JimmyM

Okay, so I had never driven a stick shift before. I got my Mustang a week ago and I've been driving it to get better. I can get from Point A to Point B right now, but that's because I have been avoiding any inclines and congested traffic.

I have some questions, because I want to get better and eventually be able to drive it with as much ease as you guys. I understand it generally comes from practice over time, but I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing to get better, not just repeating mistakes.

1.) When going up a driveway, assuming I can't come to a complete and go up in 1st, how should I do it? What I have been doing is going up in 2nd slowly (otherwise it would scrape), but then the RPM is so low my engine starts to vibrate, or I believe "bog" is the term. I tried putting it in neutral and then engaging 2nd, but in neutral, my car didn't even make it all the way before it came to a stop and started rolling back (which was embarrassing).

2.) What about a high and narrow speed bump on a 35/40-degree incline?

3.) When starting 1st, on a casual takeoff, what RPM should it be at before engaging? I think I have been over-revving and slipping the clutch a lot when taking off in 1st because I'm afraid of stalling (especially when I'm the first car at a red light), so it usually lurches forward.

4.) When you go from a stop on a steep hill, do you guys slip the clutch first so it engages faster? Or do you let go of the brakes and then engage and gas?

5.) Is it safe to shift from 1st to 3rd? 2nd to 4th? I ask because my shifting speed is still very slow, and I often find myself going up to 3k or higher to compensate so the douchebag behind me doesn't tailgate me. I have a bit of a road rage problem, which I'm working on, so I try to avoid being in a situation that would aggravate me.

6.) Is it okay to go from 2nd to neutral then to 1st? Sometimes I find myself caught at a speed that's slower than 2nd at 1k RPM so I have to shift to 1st gear. Everytime I go from 2nd to 1st, or 2nd to neutral to 1st, my car usually makes a lurching/bucking motion. So, for example, how would you do a "California stop" at a STOP sign? I was never told to downshift to 1st or shift to 1st when the car is moving.

That's all I can think of right now. Any help would be appreciated. I suspect I can eliminate some of these issues once I get familiar with the engage point so I can get there faster, instead of slipping the clutch for longer than I should.

Thank you

Ltngdrvr

okay, lets try this.

#1- On steep slow grades, too slow for 2nd you should downshift to 1st but you will need to make sure to depress the clutch pedal all the way and then you will have to slip it some with some throttle to make it smooth.

#2- Never seen a speed bump like that on that steep of an incline, I would avoid that if possible, if not do the same as in #1.

#3- You don't want to rev it up much on a normal take-off, just ease the clutch pedal out and feed in the throttle and slip the clutch a little to make a smooth getaway.

#4- This is the hardest thing to master, basically you almost have to do all three pedals at once or you can hill hold by slipping the clutch while keeping the RPM just enough to keep it from rolling back, not using the brakes at all.

#5- Yes, it is okay to skip shift, Ford has a feature built-in on the GT so it makes you do that if you accelerate very lightly.

#6- Refer to answer #1, similar situation, same solution.

#7- Find someone you trust who is good at driving a manual transmission and ask them to go with you to give you pointers as you drive.

Practice, Practice, Practice but try not to burn up your clutch.

chutoyy

DO NOT practice going up your driveway... Just in case you panic and end up parking IN the house.

One way to learn clutch control... start the car, put it in 1st gear, release the parking brake while holding the brake (the entire time) with your right foot, then SLOWLY let off the clutch until you feel some resistance; don't let the car stall, (the car will want to move forward, the RPMs will drop slightly) and then clutch back in and repeat.

This MAY help you learn the "sweet spot" or engagement point. Once in a while, take a break and actually move the car with JUST the clutch, no gas pedal.

EDIT: Ideally, the clutch engagement point and the accelerator position is even... i.e. both feet are at the same level when starting (at least on my car)

stangfoeva

Agreed with the other posters and I'll add this.

Find an empty parking lot somewhere (commercial parks after work hours are good for this) and just simply practice starting from 1st from a complete stand still. After you master that everything else is easy

OAC_Sparky

If I can add, don't be afraid to use your hand brake to hold you from rolling backwards on a hill until you become more proficient, because if you lurch and squeal your tires or stall the car it tends to wreck your confidence and set back your learning. Apply the hand brake just enough to keep from rolling backwards, sloooowly let out your clutch until you feel it engage and then slowly release the hand brake.

