead of you slams on his. When you keep a healthy following distance, you will not have to shift as often. You will not brake as much, you will not gas so hard. You will not alternate between pinning your passengers to the seat and throwing them against the windshield.

Make that 1 - 2 shift as early as you can. This will help make it smoother. And never downshift into 1st unless the car comes to a full stop.

 

:facepalm:

OK.....

Lugging the engine (trying to make it accelerate from rpm that are too low) is FAR worse for the drivetrain that slipping the clutch a little bit.

Modern clutches can take FAR more abuse than folklore would have you believe. I'm not saying ride the clutch. Not at all. BUT, when learning to drive a stick, for the first few weeks, slipping the clutch at higher rpm (3k or so) to get you going smoothly is not going to do any real damage unless the clutch is toast anyway.

Do NOT delete the CDV (clutch delay valve). It will actually help you be smoother as a manual gearbox noob.

Forget fast shifting. Learn to de-clutch and shift properly first. Then work on smoothing. THEN perhaps you can work on faster. I race cars. Wheel to wheel. No bullshit. I seldom rush a shift when racing. Chill. Don't listen to friends filling your head with BS.

Since you're in Houston.... There is a BMWCCA coffee meet-up coming up soon. I need to double check the date, but if you want to show up and meet the local chapter folks (hell, I don't know that many, but they are good folk), I'll give you a few lessons and in a half hour you'll be golden (done it more than once with people who are NOT enthusiasts).

 

Guys thanks a lot for the help -- everyone. Really, thanks for the advice. And I wasn't talking about shifting super fast -- haha, when I say I'm slow. I mean It takes me 10 seconds to get into first gear, but I'm getting faster.

Geo31, thanks for the offer, I might take you up on that.

So I went out and tried doing what some of you guys are recommending.
So here's whats happening: Vehicle is stopped. I push down on the clutch, shift into 1st gear, then I slowly give gas while pushing off the clutch, then I completely release the clutch -- what happens is the car jerks like crazy and moves forward.
BUT, when I do this, it starts out relatively smoothly: Vehicle stopped. I push down on clutch, shift into 1st gear, Give it some gas, while releasing the clutch slowly, BUT I don't let go of the clutch all the way, I keep it pushed down about 30% of the full range. This seems to make me shift gears smoothly -- no matter which gear I'm in. Is this bad? Is this called "slipping the clutch"?

Also, when I'm driving in 2nd gear at around 10-20 mph, it'll do a slight jerking motion if I'm just cruising without giving much gas. Whereas when I shift into 3rd gear, it seems to go smoothly at this speed. Whats up with that?

 

Learning to drive a stick shift is all about clutch control. A little heavy on gas and learn to release the clutch slowly in a controlled way. More gas is preferred so as not to stall the car, a bad situation on the road.

 

Here's a cool video on the basics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B59-pWSPoZU&feature=channel_video_title

Also remember that engine braking shouldn't replace actual braking. I'll admit that I use it sometimes, usually because I'm too lazy to heel-toe, but I always use the brakes as well. Brake Pads are cheaper than a new transmission.

 

Here's a cool video on the basics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B59-pWSPoZU&feature=channel_video_title

Also remember that engine braking shouldn't replace actual braking. I'll admit that I use it sometimes, usually because I'm too lazy to heel-toe, but I always use the brakes as well. Brake Pads are cheaper than a new transmission.

Also not true. There is a proper way of downshifting and engine braking and there is a wrong way.

Downshifting and dumping the clutch is the wrong way: rev matching perfectly on the other hand and being smooth with the clutch while you're learning your gear ratios is the right way and is no different then you staying in a low gear and revving it to 5k then letting it down to 1k.

the transmission input and idler shaft are always spinning as long as the car is in motion.

The reason a double clutch downshift feels so much smoother as you release the clutch through neutral and blip the throttle, put the clutch in, and downshift at the exact and at perfect moment you feel it almost fall into place without much effort is becuase you're spinning the idler shaft at a faster rate then the input shaft so that when you are ready to downshift the idler shaft is at the exact and perfect speed for the lower gear and the sleeve/fork just slips into the synchro and into the gear without the synchro having to work as much or at all. The way the video illustrate's downshifting is very basic and wears into the clutch iwhich is FINE; however, if you over do it and don't let the clutch cool down or if you're too abrupt the clutch disk springs may collapse. But if you're like me and drive like you're on a racetrack 24/7 you would always double clutch and heel toe downshift. (I only heel toe downshift when there is no one around me as to not scare anyone)

All this is done and happens in almost a fraction of a second.

