kevinb120

Heh I live right down the street from Bonefish and Sweetwater tavern.

GottaHaveIt

Totally especially when going under a bridge or overpass GottaLove That SOUND

RKNMACH

Heh I live right down the street from Bonefish and Sweetwater tavern.

My youngest lives in Centreville. He has a 2001 Bullitt with a KB on it. he goes to Sweetwater on occaision.

kevinb120

Mustang's pedals kinda stink for heel-toe driving. A miata is a perfect example of a car that has the perfect pedals for it. I got into it for a little bit doing autox with the miata, but my times suffered big time so I stopped doing it. There is really no purpose for it on the street, and on the track if you have fast enough feet it doesn't do anything. Its just a term used ad-nausium by hack auto mag writers to make themselves sound qualified, yet can't even get a car to go fast in a straight line.


Clutches last a long time, typically at least 60k for a stock street car that is driven 'enthusiastically' but not abused. Some as said will bust the 100k mark. The only time you wear the clutch is when slipping it too much and bad habits like 'riding' the clutch constantly(leaving your foot with slight pressure on the pedal all the time). I drive so few miles per year that I never see them wear out from use, but as you modify vehicles you will reach a point where you need a heavier-duty piece as the stocker will just not be able to hold anymore. If you do something like bugger a burnout and slip the clutch into a scream where it smokes up the car is one thing, but worrying about every single shift is kinda silly.

Thinking that saving a clutch buy coasting in neutral to a stop is another idiotic farce. If the clutch is fully engaged and not slipping, its not wearing, even under engine braking.

RKNMACH

No finer words were spoken

kevinb120

My brother also has a Bullitt, he runs the Northern Virginia Mustang Club website, so they've probably crossed paths. I haven't done much with the club in a while, but most people have hit a meeting or two at some point.


As for the rev-matching on downshifts. If its a normal deceleration and its time to come out of 4th for something like 2nd at 25mph or so, or to 3rd at 45 so you can go up an offramp at normal speeds, you just downshift and ease out of the clutch just like an upshift. You are already speed matched for the downshift(where at 45 3rd is only 3k rpm so its a smooth transition)...

If you are going from 4th to 2nd at 40mph to 'get some' you need to goose the throttle quickly and then do the shift-idealy the motor is turning at 4500 or so rpm when the clutch engages you can boogie right out through 2nd as if you never downshifted and you dont choke up the motor by slowing it down too much. If you wanted too, you could come out of 4th at 45mph and do a 2nd gear little burnout just like the 1/2 shift if you rev it high enough....

I find the stock throttle hang in the programing makes it extremely simple to drive this car.

RKNMACH

i'm sure he has been on that website. He's had it for about four years and has bought different things from members on a Bullitt website. hope to afford a S/C so I can keep uyp with him some day.

RKNMACH

Once you get a CAI and a tune there won't be any throttle lag. But the good thing is you'll get used to it and make it work for you. Much snappier with the tune.

13 MIKE

This the correct way, heel-toe is a misnomer, you are using both sides of the top of your right foot. I read all these posts about manuals, and shake my head. It's all about the feel. The car will tell you what it want's, maybe some people have it naturally and some don't. My 16 year old does a pretty smooth job of driving my supercharged Mustang, also, this is the easiest stick car i have ever driven, ever.

spike

kevinb120, you just hit on something for me. Heel-toe driving is usually pretty difficult in american cars because their gas and brake pedals are spaced too far apart (my guess is the miata's are closer?). I've been using the UPR pedals which bolt on (so they have a real positive feel) and they are wider than the stock pedal (so they're closer together). Now I'm worried b/c I love heel-toe driving and I just ordered the GT500 pedals from KC (I like the look better). Attached is a comparison pic. Now I'm wondering if I made a mistake.

I really only use heel-toe driving in two cases on the road:
1) sometimes just before stopping (say I'm still going 10 or 15 mph) I rev match to put it into first
2) feeling spunky while braking and just want to lay on the gas just to here it yell at 5k rpm.

