Filed under: Etc., Videos, Volvo, First Drive
VIDEO: Autoblog tries clutchless shifting but you shouldn't
For any self-respecting driver that has a car with a manual transmission, there are two things that cast shame; stalling and grinding. It doesn't matter if you're the only one in the car or if there are no other motorists on the road, the embarrassment associated with these gaffes is omnipresent. To save myself from shame and for fear of wrecking my transmission, I hadn't tried clutchless shifting (also called powershifting) until very recently, after I saw it done on YouTube. I knew this was something that could damage my synchros (it's my personal car), so I figured I'd do it once and record it, so you don't have to do it yourself.
A friendly Autoblog warning from our own Dan Roth: Trying this out a couple times probably isn't going to grenade any gearbox that's in good shape, but you really shouldn't make clutchless shifts a regular part of your repertoire. While fine for a racing-duty "dog" gearbox, it's torture on the synchros in your street transmission. The inevitable grinding you'll perpetrate on the transmission while practicing clutchless shifting also means more particulate matter floating around inside your tranny. Think of it as a neat parlor trick, maybe try it out in case you should ever have a problem with your clutch actuation system, but otherwise, treat your gearbox with love.
Hit the jump to watch the video.
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
paul34 5:56PM (7/16/2007)
Thanks for the effort, but I feel I should point out a few things:
1) >> "I hadn't tried clutchless shifting (also called powershifting)"
This is incorrect. Powershifting is where you continue to depress the throttle (as in, you do not lift off the throttle) during your shift. So your RPMs do not drop.
Clutchless shifting requires you to lift off the throttle to a point where you are not engine braking, but also not accelerating (you must remove load from the gear).
The two can be combined... but its hell if you don't know what you're doing
2) Video: "It takes a little effort" - please stop doing this!! Clutchless shifting, if done correctly, requires ZERO effort. Yes, ZERO effort. It would be like moving around a shifter with the engine off.
If you are encountering resistance, you have not matched gear speeds correctly... and the synchros are picking up the slack. When you do not depress the clutch, your synchros must not only speed up/slow down the next gear, but also the *entire engine*!
Beware of youtube... there are a lot of fools who can't drive stick properly who think they have it going on.
Basically, you must remove load on the gear first (refer to above), then you must wait until the next gear is in the exactly correct speed - if done correctly, the shifter will slide in with no effort whatsoever. There's no way you can sense the gear speed in a traditional sense - you must just be able to "know"
... Remember, when done 100% correctly, clutchless shifting is the only way to shift that produces no wear on synchros or clutch! However, since most people (myself included) are not at the level of doing such, its best to use the clutch - its there for a reason.
Please don't try this at home folks, this is one thing which will definitely kill your synchros far before they should die (which, if used normally, should outlast the car itself).
www.standardshift.com
Reply
retsel 6:05PM (7/16/2007)
pownage
iamhoff 6:14PM (7/16/2007)
Amen. I learned how to do that with no noise or grindage at all 20 years ago. I rarely did it, but when the clutch went out on my old Integra 10 years ago it saved me from being stuck in a toll booth at rush hour.
CARLOS 6:32PM (7/16/2007)
Well done Paul - clutchless shifting is nothing new but very few people ever develop the skill to do it.
A google search for 'clutchless shifting' would have come up with this very good article explaining how to do it as the top result. http://www.ehow.com/how_2000670_clutchless-shift.html
Not sure why Autoblog continues to post without doing any research on the subject they are talking about.
Hey Autoblog - I heard of a great way to do burnouts!!
Its called a 'neutral drop' - put a car in neutral, rev up to about 7k RPMs and drop the transmission into D (drive) - everyone on YouTube is doing it!
Barney 7:44PM (7/16/2007)
".. Remember, when done 100% correctly, clutchless shifting is the only way to shift that produces no wear on synchros or clutch!"
Not so! Truckers do it all the time and in fact some have to be retrained to quit it. The clutch prevents impact on the drive train. That includes U-joints and differential. I would emphasis that to any driver I hired. A clutch was put in for a reason and that is to soften the change in gears and prevent a sudden impact.
ermax18 10:31PM (7/16/2007)
Barney,
He said "when done correctly". If you know mechanically how a syncromesh gear box works you would know that "when done correctly", there is in fact no impact. No wear on clutch and no wear on syncros. Problem is that it is nearly impossible to do "correctly". The only reason anyone would want to know how to do this is in the case where you clutch grenades and you don't want to be stuck. I have done this a few times in my old Integra. When you have to stop you just pull it to neutral. Come to a stop then turn off the car. Then put it back in gear (with car still off) and wait for the light to turn green then just turn the key and let the starter pull/start the car. Hell on the bat too.
Seminole 6:12PM (7/16/2007)
Hey Chris I noticed you have an S40 like me. Has it given you any problems? Mines a dud, and I wanted to see if any other S40's were crap like mine.
Reply
Chris Shunk 6:18PM (7/16/2007)
To be honest, I've had some minor electrical problems (alarm goes off by itself, radio didn't work for no reason for about 3 days then came back..) but it's been good otherwise... 27k miles on the odometer. The front end is also easily damaged. I hit a tire going about 10mph and it caused $1300 in damage.