The key to all your questions is learning the sweet spot for your clutch -- the spot you lift your clutch pedal to where it's not fully engaged but is engaging enough to keep you from rolling back. What I usually do when I teach new standard drivers is similar to what chutoyy suggested, but first I start off with the basics -- put the parking brake on with the car at an idle, watch the tach and sloooowly let the clutch out. You will see the spot where the tach dips about 50-100 RPM, when it does, push the clutch back in and repeat. That "spot" is the same for all gears. Once your leg "memorizes" that spot you will be able to pull away with very little throttle application (especially with an engine as powerful as the 5L). You don't need to rev the heck out of it.

And a couple side tips:
1) As you practice driving try to do this:
Clutch in, shift, clutch out, clutch foot flat on the floor. Repeat.
One of the hardest things on your clutch isn't starting off, or snuffing it, but riding the clutch ie, driving around with your foot on the clutch. It takes very little pressure to partially disengage the clutch and without realizing it just resting your foot on the clutch pedal can burn a clutch out in no time.

2) Never EVER use your left leg (clutch leg) for the brake. Under any circumstances barring your leg falling off. You won't be able to disengage the clutch and the car may not let you shift out of gear under load and you'll have to take your foot off the brake to rearrange your feet. I know it sounds silly, but I've seen people do it because they've driven automatics and somehow got into that habit. The only time your left foot should come off the floor is to hit the clutch.

Good luck.

Gordo325

First, let me say you get extra credit for buying an expensive car with a stick without knowing how to drive it. FWIW, you should try to learn on different POS (with decent clutch) car before taking it out on the mustang. Skills learned in all the above areas are easily transferable from car to car, as one poster said, you just need to learn the nuances of mustang clutch take up point. Having confidence in the mechanical process between the three pedals is the only difficult part.

Whammer

I never drove a stick before I got my 05 GT and here's what I did to get better.
I knew of a store who's entrance had a very steep incline. So I went there late at night when the place was closed and practiced on it. The incline was a curved road leading into the parking lot and it was easily 100ft. long.
I would drive up and stop my car and then practice just using the clutch to hold my car in place.

The other thing I practiced was getting to learn where my clutch engaged - this will big time help you with starting on a hill. I used a flat parking lot for this. I would shift into 1st and then (without using the gas) I slowly eased out the clutch. I watch for my rpm's to start to drop, this is the point the clutch is starting to engage (very important). If you do it slowly enough you will be able to get the car to move forward without touching the gas pedal.

Your car should now be just inching forward and as you continue to ease out the clutch the car will pick up more speed. Once it's moving forward easily you can fully release the clutch.

Now going back to a hill start....if you hold down the brake and ease the clutch out to the point that the rpm's start to dip then you can fairly safely take your foot off of the brake as the car will hold itself on the hill. Then you just start to give it some gas and let more clutch out and you'll be smoothly going up the hill.

Visually I use to think that shifting gears was like two cogs with teeth meshing together and that I had to mesh them perfecting or they would grind. But engaging the clutch to the engine doesn't look like that. I searched online and saw that it's actually more like two pressure plates coming together. The engine pressure plate is always spinning and as the clutch comes out it's pressure plate begins to make contact and starts to spin as well. Once fully engaged it spins at the same speed as the engine.
That visual, the two plates coming together, really made shifting much easier for me as I could now picture exactly what was going on in my car.

Rjaniz

I would agree with you, but when I got my Stang (first manual car I had ever driven), I couldn't afford a beatercar to practice on. And given that it doesn't take very long to get the hang of it, I couldn't justify the extra cost anyway.

I found practicing on a Housing Development road to be very helpful. Tons of hills, very very low traffic, and open space to practice on.

A tip I would pass along would be let the car in front of you get a lead before trying to move. In Automatics, as soon as the car in front of me was moving, I was moving with them. In a manual, my foot doesn't come off the brake until the car is at least a car length ahead of me. This way I have time to react and even make sure I can apply the needed power to get up that hill.

Once you get fairly decent (stalling less than 50% of the time I would say) I would also suggest getting yourself into traffic jams. I did this and my take offs improved greatly. Roads around here go up and down little hills (nothing steep) so I got comfortable on hills and the great part is if you stall.... no one really cares because they still aren't getting anywhere fast even if you were doing it perfect! So as long as you allow the car ahead of you to get that bit of a lead and then go... you'll quickly get a feel for the "sweet spot" as you'll have to do take offs repeatedly in traffic jams.

JimmyM

Thanks guys. I will work on my skill

Ltngdrvr

What part of the country are you in?

