Hi guys! New proud owner of a GSR here. Took this baby on a 700 mile road trip home after picking it up for a killer deal. At first the gearbox was kind of notchy, but it seems to have smoothed out. I also noticed the clutch became less stiff when driving and the engagement is way higher off the floor than what I am used to. Is this normal? First to second is a kind of a bump... I suspect clutch delay valve... merging into 65mph traffic from a dead stop was kinda ridiculous. So yea... I come from a car with hill assist and it is quite a learning experience for me with this new clutch and added weight. I got on a steep hill and rolled back pretty fast maybe 1-2 feet, but was able to catch it without a stall. My question for the more experienced drivers with this vehicle.... I use the foot off break and as clutch comes up, gas comes down method... but this kinda gave me the shakes as I never rolled back quite as fast. When rather on steeper hills do you guys lift the clutch a little off the floor then take foot off break and add gas while lifting clutch to make it grab quicker? I heard about the biting point thing, but this cars clutch is so smooth and really has no feel, that it is kinda a hit or miss to get there. Also you can't really hear the car start engaging when it is sitting at like 650 rpms to even attempt such thing. This cars gas is real lite too, it seems a gentle press brings it to like 3k rpm lol. Please let me know about that hill method I asked about with the clutch since it has such a high grab off floor. Nice to meet you all and thanks for the tips for the newcomer.

 

^^^
well, i usually just do like what you said and let off the clutch a little till it starts to grab, then immediately let off the foot brake, give it gas and "level out" ...

soundz to me like this might've been your first manual car or something

anyway, about the "grab" point...mines isn't too high and it felt the same as when i bought my first new '05 Evo 8...you should get that checked out. other then that, you should change out all your shifter bushings so that you have a better gear change engagement. it'll feel better and in place.

Congrats on ur purchase and welcome to the Evo club

 

Hard to explain on a forum but I usually go clutch in, gas a little, and as I let off the clutch I continue to gas a couple times. Of course, there are only a couple spots where there are steep hills around here so someone else is probably better equipped to help.

 

i know the engagement point on the evo isnt always the exact same, but you should have a pretty good idea of where it is, so on hills, i kinda just let off the clutch and right before it starts to want to shake and stall, i give it gas , hard to explain, but it works for me so gl

 

weird

 

There's all kinds of options, it's just whatever you're comfortable with. You could simply get more comfortable (and thus quicker) with your current method. You could keep your foot on the brake slightly while you apply throttle and release the clutch, similar to heel-toe braking. Or you could use the parking brake to prevent the roll using your current footwork, and release the brake as the clutch grabs. This last method is actually what the new STI does automatically with its Hill Assist feature.

 

Practice

 

e brake

 

I let the clutch grab, let off brake and gas seems pretty common

 

Maybe it's the seating. I'm used to sitting fairly close. I'm gonna push back a bit for less bending at the knee. Hopefully, I get caught at the light on this hill again sometime soon. Wish the steering wheel would come forward instead of up and down lol.

 

ding ding ding

Move the seat a little further back. My problem when I first started was that I sat real close and my legs are rather long. It was brutal trying not to pop the clutch. Now I sit back enough where when my whole leg extends, the clutch touches the floor and then some. Note that my back is still at a 90 degree angle with my ***. " |_ " Remember fast shifting & sitting too far back, isn't good. I was scared ****less about hills and now everything is a lot smoother with the proper clutch control and I seem to never overdue the revs.

I agree with no feel for the bite @ 650rpms if you first start off moving by bringing the clutch to the friction zone first. You'll prob pop it, unless you are doing it real slow which... may take you 10 seconds+.... or you have AC on icebox fullblast mode.

I use the foot off brake --- clutch up gas down, because lifting the clutch up first feels awkward to me lol.


Trust me it took me about 3 months to figure everything out. I learned stick first on a beater with a worn clutch hence I didn't have much problems sitting as close as I originally did with the evo.

 

The clutch release is terribly high and the fly by wire throttle is way too touchy for my personal liking... I'd release the clutch a little and left off the brake and apply a small amount of gas to get up a hill. The clutch burns so easy due to the overall weight of the car, lack of power at low rpms and it being AWD. At times I absolutely hated driving the X, it was way too picky. Since I went back to a RWD 5 speed life in manualville couldn't be any better!

 

x2

 

i just bought a gsr 2-3 weeks ago and it's my first manual car. I was having problems with 1st-2nd too that's hard to make smooth unless you're super careful. One forum person suggested reving in 1st to 4k then shifting. When you shift at 4k it's smoother, then 2nd gear is at 3k.

 

How steep was the hill? I usually just engage normally but on really steep hills then I will let the clutch out a little until it engages then give it gas.