RKNMACH

I agree. It's all about you and the feel of the car. You have to find out what works best by making mistakes and identiying what doesn't work. Then it's a matter of finding the "groove' and keeping it.

spike

http://www.10w40.com/individual/100186.asp

http://www.standardshift.com/faq.html

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/youngd...0/article.html

kevinb120

I don't see why you would need to heel-toe for that. Its usually handy on a big sweeping diminishing radius turn with entry at say 120 or so and 90 2/3rds the way out opening up to a straight on exit. You would heel-toe for a second to brake under throttle to keep the car in its desired line so you don't change the f/r bias by lifting the throttle. At those speeds though, you would be talking a 500+hp car for it to make sense, or racing on dirt. Street cars do not have the power or high enough speeds in turns for it to be helpful.

The miata's pedals are tiny and close together. The clutch moves about 3" full travel and with a shift kit you can shift from 3rd to 4th by putting your fingertips on the shifter and simply bend them. There were times where I shifted from 4th to 3rd by just whacking it with my thumb.

neil07gt

You should check out the Autovation pedals. http://www.autovation.net/
They are on my mod list.

davisinla

I'll have to try and be aware next time I'm out driving, but I don't think I move my leg or knee very much at all.
I guess my technique is more like Spike's:

kevinb120

Its just basically tapping the brake with your heel while staying on the throttle. If you were to lift the throttle under full suspension load when really working the car the weight would transfer to the front and the car would slide/spin. The idea is to alter your line or tighten a turn without upsetting the car at its limits, where just a hair of lift will put you into another car or off the track or let someone slip inside of you.

Go in a parking lot, go into the hardest turn you think you can possibly do under power(it should be making you wince because you don't have a tire company as a sponsor), and suddenly lift off the gas completely-whee. Its called lift throttle oversteer/understeer(depends of the car's balance and drive wheels). It used to kill a lot of people driving the 'real' Porsche 911's of the past. Rolling on the brake under throttle was the way to safely slow/tighten the turn at its extreme limits, even if you were lifting the throttle slightly to keep it from spinning untill you were back within the tire's capeabilities again.

If you regularly carry a slight 4 wheel drift all the way around a highway off ramp where the slightest bump can send you hard into the guardrail, I would suggest tinkering with heel-toe driving. Other then that, you're kidding yourself. I wonder how many people wreck their cars trying to do this crap and end up stuck on the throttle in a split second of panic and end up in a ditch.

metroplex

Kev: I agree. I'm not out to break 8 minutes on Nordschleife... I just want to drive the car regularly and keep the clutch lasting as long as possible.

kevinb120

You'll be fine, just drive it normally(burnouts included). Just don't ride the clutch pedal when driving or slip it like crazy when starting off. This car is pretty easy to drive as big engines don't stall easilly and it has a beefy stock tranny.

13 MIKE

You guys are way off base, heel-toe is only used for downshifting. As you come to say... a 90 degree turn, you have to slow down, you also need to downshift. As you get halway through(apex) you should have A: slowed down enough to negotiate your turn, and B: downshifted. Here is where heel-toe comes in, as you let the clutch out in the middle of the turn to accelerate, you goose the throttle so there is a very nice transition and no jerking. This is what road course drivers call being smooth. Thats all it's for, and it will not put you in a guard rail.

RobK

Why are you waiting until it's about to stall. Just pop it in neutral and slow to a stop. Heel-toe braking is a tool to use to minimize the load on the entire driveline including the motor, trans, rear and universals. It's not intended to reduce clutch wear. If you're matching your gear selection to your GROUND SPEED you should never need to heel toe on the street. The only reason to heel toe is to rapidly get the speeds synchronized as you slow for a turn...usually on track...occasionally on the street. If you're a more conservative driver you'd be well served to simply depress the clutch while braking, shift, then let the clutch out once you've slowed to an appropriate speed.

BTW - Folks riding with me during hot laps around the track often don't realize that the car isn't an automatic.