 

Because pressure goes down slightly, that does not mean you reached an unsafe operating level.
Lets not make mountains out of molehills.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/2005/us020516.htm

 

It's not a mountain out of a hole; It's a personal thing that I will always do. It's mostly coming from driving a 1978 924 with a wore engine for so long before I rebuilt it.

 

clutch speed is the most important thing when starting off. meaning how fast you let the clutch out.
if you're jerking in 1st :facepalm: then that means you're letting out the clutch too fast. slow it down. reeeeaaaal slow.

the better you get the faster you'll be able to let out the clutch.
an experienced driver will be able to have 1st completely engaged in about a second from a complete stop (with normal road driving)

just remember clutch speed.
the more you drive the better you'll get. experience is the best teacher. you can read all you want but the best way to learn is to go drive your car.
another tip is don't drive with your foot on the clutch. the only time your foot should be touching the clutch pedal is when you're changing gears or stopped. if you have it resting on the pedal this can "slip" the clutch during driving and put a lot of wear on the clutch over time.

 

I'll add one thing that wasn't said. In most manuals I've driven (hadn't really driven an E46 manual much), you can let the clutch out EVER SO SLOWLY without even stepping on the gas to get the car moving. This is not for daily driving, but for practice. Go to a parking lot, get the feel for when/where the clutch engages and the car starts to move forward. This will give you more confidence for your regular driving. Practice that just a couple of times for the feel, then practice with the gas. Then, as you get used to it, use what everyone else said, clutch speed and enough gas. Then, practice more and it will begin to feel natural.

 

so is double clutching just basically rev matching very well during up and down shifts? because I do that any way, because its fun and I feel like that puts less stress on the synchro......

also, my pops who had a manual alfa romeo since he was in college told me that when you are not shifting, you shouldn't have your foot on the clutch at all. To what extent is this true? I usually have my foot just resting on the clutch because i use it so much....like during 1-3rd gear.... when I know im going to cruise I take my foot completly off it. Thoughts?

 

When upshifting and double clutching you don't rev match. You are trying to achieve the opposite when up shifting. you simply release the clutch through nuetral then upshift.

 

biggest tip i can give...

learn the basics first, dont worry about all these tricks (double clutch downshifting, heel-toe, rev-matching, etc...) and whatnot. they are not necessary. after all, ur just driving a car, not looking to do some fancy stuff on the speedway right now

u want to be able to do neutral-1st starts on an high incline hill without running backwards into the car behind u.

i actually used this vid to help me out when i first started learning. pretty funny too

[youtube]rqtctkznYjk[/youtube]

 

I'm basically doing the same thing. I'm gonna have to replace my slipping clutch fairly soon so gonna teach my sister and girlfriend how to drive a manual, before I replace it.

 

Just don't granny shift, whatever you do.

I dunno about all the double clutch talk ^^^. I've had instructors tell me to do it, and I've had others say it's not necessary on a modern trans with synchros. One thing I do know is that I sense little difference. All that seems to matter is how well I execute my heel-toe.

 

IMO someone really can't tell you how to do it... It just takes experience.

Just go find some nice quiet streets, even rural-type roads if you can, and practice. Don't worry, before long it will be second nature.

 

This.

 

Don't focus on shifting really quick especially when you're just learning...remember you're LEARNING not "RACING."

To be 100% honest with you, anyone on here can tell you their way on how to drive stick, and I'm sure you can watch countless videos on youtube on how to drive stick, but that's not how YOU will drive stick. It's all about doing it on your own and learning through trial and error. Usually people learn on "beaters" so they don't damage their car, but seeing as though you have a bad clutch as it stands, that's semi okay. Only thing is, when you get your new clutch, it's gonna take some getting used to because it will need to "break in" and it will be very grippy. Just take your time shifting through the gears and get a good rhythm on pushing down the clutch, changing gear, and releasing the clutch. (Don't release it too fast because that will be the jerking motion you're talking about)

All in all, good luck to ya! Again, there have been countless threads, videos, questions yada yada about how to "properly" drive stick. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, and yes there is an "art" to driving stick properly, it's 100% trial and error bro. No 1 person can control your body for you, it's all about practice. Be safe and GL to ya!

~Steve