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Ever Shift w/o using the clutch?

C

chumch

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North Ridgeville, OHIO, USA
I was reading the article in car and driver about the lamborghini Mercielago and it states:

"Lambo's gated six speed shifter is still somewhat stubborn, at least by modern standards. As you depart one gear, it's wise to pause a beat before selecting another. CLUTCHLESS shifting--as one might undertake in, say, a Nissan 350z or ACURA NSX is close to impossible, no matter your skill at matching revs."

Has anyone ever tried that? I've never heard of shifting w/o using the clutch (please dont mention autos or semi autos--I know they dont use a clutch)

Just Curious,

Matt

P.S. Just turned 7000miles on my 91...I've put almost 1000miles in 3 weeks
 
I have shifted every car I have owned without using the clutch. I do not do it much, perhaps a shift or two a month, just to keep up the practice. Basically, the clutch is used to seperate the motor and the transmission, in order that you can engage the next gear and have the teeth on the gears and synchros mesh at reasonably the same speed via the grtadual takeup of the clutch. If you are careful, and anticipate the RPM level that the engine will be in, for the next gear, either up or down, the lever will just pop into gear. What I do, on an upshift, is to let off the gas, to minimize the forces on the gears, then put the lever in neutral. I then wait ever so slightly before blipping the throttle to match revs. When the revs are close, I just give a slight push on the gear lever, and it almost gets sucked into the next gear. Its the same on a downshift, but a little harder to match revs. I do not do this alot, as missed shifts, thankfully very rare, wear out the trans faster than clutched ones, but it is a good skill to know, in case you ever lose your clutch. I hope this helps. On a side note, the transmissions used on Indycars do not require a clutch to shift, except from a standstill.
 
I've heard of this technique too.. however it seems very hard to achieve
 
ITs actaully fairly easy. I find it actaully is easier if you don't try to think about it, at least for upshifts, just let your body shift like you normally would (a normal, smooth shift without any chatter) and at teh very end, slide the selector into the right gate, and it will go in very smoothly.
 
I've done this on my old beater car as well as in a work truck. It takes practice and patience when learning/trying this technique.

I would never do it in my NSX or any of my other cars, unless the car is a beater car. :)
 
I'm not sure what it accomplishes to shift without using the clutch, other than proving that you know how to match revs. It's certainly not good for the car, I wouldn't think.

I would suggest that anyone considering trying this should first get very, very good at matching the revs accurately when using the clutch, before attempting a shift without using the clutch.
 
i agree.....i'm not sure if i'll feel better about myself as a driver if i know how to do this....i certainly wouldn't try this on my NSX. it's like learning to steer the car without your hands....i've done this using my knees and keeping the car on cruise control.....those were the good old days.

i'm sure the learning curve involves some grinds.....grrrr...:D
 
I noticed a friend effortlessly upshifting in his Jetta without using his clutch and asked him about it. After a bit of discussion, I decided to try it while downshifting. I was able to successfully downshift into 2nd on another car (non-NSX) without depressing the clutch. What I did was coast really slow in third, press the throttle slighty so that the car felt like it was coasting in neutral, easy the car out of third without using the clutch, wait a second, then ease it into second.
 
In a racecar, upshifting without clutching is faster (lift off the throttle and drop into the next gear) - however, there's no benefit to clutchless downshifting unless your clutch is failing...
 
i had to do that this weekend, the clutch went out on my car in the middle of nowhere, so i had to ease rev match all the way home. it's a useful skill in these kinds of situations, other than that i would NEVER do it just cause it's not very healty for the tranny
 
I agree with some of the comments above. It really is only useful in certain situations(like failing clutch).

In my old beater I had the clutch master fail on me. I called my mechanic to help me tow the car and instead he drove it to my house! I asked how he shifted the car and he explained. Curiosity got to me and I tried it and became pretty good at it.

It's situations like these that these "tricks" become useful and helpful :)
 
nsxtasy said:
I'm not sure what it accomplishes to shift without using the clutch, other than proving that you know how to match revs. It's certainly not good for the car, I wouldn't think.

I would suggest that anyone considering trying this should first get very, very good at matching the revs accurately when using the clutch, before attempting a shift without using the clutch.
Click to expand...

As long as you don't grind gears, there's no problem. In fact, it preserves your clutch.

Now - since the clutch is a wear item, I'm not sure why someone would want to do this, but if your clutch is completely shot, you can at least preserve it to just get into first gear. From then on, you don't really need it to progress through the other gears.

In a race environment, this can mean the difference between winning and losing. As long as you don't bring the car to a full stop (unless you are pointing downhill, of course), you don't need the clutch to finish a race.

EDR
 
erobbins said:
As long as you don't grind gears, there's no problem. In fact, it preserves your clutch.
EDR
Click to expand...


It does indeed, but your synchro's will wear out twice as fast.
 
Some cars definitely like more than others. I have owned many, many cars and have done it in most of them. I did it all day long in my 320,000 mile 91 Accord. I had a couple of beater Subarus years ago that absolutely loved it. It was effortless. Also, I had the last gen. RX-7 that loved it as well. The NSX on the other hand likes it least of all cars that i have owned. In fact it's not that easy to pull off without grinding gears.
 
Having recently spent a lot of money for two days of labor to have my transmission opened up to replace some of those very same worn hub selectors and synchros, I can assure you that this is not a good idea.
 
erobbins said:
Details, details. ;-)

EDR
Click to expand...


If you click on the link in my first post in this thread, you will get a little more details.:)
 
DutchBlackNsx said:
It does indeed, but your synchro's will wear out twice as fast.
Click to expand...

If you do it right (revs properly matched in neutral) it does not wear the syncros or the clutch.

It is much simpler to do with a racing tranny with straight-cut gears and no syncros (crash box) or with an old slush box with already wasted syncros. They just get in the way and slow you down.
 
Might as well put in my .02....knew how to do it a long time ago with my 64 GMC Jimmy 4 speed and my 71 240Z. Would not even consider trying it on my NSX unless the clutch failed--as I recollect it was just a matter of practice and the "feel" of the thing--hard to describe
 
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