Sometimes it feels like i'm about to break the shifter **** due to the pressure needed to push the gears into place!
i've driven other S197 GTs with TR3650 manual trans and found them to be exactly as difficult to shift as mine.

downshifting sometimes is nearly impossible at high speeds (say i'm down shifting from 4th to 3rd around 95-100mph while braking).. 3rd gear just won't go in till i force it in.

i hear syncrhos whining like crazy, and i tried double clucthing and rev matching.. but i'm still to find a way to down shift easily..

sometimes it just feels wrong to force the gear into place like that.. am i hurting the transmission doing what i gotta do?

any comments?

 

I think the 3650 is just a feisty transmission... I can only get totally smooth shifts when shifting really fast while accellerating really hard..

 

Get a different clutch!!! I just upgraded to a Spec 3 and love it.

 

It felt the same way on my TR-3650. I found that at higher speeds, double clutching or revmatching works better. Don't force the shifter, instead move it gently and wait for the synchros. At first, I could hear some "whirring" while downshifting but eventually that noise went away. Whatever you do, don't force it or muscle it. I did that once trying to downshift into 2nd and 1st gear coming to a stop and it grinded (I always jam the clutch pedal to the floorboard whenever I shift).

Upshifts are fine though. I can speed shift that 3650 like butter!!!

 

guys the problem is that most of the times the transmission refused to downshift gently, i was in need of an urgent downshift (a turn caught me off guard while going 100mph, and i had to slow down a bit, maintain my speed and ease through the turn on a lower gear).. it's not an option for to let the transmission take its sweet time before i can downshift

at the end of the day.. as long as i'm within the proper RPM ranges for each gear, the transmission should let me shift in and out of any gear without any hassles.. or at least i think so!

William: did the clutch upgrade sort out all these issues? cuz i thought the culprit is the synchros.. not the clutch!

 

Jesus!?! Trying to jam into 3rd going 100mph?!? If I was a tranny, I wouldn't want to do that either.

 

I printed out a tach sheet of 500-7000 RPM for each gear for the TR-3650 and stare at it every day. A good rule of thumb is: when in doubt, 2nd gear for city driving and 3rd gear for highway driving (at reasonable speeds within the limits). 2nd gear peaks out at 66 mph at 6k RPM while 3rd gear is 100 mph at 6k RPM, so as you can see if you needed to pass someone and don't know which gear to go to, 2nd gear for city driving and 3rd gear for highway driving is a safe rule of thumb. I find that it's very possible to take-off in 2nd gear.

 

Lowe: i was going 100mph on the 4th gear, but i hit the brake went down to 75-80 and went into the turn at the same time i was down shifting to 3rd to take it from there, but it wont go.

metroplex: i get to 120-130mph on an almost daily basis in Dubai.. and my average drive is at around 80-85mph.. so i'm almost always in 4th and 5th gear.

anyway that's all besides the point.. i need to be able to down shift smoothly! every other car i've driven had no problem shifting down, even if i was too fast for the lower gear!

i gave my incident above as an example where this "feature" of the TR3650 almost got me in trouble.
but in general i almost always have to "force" the gear in when down shifting at almost ANY speed and ANY RPM, and it's not only my car, but ever S197 with the TR3650 i tried :S

 

It is the clutch 100%

i looked at doing an aftermarket one, but I'm not sure there is a big enough market.

 

You have to let the synchros do their work. If you do a proper double-clutch, it shouldn't matter too much though and the shifter resistance shouldn't have anything to do with the clutch.

 

With my new clutch downshifting is a breeze. Of course the only time I had to "force" my tranny to do anything is when my stock clutch started to go bad. Of course we weren't exactly nice to my stock clutch. We beat the hell out of it at the track and we actually destroyed 2nd gear synchro. Ford was nice enough to replace my tranny under warranty, however left me with the same crappy cluth. So I upgraded it and love it.

 

How is the mileage at those shift points ?

 

Haven't had any problems with my new GT - shifting is very smooth.

 

I would say a new clutch and throwout bearing would do the trick quite well. It's the nature of the Tremecs, though. Downshifting just isn't their cup of tea. But they can upshift like butter!

You don't need to worry about downshifting anymore anyway! You're whippled! Kidding!

CR
Tillman Speed

 

lol CR.. cant wait for that baby to cross the atlantic

 

Has anyone noticed that rev matching is more difficult with the electric throttle on these cars?

On my 02, it was just a simple blip of the gas, but on my 05, I have to hold the (gas) pedal down for a fractions of a second before the revs will come up.

 

RR: You're not the only one. There's about 1/16" of dead play with the throttle, plus the throttle lag that results after you let off the gas. It makes rev matching very difficult at first.

 

I haven't noticed any "dead play" in my throttle. It does have a bit of a lag, but no dead area. It is very sensitive.

 

The dead play I'm referring to is the initial 1/16" or so. Once I found this dead play, I can kick the throttle just enough without affecting the RPMs. It's actually quite annoying because when you WANT to tip-in the throttle JUST enough to move the car slowly, you either get nothing or the RPMs surge up. It's NOTHING like a cable operated system, and I'm not even talking about the lag.

 

This has been discussed before, but I was just thinking this again today when driving. Either my legs are different sizes on different days, or these things are touchy as I have good days and bad and usually the same drive every day. I have a Bama tune in mine and it makes throttle response "on load" night and day, but trying to smooth out downshifts and slow upshifts when in a "no load" situation has been almost impossible for me. Either I slip the clutch or it bucks like I am not pushing the accelerator for just a split second. Pretty frustrating. Really my only complaint about the car.

I haven't had problems with the tranny downshifting, but then again, I am more gentle with it then some posting here, I guess.