Newbie Shifting Question

[dnicho05]

Hello Everyone,

The first five days of owning my 1997 NSX-T have been a blast!

This is my first 6-speed and my first NSX, so I have a couple of general rpm/shifting questions that I hope you guys can help me with.

For spirited driving I know that you just have fun with it. Take it as close to redline as you feel comfortable with, and shift to the next gear. No big deal, its fun, its not rocket science.

My questions are more along the lines of when you are casually driving the car around town, in traffic, or just on a nice night cruise up the coast with someone you don't want to give whiplash to. Basicly I want to know what rpm range to keep the car in that is best for the engine and the tranny.

The car runs so smooth even at low RPMs that I'm not sure when to bother downshifting when having to slow down a bit for whatever reason. Is it when it drops below 2500 rpms, with the ideal window being between 2500 and 3000 rpms (higher, lower, wider range)?

Also there are times, like when a police officer is watching you, that I want to calmly and casually accelerate from a standstill. Times when I don't want to take off like a rocket, and I don't want to stall the car and look like a dork either (and I have come close to stalling it a couple of times this week). I know this has a lot to do with getting used to such a tight clutch, but what is the typical RPM range I should aim for before letting out the clutch, in order to achieve a smooth casual takeoff?


If this has been discussed recently, please forgive me, but I have not been able to get the search functions to work at all this week. I don't know if its something about the network on my end, of if it is something you guys have seen too.

Thanks for any help with these shifting questions.
-D

 

[nsxtasy]

My questions are more along the lines of when you are casually driving the car around town, in traffic, or just on a nice night cruise up the coast with someone you don't want to give whiplash to. Basicly I want to know what rpm range to keep the car in that is best for the engine and the tranny.

The car runs so smooth even at low RPMs that I'm not sure when to bother downshifting when having to slow down a bit for whatever reason. Is it when it drops below 2500 rpms, with the ideal window being between 2500 and 3000 rpms (higher, lower, wider range)?

On most cars - and the NSX is no exception - you can comfortably shift when you reach 3000 RPM, and the revs drop to 2000 RPM or so after the upshift. Acceleration isn't maximized, but it's sufficient for normal street and highway driving, and it uses less gas than higher shift points. This works fine for leisurely driving. It won't hurt the car to use higher shift points, but it will use more gas.

Also there are times, like when a police officer is watching you, that I want to calmly and casually accelerate from a standstill. Times when I don't want to take off like a rocket, and I don't want to stall the car and look like a dork either (and I have come close to stalling it a couple of times this week). I know this has a lot to do with getting used to such a tight clutch, but what is the typical RPM range I should aim for before letting out the clutch, in order to achieve a smooth casual takeoff?

You can control your rate of acceleration with the accelerator. Even in a lower gear, you can still accelerate slowly if you don't mash the accelerator pedal; but it may be easier, though, if you're in a higher gear.

The general rules are: (a) to maximize acceleration, use the lowest gear possible without exceeding the engine redline, so you should upshift at redline when accelerating; (b) to maximize gas mileage, use the highest gear possible without bogging the engine, so you should upshift at a point where the engine doesn't bog immediately after shifting into the higher gear. (The NSX engine won't bog unless it's below around 1100 RPM, as I recall, but acceleration is pretty anemic at anything below ~1500 RPM.)

You might want to use rule (b) for your smooth casual takeoff example...

 

[dnicho05]

Thanks nsxtasy,

You answered my first question perfecly.

The info I wanted on my second question was more about starting from a dead stop (smooth and casual). Once I am rolling a little I have no problems at all.

I'm more wondering, do you typically bring the RPMs up to 2k or more before you ease out the clutch in first gear, or are you actually able to start out with the engine only around 1k (which means that I just need more practice with this clutch)?

I probably sound like some flunkey that has never driven a stick, but its not the case. I learned to drive on a stick, most of my cars have been sticks, and my last car was an RX7 Turbo (with a 5-speed stick) that I had no problems with. The NSX's clutch is definetly the tightest and least forgiving clutch I have ever driven though, and I just want to learn to do things correctly, so I can get the most life out of the clutch (and the entire NSX for that matter).

 

[nsxtasy]

The info I wanted on my second question was more about starting from a dead stop (smooth and casual). Once I am rolling a little I have no problems at all.

I'm more wondering, do you typically bring the RPMs up to 2k or more before you ease out the clutch in first gear, or are you actually able to start out with the engine only around 1k (which means that I just need more practice with this clutch)?

On the NSX, it's easiest to start from a stop by blipping the accelerator a bit high - say, 3000 RPM - and letting out the clutch as the revs are falling.

 

[dnicho05]

On the NSX, it's easiest to start from a stop by blipping the accelerator a bit high - say, 3000 RPM - and letting out the clutch as the revs are falling.

Excellent,

Thats what I started doing the other day, but I wasn't sure if that really was the way to get it rolling correctly.

With my last car, the RX7 Turbo with the more forgiving clutch, I was able to let out the clutch and start applying the gas at the same time to get rolling.

I'll tap the gas and then ease out the clutch from now on.

Thanks Again...

 

[hlweyl]

I usually let the clutch out at about 1500 rpm(or less) and let the revs drop as you are doing so.

But I am a little bit fanatical about baby-ing my clutch. I also blip the throttle when downshifting to try and match rpm before releasing the clutch. I learned this driving tractor trailers and just never stopped.

Good clutch techniques translates into longer clutch life. When I gave my civic to my mother, it has 195000 miles on it and still had the original clutch.

 

[ChopsJazz]

I tend to use the same technique as hlweyl. I slip the clutch right around 1500 rpm.

 

[dnicho05]

Well, I'm getting better at it now.

Its just getting used to that 1 inch of pedal area, where 99% of the clutch engagement occurs, that takes a little getting used to.

Thanks again.