The rev sticking can be reduced by letting off the throttle and waiting briefly before letting the clutch out. I found that if I tried something similar to speed shifting, the RPMs would stick up briefly.

Thanks for the link on the MR2. The Corolla and the FWD transaxle never impressed me much, but the overall setup of the MR2 is impressive. I still prefer the torque and horsepower from the 4.6L 3V V8. 4-bangers and V6s are defective engines, missing 4 and 2 cylinders respectively.

 

Yes an MR2 is a corolla front assembly modified to be used in the back. There is no driveshaft and seperate differential to clunk. It clunks internally so you don't hear it in the car. All cars have take up slack of some sort. The bigger the parts, the noiser the clunk. When the parts are golf-cart sized, the noises are not as loud. Typically the smaller the transmission, the easier it is to get the shifter to be smooth as well. MR2's were ok, but were too close in price to the 300/RX7TT to be big sellers, and had boring styling. I've driven a few over the years and don't remember the shifter being anything special(thats why I bought an RX7TT in the first place). Two best shifters in modern cars is #1 the S2000 and #2 the Miata.

As for my 07, I have 0 issues whatsoever with shifter smoothness, upshfting/downshifting, ect, any combos 2-3/2-4/5-2/5-3/3-4, whatever. Does the right thing every time every shift, squeaks the 3rd shift stock, no problems, never missed a gear, which is more then I can say for my older stangs with aftermarket shifters. When you get the clutch timing right where you don't floor the clutch all the way, but JUST to the disengagement point you can shift it so fast it feels like an auto. From the outside it just sounds like someone pushed a button with a different exhaust note playing.

 

Clearly, you are a better driver than I, as I clunk like h-i-z-e-l-l (sorry, gots to beat the filters!) no matter what!

 

Particularly if you shift at low RPMs, as for example in city driving.

 

I'm a bit surprised to hear you say this, honestly.

It certainly clunks a bit during city driving if you shift during low RPMs and don't disengage the clutch just right. But get the revs up (say during highway driving) and try 3-4 or 4-3 shifts, and I find it's relatively smooth.

Even if it didn't clunk at all, it will never be as smooth as a Miata, or a Honda shifter - but then those cars don't use V8s with one helluva lot more torque riding the drivetrain, either.

 

you just have to be smoother

I admit I'm not the greatest or quickest shifter.... and most of the time I'm on, but it does get a bit ... annoying when I'm tired or lazy and the shifts clunk

but not annoying to the point where it ruins my fun in the car

 

Yea, your are right, high RPM shifting is certainly better, but here I am taking a buddy for a ride in my new Mustang, parking in a tight parking lot, clunking is apparent. He's thinking, "Doesn't this guy know how to drive a stick?"

What do I say..."It ain't me...that's how it is with 300 hp and lots of torque"?

And to you guys who shift perfectly every time: I sure hope I can be like you someday.

 

In a tight parking lot, you're not actually changing gears, are you? I don't have any problems with clunking while in a single gear.

 

No, but I hear the WHIRR WHIRR WHIRR WHIRR in a parking lot...

 

First to reverse...and back.

 

Sure, some of its unavoidable. When im ****ing around getting out of the neighborhood(usually doing 10 other thing while being a slave to the speed bumps), sure I let it clunk around, doesn't bother me either way. You can also do it so it doesn't clunk, driving all the way up the parking lot, including stopping for a split second at the intersections, all in first with left foot flat on the floor, never using the clutch. All of my mustangs have done this, along with a dozen other manuals, including the RX7TT, two Miatas, and a supercharged MR2. There has to be some give and slack in the drivetrain of a car, its not an electric motor directly bolted to an axle.

 

Yeah, I get a slight "clunk" if I let off the gas for a moment and then give it gas again. I've also done that stop w/out clutching in 1st gear as well. [Of course its not much of a stop as you can't sit there, but for purposes of stop signs and no traffic it works.]

 

OK...got it.

Again, I notice the clunking now and again, too - but it doesn't really bother me. You might want to get together with a fellow S197 GT owner and swap cars for 10 minutes just to see there's any appreciable difference from car to car.

 

I've driven hundreds of them(been selling them since 02's were on lots), they all do it

 

I hate to burst some people’s bubble, but synchros don't whir and fundamentally don't even change speed at all during the shift. Which ever gear you are going to, up or down, the syncro / blocker ring are rotating at the same speed as the drive shaft ... because they are physically indexed and locked to the output shaft of the transmission. What the so-called whir is, is the input shaft and cluster gear accelerating (down shift) or decelerating (up shift) when the blocker ring (rotating with the driveline) clutches the gear you are selecting to shift into.

Driveline clunk is aggravated by throttle hang between shifts or during uncoordinated shifts. The are clearances in the whole driveline starting at the clutch disk to input shaft, between the gears in the transmission, drive shaft slip joints, the differential gears and the axle splines engaged in the differential, not to mention the differential spider gears too. All in all, there are more than a dozen mechanical interfaces between the engine and the wheel where there are clearances, and any time there is any amount of torque reversal, they are going to sing. Anyone who has watched a train accelerate or slow down and heard the clunk (or bang) between each car as the load transfers will have observed the same phenomena ... all the clearances changing state.