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Re: Manual shifting again...

>All these clutchless shifting really baffle me.  I have been driving 
>stick shift for over 20 years, but didn't know nor dare to try such 
>a thing.

I first tried it about 5 years ago.  It's an incredible experience when
you do it right, but a real downer when you don't...  The way I started
out was just by watching the tach at different speeds in different
gears.  You need to know where the RPM should be for a given speed in
a given gear.

I found that lower gears were easier to do.  I'd also not even think of
doing it in the Audi, but that's just me.  I learned to do it on a '79
Datsun B-210.

It's best to be on a deserted road.  When you've watched the RPMs for
a while and are ready, move the throttle to the point that you're neither
accelerating nor decelerating, and pull out of gear.  Be gentle.  If the
stick doesn't move, you're not at the right speed.  It's pretty easy to
pull into neutral though.

Now bring the revs up to where they need to be for the next gear (try
second) and again gently try to move it in.  If you've done it right,
you'll smoothly shift into gear.  Try to error on the low side because
your speed will drop fairly quickly.  If you can't move into gear,
start over and try again.

Note that if you don't do it just right, it's VERY hard on the tranny.
I don't want to hear any stories about people breaking a tooth off,
(though it never happened to me).

I found it a worthwhile exercise, it taught me how to help minimize wear
and increase smoothness on shifts, and really helped me work with a
car with trashed synchros.  I also know somone who was renting a truck
in which the clutch pedal broke and he drove it the rest of the way
using this technique.  For starts he put it in first gear with the
engine off, and started the engine.  Not smooth, but it worked.

Sean
-- 
"We just wanted to give the band a little more thrust than most other bands."
        - Donald Fagen's reply to why they chose the band name 'Steely Dan'
Sean Reifschneider, Inimitably Superfluous <jafo@tummy.com>
I got gasoline from 7-11 and my car stopped running.  New gas, ran fine.