Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

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ClutchFork
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

Post by ClutchFork »

Hmmm, clutches tend to last me about 100,000 miles. I think it is because I like to emphasise the fact that I have a manual transmission in the way I drive, giving it some gusto each gearshift. You can make a clutch last 200,000 miles but it is not much fun because to do that you essentially have to drive your manual transmission in a way that everybody thinks it has an automatic--blah!

People argue that they get an automatic because it is too much work to shift gears. I argue that driving is a thankless chore and by having a manual transmission, that chore becomes fun time. Bottom line is that driving an automatic, to me, is boring and is one step away from riding in a bus. :lol:
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theholycow wrote:Why in the world would you even want to be as smooth as an automatic? Might as well just drive an automatic...
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Shadow
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

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InlinePaul wrote:Hmmm, clutches tend to last me about 100,000 miles. I think it is because I like to emphasise the fact that I have a manual transmission in the way I drive, giving it some gusto each gearshift. You can make a clutch last 200,000 miles but it is not much fun because to do that you essentially have to drive your manual transmission in a way that everybody thinks it has an automatic--blah!

People argue that they get an automatic because it is too much work to shift gears. I argue that driving is a thankless chore and by having a manual transmission, that chore becomes fun time. Bottom line is that driving an automatic, to me, is boring and is one step away from riding in a bus. :lol:

For the most part, I'm with you..... I love the long pull (with the proper gearing, of course) of a manual transmission car. Short shifting isn't much fun for me, even if it is a good way to get good fuel economy. I often find myself winding out the gears just for the sheer joy of it. But at the same time, I don't consider that as a way to prematurely put wear on the clutch. I'd think the additional wear on the clutch would be minimal compared to shifting at lower RPM.
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ClutchFork
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

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Shadow wrote:For the most part, I'm with you..... I love the long pull (with the proper gearing, of course) of a manual transmission car. Short shifting isn't much fun for me, even if it is a good way to get good fuel economy. I often find myself winding out the gears just for the sheer joy of it. But at the same time, I don't consider that as a way to prematurely put wear on the clutch. I'd think the additional wear on the clutch would be minimal compared to shifting at lower RPM.
Not the long pull but the hearty shift may affect clutch life. My truck will lurch decidedly on shifts when I am having fun. While the clutch is not slipping much, it is slamming into engagement harder and faster. I just can't help driving like this a lot (this one on freeway on ramp):
Last edited by ClutchFork on Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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theholycow wrote:Why in the world would you even want to be as smooth as an automatic? Might as well just drive an automatic...
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

Post by tankinbeans »

I'd think an advantage, albeit a small one admittedly, would be that one could bump/push-start a manual whereas an automatic cannot be started thusly.

Most people here know my story about the clutch in my brother's car. Went 230k miles: hard, abusive miles without rev-matching and periodic 5k clutch dumps because he felt like it.

That thing went to the scrap yard with 50, 50, 50 miles on the new clutch. I'm still majorly PO'd about that one. My friends and I spent the better part of a weekend replacing the clutch in his damn car only to have the engine give up the ghost. It wasn't accelerating anywhere fast due to 6 years, and 80k miles, of neglect. I think in the entire time he had that thing it had maybe one real oil change. I'm doubly irritated about this one being junked because he still hasn't given me the $5k that I spent to buy the thing when I was 18.

Do you think he so much as said thank you for your time, or even for putting the money into the clutch? Nope. Instead he junked it out and went and bought a s#ita$$ Cavalier that I would have told him to stay away from. When he first got that I thought it might be decent, even at 280k - he'd already bought it and I couldn't really say, "hey you bought a turd". Lo and behold this one hadn't had regular oil changes and its timing belt snapped. I tried to help him fix this POS too, put $500 into miscellaneous parts and paying to bring it up to BFE for an engine swap. Do you think he said "sorry you wasted your money" when I had to junk this one (and barely recuperated what I spent on it), since there was nothing could be done. Heck no!

He's about as ungrateful as they come. I've tried helping, but it's never good enough. Now, I'm done with any car problem he has. He can't prioritize enough to put money into keeping his cars in good shape. As a result he's now driving a car my mom gave him, and it will eventually die. Mom is driving my Malibu, and I have to figure out its issues.

Sorry, I'll stop ranting. A cord has just been struck and it's nobody's fault.
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

Post by Rope-Pusher »

tankinbeans wrote:Sorry, I'll stop ranting. Accord has just been struck and it's nobody's fault.
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"Charges are not anticipated as a result of the collision."

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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

Post by tankinbeans »

Rope-Pusher wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:Sorry, I'll stop ranting. Accord has just been struck and it's nobody's fault.
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"Charges are not anticipated as a result of the collision."

Sometimes we do what we do because of who we are, not because they make sense.
Ouch. Hopefully nobody was seriously injured.
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

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tankinbeans wrote:I'd think an advantage, albeit a small one admittedly, would be that one could bump/push-start a manual whereas an automatic cannot be started thusly.
Got me home two years ago when my starter went out.
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theholycow wrote:Why in the world would you even want to be as smooth as an automatic? Might as well just drive an automatic...
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

Post by theholycow »

tankinbeans wrote:That thing went to the scrap yard with 50, 50, 50 miles on the new clutch. I'm still majorly PO'd about that one.
That's normal. That's why craigslist is full of cars that should be in the junkyard, for sale with a long list of new parts that were just installed.

I put a new radiator and hundreds of dollars worth of premium new brake parts on wife's crapsuzu, and the shop welded on new shock absorber mounts and put in new shocks, and I had a new thermostat to install, and there are a few other things I forgot...all that in the past 6 or 8 months, with the shock mounts and shocks just a week or two before it was over. Glad I didn't end up doing that thermostat, would have wasted a bunch of time and effort working out in the snow and mud since the intake manifold has to come off to replace it.
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

Post by tankinbeans »

theholycow wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:That thing went to the scrap yard with 50, 50, 50 miles on the new clutch. I'm still majorly PO'd about that one.
That's normal. That's why craigslist is full of cars that should be in the junkyard, for sale with a long list of new parts that were just installed.

I put a new radiator and hundreds of dollars worth of premium new brake parts on wife's crapsuzu, and the shop welded on new shock absorber mounts and put in new shocks, and I had a new thermostat to install, and there are a few other things I forgot...all that in the past 6 or 8 months, with the shock mounts and shocks just a week or two before it was over. Glad I didn't end up doing that thermostat, would have wasted a bunch of time and effort working out in the snow and mud since the intake manifold has to come off to replace it.
I probably would have tried to sell it for parts to somebody, but by this time my friend was already tired of it being in his driveway and my brother burnt the bridge.
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

Post by Rope-Pusher »

tankinbeans wrote:
Rope-Pusher wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:Sorry, I'll stop ranting. Accord has just been struck and it's nobody's fault.
"Charges are not anticipated as a result of the collision."

Sometimes we do what we do because of who we are, not because they make sense.
Ouch. Hopefully nobody was seriously injured.
The dog died.
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Re: Dispelling myths about manual transmissions

Post by tankinbeans »

Poor puppy
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