RE: shifting problem

["Lin, Gary" <Gary.Lin@wang.com>]

> so you shift into fourth while sitting still with the clutch depressed and
> then shift into first?
> 
Correct, using 5th also would work but is unwieldy; 3rd or 2nd are more worn
out like 1st.  Holding in the clutch for 3-5 sec. first accomplishes the
same thing, the input shaft (clutch side) stops so it matches speeds with
the stopped output shaft (wheel side) when you're waiting to go; or also
don't shift out of gear (but clutch in at 1K rpm) until the car comes to a
complete stop at the light.

Now if you want to attempt a 1st gear rolling downshift when you didn't need
to stop, that requires a double clutch heel and toe which I won't get into
here unless interest develops.

Gary Lin
track schooler, autocrosser, general mech knowledge idiot

> Transmissions are a bit of a mystery to me, so I can't explain exactly why
> it works other than to say that it aligns the gears so that 1st gear is
> engaged without putting much stress on the 1st gear syncro.  Evidently, it
> is much easier on the transmission to align the gears using the 2nd, 3rd,
> or 4th gear syncros than it is to align the gears using the 1st or reverse
> syncros.
> 
> I'm not sure if I'm explaining this correctly; so I invite some of the
> more technically astute listers to jump in with corrections.  I picked up
> this habit from a friend of mine who is into Alfa Romeos.  These cars have
> very weak syncros; so it common practice among Alfa owners to shift into
> forth before shifting into first in order to preserve the first gear
> syncro for as long as possible.  The reasoning behind using 4th instead of
> the more conveniently located 2nd is that the 2nd gear syncro already has
> to take a substantial amount of abuse.