[Nito2v]

It's a 5 speed manual and note that I had no other practice driving and if you should know from my intro thread, I was in a car accident and broke my ankle. So I got a Mustang for my second car. It's a 2002 v6, and today after watching several Youtube videos on how to drive stick, since no one I knew besides my friend (who will be teaching me next week) knows. My drive way's on a hill so I just let it roll down. Tricky part was I stopped half way down and stalled it trying to go into reverse. But when I got it the second time, I easily put it into 1st but it jerked because I gave it gas too quickly and too much haha

But I let off the gas a bit and it seemed to chug down the street. What could that be? Driving error right? (No i didn't ride the clutch/brake, just lightly pressed the gas)

Anyway, the feel of it was incredible. I love her, cant wait to drive her casually. Anyone have any tips on working the clutch/gears?

[kevinski72]

practice practice practice

[lilspanky9119]

just dont hit the gas until you feel the car starting to roll by letting off the clutch, once you feel that car starting to move give it some gas, not to much but not to little or else youll stall out. You have to get a nice feel for the gas and clutch, and gradually let off one while pressing down the other.

[Nito2v]

i realize I was bucking because I was trying to stay in first all around my block, supposedly, drive-line shutter hehe

cant wait to practice more, it's addictivee. Thanks for the tip, I need to find that balance.

[lilspanky9119]

youll get it, it takes practice. But yeah, if you shift it to 2nd you wont feel that, and shifting between gears is way easier bc you wont stall compared to shifting into first from a stop.

[Safi]

The chugging you speak of may be because you were at a very low RPM. Try giving slightly more gas while you let out the clutch.
When you're first learning don't even bother with changing gears...thats the easy part. Just practice getting the car moving, get up to 10-15mph, stop, and repeat until you're comfortable with the process

[rfcsoulja]

Try to keep it above 1500 rpms when driving bruh.

[6ER THEN I 8ER!]

i remember my first time

just enjoy the drive man..if you worry too much about when to shift you'll mess up lol...you'll get the feel of your car and learn when it likes to shift

and safi is right...that chug is from not enough gas..

[00MUSTANG89]

get the feel of the clutch on almost every standard car let the clutch out slowly and you will feel it at some point engage at that point give a little more gas and let the clutch out the rest of the way

[Mach Stang]

First gear is what I call the rollling gear. I would shif out of it if your going at slow speed (10-15mph) it will take away some of the jerkyness. Besides, 1st gear is very short and you wont be in it for long, so use 2nd gear when moving slow.

Be easy on the clutch. I can understand being new will be difficult, but make sure you always push it to floor, and never let it Hang (half pused in/out), you distroy it in no time lol.

[BackPressure]

What I like to do, and have gotten a lot of my friends liking, for taking off is letting the clutch out most of the way and riding it for a split second when taking off. Makes the shift from stop to go much much smoother.
Aside from that, like everyone else has said: just keep practicing! living on a hilled driveway is going to be a huge help for pacticing taking off uphill.
It truly is addictive, I can't drive an auto without smacking my left foot into the floorboards several times.

A quick edit, I don't ride the clutch long at all for the takeoff. barely a half-second. Been doing it forever and clutch is still engaging like it did when I installed it.

[MustangDooder]

No clutch is the same. They are all the same in mechanics but you'll figure out what I'm talking about after you get a feel for your car and say you drive a buddies....you'll see what I'm saying. The rule I used when i first learned was first was for a dead stop ONLY and dead stop if your facing into an incline. If you're on an hill and facing downhill, let that baby roll and throw it in second. The biggest part of learning a manual is the take off. 2 weeks of regular driving and you'll have it down pact. Good luck!

[BackPressure]

Also as stated before, don't think about the shift, just let it happen. I'll still throw a crappy shift if I focus too much on it.

[Nito2v]

@Mustangdooder - when I first took off I was a bit dusty on my driving so I jumped at how fast it picked up and started to roll.. especially in reverse. I stalled it my first time going into reverse because I braked without using the clutch as I was thinking about several things. Hills will be a toughy, I noticed. So go into 2nd when rolling down one and going up stay in 1st?

@backpressure - once I get the feel of how she feels, knowing this will come in handy. It's nice not to have to worry about numbers and instead just having that intuition of when to shift.

I figured that's where the chugging/bucking was coming from =] kind of worried me a bit at first until you all explained.

Can't wait to get some more practice. Getting into first wasnt so hard as it was going uphill and having to stop but what I did was pushed in the clutch then applied the brake, pulled up the e-brake and left it in first then shut it off so it didnt roll because if definitely wanted too!

I'll try that stop ang go lesson, sounds like a good idea. If anyone ever watched soggyrice's videos on Youtube, they are the easiest to learn off of.

I dont know if I will ever get any mods, but as of now I look at a t-lok & 3.73's as a possibility. Maybe an air intake too. I dont want to spend too much, especially with having to go off to college next year.

[MustangDooder]

Learn where you clutch begins to disengage. Meaning sitting at a dead stop with NO throttle and clutch engaged, begin to disengage the clutch until it starts to put the motor in a bind. Once you figure that out, that's where you need to start applying the go-go juice.

[MustangDooder]

Originally Posted by Ur Panic @Mustangdooder - when I first took off I was a bit dusty on my driving so I jumped at how fast it picked up and started to roll.. especially in reverse. I stalled it my first time going into reverse because I braked without using the clutch as I was thinking about several things. Hills will be a toughy, I noticed. So go into 2nd when rolling down one and going up stay in 1st?

Like Mach said, 1st is really short, so if you can get a rolling start why not go ahead and use 2nd gear?

[Safi]

Originally Posted by MustangDooder Learn where you clutch begins to disengage. Meaning sitting at a dead stop with NO throttle and clutch engaged, begin to disengage the clutch until it starts to put the motor in a bind. Once you figure that out, that's where you need to start applying the go-go juice.

You got it backwards...Clutch is engaged when the pedal is released and disengaged when pressed

What I did when I was learning how to drive standard was read about how the clutch system works instead of watching videos on how to drive standard. Because I knew how it worked it wasn't hard to get the operation of it down. May not be the way for everyone to learn how, but it worked for me

[9986paulk]

just get the rpms to about 5000 with the clutch pedal pressed down...then let it up real fast! LOL I know how you feel too. first car i ever drove was a stick too and I hate that my cars an auto. It'll take you probably 4-6 months to get pretty good at it and confident.

[MustangDooder]

Originally Posted by Safi You got it backwards...Clutch is engaged when the pedal is released and disengaged when pressed What I did when I was learning how to drive standard was read about how the clutch system works instead of watching videos on how to drive standard. Because I knew how it worked it wasn't hard to get the operation of it down. May not be the way for everyone to learn how, but it worked for me

Yea, I know depends on how you look at it. Is it halfway engaged? or halfway disengaged?

[Mach Stang]

lol I miss my stick shift. I some times drive my truck (4 speed) just to keep the feeling. Summer project is a tranny swap