Greg Koenig 9:14PM (7/16/2007)
I had an S40 and it was an absolute dud.
During the sales process, I was told that the- brand new for 2005 - S40 had an iPod connection kit. Bought the car, went to the parts department a week later and found out that such a kit doesn't exist, nor were there provisions for one from the factory. Due to the funky stereo being fitted into the crazy center console, no stereo shops could fit a line-in jack for my iPod. Suckage.
At 4000 miles, it spun a bearing. Jim Fisher Volvo in Portland was a complete PITA to deal with and they accused me of "Overdriving" the vehicle. We went round and round for a few days until the local Volvo rep showed up and had them replace the motor. It finally got done, but thinking that I might need to eat a $17,000 repair on a brand new car was stress inducing.
During the repair, a tech left his country music CD in the disk changer and it got stuck. Jim Fisher again was a PITA (requiring that I put down a deposit while they sent the player back to Volvo to see if I had stuck a burned CD in it). How they think a burned CD is any different from a stamped factory CD is beyond me.
All in all, it was a gutless, passionless vehicle designed for the sort of people who buy into the myth that a Volvo is somehow loads safer then any other car in the same price range. I sold it and got a new 3 Series, which I am madly in love with.
Seminole 11:52PM (7/16/2007)
My front end get chipped up real bad, and I've had electrical nightmares too. My car actually shut off on the road twice. I just had to have both front axles replaced also. There must be demons in my car.
Greg, my girlfriends last name is Koenig too. I thought that was cool.
Jon 10:48PM (8/01/2007)
@ Greg Koenig:
"How they think a burned CD is any different from a stamped factory CD is beyond me."
Burned CD's, for whatever reason, are slightly thicker than regular CD's. I have also had this problem, it was in an '03 Ford 6-CD changer.
Chris Shunk 6:22PM (7/16/2007)
You're right that I didn't do this perfectly, because it was the first time I tried it, like the video and article stated. Dan Roth is more the expert (did it daily on his old Volvo station wagon), and said that with time there is no effort. I'll take him at his and your word, since I don't intend to practice in my car... once is enough. I would assume that most people trying this for the first time will encounter "a bit of effort". The article isn't for clutchless shifting experts... obviously.
I got the a.k.a. "powershifting" from wikipedia...
Reply
adam 6:22PM (7/16/2007)
This is about as dumb as double clutching a synchromesh gearbox.
Reply
ermax18 10:37PM (7/16/2007)
But when your syncromesh gearbox doesn't have any syncros left you don't have much of a choice but to double clutch. :) Once you do it for a while it becomes a habit you can't break. You will find yourself doing it on any car you drive from that day forward necessary or not.
chuck goolsbee 6:23PM (7/16/2007)
Given that I once drove from Loveland, Colorado to Redondo Beach, California without a clutch I know for a fact this can be done, and done without damage to the transmission... IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Don't blame me if you blow your tranny (smirk).
This was during the 1999 Cannonball Classic and we were driving a 1965 Jaguar modified with a 5-speed (T-5) transmission. The car ran great from Manhattan to St. Louis, MO, where a sudden cold thunderstorm at the end of a VERY hot day cracked two spark plugs, destroyed our ignition coil and the optical trigger in our Mallory Unilite distributor. After repairs were complete our clutch gave out in Colorado. Then the car died completely (alternator failure) 116 miles from the finish, out in the Mojave Desert. So technically we only drove as far as about Andrews AFB, but Google Maps tells me that is over 1300 miles of speed shifting by the route we took.
The tranny was fine. Alternator & Clutch slave cylinder had to be replaced. New Coil, plugs and dizzy trigger were installed roadside in MO. Had tons of fun and I'd do it all over again!
http://www.goolsbee.org/cannonball/
--chuck
Reply
Chris 6:23PM (7/16/2007)
I used to do this all of the time in my last manual shift vehicle. Like the previous poster said, all it takes is to "know" when to shift and to get a feel for it. It really shouldn't take any effort and if you have to force it you aren't doing it right.
Reply
Stoneman 10:48PM (7/16/2007)
Agreed. I used to do this quite a bit with my old Chevy truck (3 speed manual). It was relatively easy once you got used to it. But I drive a manual Impreza now (2007) and I sometimes don't give it enough clutch, and can sometimes feel the gearage rolling through...other than that....it's all good.
stoneman auto review dot com
500 6:36PM (7/16/2007)
I discovered quite accidentally how easy it was to shift clutchlessly on my first car, a 1981 Renault 18i wagon. Ridiculously hard to find parts for it toward the end, but that car had the most buttery-smooth shifter I've ever used.
Reply
... 6:38PM (7/16/2007)
Whats the problem with using a clutch?
Reply
Rocket Punch 1:04PM (7/17/2007)
Haven't you heard? You can claim a $500 tax credit from IRS if you can do clutchless shifts. You just need to fill out Form-1337EZ for the credit.
NOTHING saids 1337 like doing clutchless shifts....NOTHING!