[Nito2v]

Originally Posted by Jaymy I guess what I mean by the torque is that when you jerk with a mustang you feel it. I have stalled my friends tiberon and when it jerks its like a rocking chair. When I jerk my mustang it is like a slingshot lol. Anyways, does anyone have a tip on making smooth launches? When I try to launch on purpose I jerk real bad, its like a double stutter almost, goes forward, back, forward, back, and then bam right on track. However, sometimes when I don't even mean to launch and I am just antsy at a red light I will launch real smooth, and I cannot tell what I am doing different those times, I always try to get the RPMs around 13-1500 like everything I have read says too, but sometimes it is smooth and sometimes it isn't. Actually my smoothest launch was on accident, I was in a hurry cause I stalled on an incline and there was people behind me (very busy intersection of a highway) so I gave it a lot of gas, hit about 3000+ rpms and dropped the clutch. Never got any sort of a jerk but did peel out for about 2 to 3 seconds and then shot right through the intersection. I know it wasn't good for my tranny but it sure was fun and smoother than slowly letting off and adding gas. Maybe one day I will even be brave enough to try power shifting (like when I am ready to replace the clutch the next day).

You're basically in my position as of now! I was moving my Mustang today in the street in front of my house to a new spot, went into first and it rocked. Well, it's obvious I was being a bit easy on the gas when I let off the clutch. So, I've peeled out plenty of times at intersections and even stalled such as you.

I do get smooth launches, then others are rocky so I'm inconsistent at most. Like you said, it's hard to tell what you're doing wrong most of the time. I feel you.

I honestly feel like it just takes time to understand what's causing the jerking and what peels out the tires. I'm afraid though when I jerk, solving it is simply by jamming down the gas and let the rpm's shoot into the redline, and then a smooth shift into second fixes it. But that burns so much gas, especially since I'm using premium gas, it gets pricey.

I gave her a wash today and tested how polish worked in 40 degree weather. I was happy with it actually. I can't wait till I can confidently drive it and break her in. It's seriously like taming a horse at times.

[Jaymy]

Yea, same here. I freak everytime I jerk the car cause it's the only car I have had that I truly cared about. That and i know it already had 138k miles on it and it never needed any major maintenance except the clutch once, so I am just worried something isn't going to like the abuse and betray me.

Polish works great in 75 degree weather :-p Did mine yesterday and it looks very nice.

I havn't gone into the redline yet though, I havn't even tried cracking 4k rpm. Not until I feel comfortable enough shifting to do it on purpose.

I guess it is just a matter of practice, I wish i could just find the magic amount of gas and clutch release motion to launch with no jerk. I asked my friend who has been driving his Z3 which has a manual for the last 3 years. He just does the no gas method till he can release the clutch and then takes off. Personally, i am too antsy at red lights so I feel like I have to master this launching method.

[Nito2v]

The no-gas method doesn't work for me when launching. It'll start to roll then stall out, and I mean, quickly stall, even if I try giving it gas. What I do is let out the clutch and right before it's about to engage I give it gas (again too much or little) and when it engages I pick up and go off. Never stalled like that unless I was too light on the gas or forgot to press the gas before.

Too add, my ankle is still pretty weak and insensitive from my injury so maybe I'll have a better feeling and I can improve.

Good advice in this thread so far.