I'm considering opening the Lightning-Driver Stick-Shift Driving School...

falhulk

I havea very steep driveway and I have to make a 90 degree turn into it. I stay in second the whole time. Not sure how you are bogging second. Also not sure how you would scrape. I take speed bumps in second easily. If you are afraid you are going to stall, push the clutch in.....the car will still go over unless you are going way to slow.

chutoyy

Unless you're lowered and the speedbump is pretty aggressive (read TALL)... The last thing you want to do is have a little bounce.

:kaTHUNK Scrape:

JimmyM

I think I misused the term. I meant that going up the driveway at a speed below 1k RPM in 2nd, I experienced the vibration that usually precedes a stall.

I tried disengaging the clutch in 2nd to let the car roll up the driveway a little bit, but I stalled when I engaged the clutch. I'm not even sure why I stalled. Was the RPM too low? I did give it gas before before releasing the clutch.

I will try downshifting to 1st to see if that works better. Everytime I've downshifted from 2nd to 1st it's been rough.

Stangpilot007

Turn the traction control off, then just rev it to redline and dump the clutch.

Red Jay

im only 18 and this is how i learned...find an empty parking lot like Jason said, practice taking off. all the other stuff came to me naturally after i learned to take off and got better at it...IMO that made it easier. i suggest getting the revs up between 1000 - 2000 and slowly letting the clutch out but not all the way out. you can let it go about halfway and hold till once you feel that the clutch is fully engaged then you can let off the clutch and drive. thats how i learned and after that going up driveways was alot easier (which you always wanna do in 1st gear). then i had to practice when the car was on a hill. what i do it is, clutch in with the left foot, right foot on the brake, quickly let off the brake and give it gas and at the same time letting off the clutch a bit quicker but still holding it till the clutch fully engages....ill never forget my times learning...i still am learning new things. which ever way you learn it, i wish ya the best of luck!

20115.0

When I was learning I just took my car around the neighborhood a few times and then started going further and further every day. As many of the guys have said its mostly about just finding the contact point. Getting to learn exactly where the clutch will engage is what helped me the most. If you can get going without any gas 10 times in a row id say your doing pretty good.

ftl900

Someone else already mentioned it, but it's all about clutch control. I have taught several people to drive a standard by finding a traffic-free big open area (large, empty parking lot) and then from a dea stop, use only the clutch- no gas at all. You'll learn that the clutch pedal moves several inches total, but only an inch or two really count. You'll also be able to practice without the stress of traffic, and without trying to balance the engine speed to compensate for the clutch.

Once you get the clutch stuff down, the rest of it is much easier. Oh, post your location too... I'd be willing to help ya with it in mid-Florida, but I don't know where you live.

JimmyM

Today, I heard a clunking sound as I turned into my street. I was going about 40, so I put it into neutral to slow down and turn into my street. I then disengaged clutched all the way down, shifted to second and gave it some gas, let off the gas, then engaged the clutch while depressing the accelerator a bit.

Any insight on what may have happened?

Also, how should I be slowing down to turn into a street? I obviously don't have the skill to heel and toe yet, so that's what I've been doing.. Should I just downshift gradually? From 5th to 4th to 3rd then 2nd? Since I'm braking the whole time, I won't be able to blip the throttle to rev-match. Also, it's a high-speed main street that I'm turning in from, so I don't want someone to rear end me.

Thanks

Ltngdrvr

Just slow down in gear until the rpm gets very low then drop down to second to make the turn, shift before you turn.

Rev matching and rowing down through all the gears is something for you to not worry about unless you are racing.

Many are reporting the knocking noise, probably just gear backlash.

Bert

yeah, like ltng said --

probably "drive train lash" -- there is a little play/slop in the joints and such in the drivetrain, and if there is pressure in one direction on the drive train and then pressure in the other direction, that slop comes out as a "clunk" -- it is common, not a big deal, you can reduce it with better technique but never really get rid of it completely

Don't worry about the fancy heal-toe and throttle blip stuff, even some of the racers don't bother with that . . . for slowing down you can either go down through the gears, or just push in the clutch and coast while using the brakes, or put it in neutral and coast while using the brakes. Then just go into the right gear for the speed you are going in the corner, give it a little gas as you let out the clutch, and you should be all set.

When you downshift, just let the clutch out a little slowly so you don't get the big jerk when it engages in the lower gear, don't worry about the heal-toe throttle blipping thing yet . . . I've been driving stick for a long long time and still haven't mastered the throttle blip, maybe someday (the slow throttle response on my '10 doesn't help)