I went for a ride with one of the tester for a popular auto mag. (auto week, car & driver, something like that) While we were driving an 03 S he said watch this..... He runs it up to about 4k rpms in first and pulls it out of first gear then brings the shifter to the gate of 2nd gear.(picture that...its about to get confusing) He keeps just a bit of pressure on the shifter which is pushing against the gate of seccond gear. No feet are on any pedals during this process. At this point the RPM's are falling from 4k rpms, when they reach mid to low 3k range, it just slips right into gear with the clutch out. No bad noises, grinding, etc. It also works for 2-3 shift and 3-4 shift. Hope that wasnt too confusing. I tried it and was able to do it also. Crazy! It also works on a friends 03 SVT Focus. I tried it on an 05 S and it ground the cheit out of the gears...ooops. That is probably because they made some major changes to the tranny that year. Not sure spacifically why it works on an 03 and not an 05, but I dont really care. Any one gonna try it?

 

you can do that for down-shifting too if you blip your throttle and
match revs.

 

Ahhh nope.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

 

Why would you want to?

Earl

 

im not really sure either...but able to do, if you get the rev's to
match up. it'll prematurely wear out the syncro's if you're not
careful.

 

It should work on any manual, any car if you match RPMs.

 

You should have a look at how a manual trans. works, you would understand right away why this works...

 

We used to call this speed shifting years ago. Coming from British roadsters which were prone to hydraulic clutch failures if you didn't use Girling brake fluid this was a quick way to get it to a safe place out of traffic, but it isn't something you want to do on a normal basis.

 

Figure they put that third pedal there for a reason.

Now if you don't want to use it, buy an automatic.

 

I had to do this with my old Omni GLH while I saved up the money to repair the clutch. I don't think I would have done it under any other circumstances.

 

I have had to do this with my Cosworth Vega when the clutch cable broke, some thing I had to learn back in the 60s driving all those British car never know when you would have a defective clutch and need to get the car home

 

I've done it in my Land Rover Defender when the clutch master cylinder died while I was away from home, but it is not something I would do on purpose if I had a working clutch or was not an automobile magazine writer driving someone else's car. . .

 

Late one night on the way home, the clutch cable broke on my Honda CB350 motorcycle. Shifted up and down by just working the shift lever - which is a little trickier on a bike because there's no neutral between the gears - but it worked. Taking back roads, rolling through stop signs. Everything was copacetic until I came to the one major intersection between me and home and the light was red. No way to just say hailmary and run the light - too much traffic. So I sat there in neutral, waited for the light to change, revved it up a bit and jabbed down on the shift lever. WHOOEE - nice BIG wheelie!

Oh - did I mention, my brother was on the bike with me?

 

Thanks for the great story Lombard! It made me laugh!

 

Works on any manual with synchros. Apply only one finger pressure to the shifter and vary the RPM until it pops into gear. Forcing the lever wears the synchros badly as they try to match speeds on their own, and you'll grind if you're not quick enough.

 

. . . but not something to do unless you have to.

At the risk of dating myself here, I had a mid-seventies Datsun pickup that was prone to clutch failure, so I had to do this on numerous occasions. I also had a late sixties Volkswagen that was prone to broken clutch cables.

You can even start the car without a hill if you need to. From a complete stop, put the car in first with the brakes and engine off. Start the engine with the clutch pedal out and the starter will pull the car along until (hopefully) it catches and you are driving in first gear. Using the starter to move the vehicle is also used by offroaders who can't start their engine (for example if it flooded while fording a stream) and need to move a short distance.

Again, not recommended.

 

seewinnerslist, Yep one can do that if they want. Not me! Years ago I had an old Toyota Crayola that I paid IIRC $50 for & used that method of shifting. When the car went to the crusher the tranny was truely hosed. Your car your choice. Let us know how hard it is to swap that tranny out once it's hosed.

Reading your post confirms my suspicions that car writers beat the living snot out of whatever they drive. Ever wonder how they get such great performance numbers out of their test cars, when us mere mortals can't come close? Yep now you know.

Chuck

 

Yes, they do horrible things to cars. Like...starting a cold car that is not broken in and immediatly burning rubber up to the red line in every gear that it will burn.
Another one was when they were testing the WRX when it first came out. 5K RPM's and dump the clutch in 1st. That Tranny is not meant to handle that kind of load and shock. I hear that the STI can though.

 

Trip to the repair shop...

"Sir your clutch is distroyed, we're going to have to replace it."

"WHAT?!?, There is NO WAY my clutch could be 'distroyed' I NEVER USE IT!"

 

I tried this on a MCS test drive back in 2002. I'd been driving my dodge neon for close to 5 months and had got really good at downshifting and upshifting without the use of the clutch. Just matched the revs and it would slide into gear. Back to the test drive. GRRRTRRRTRTRRTRTGGGGRRTRTRTR went the gears on the test drive as I tried to be slick. So it doesn't work on an 2002 MCS. I got my 2003 MCS and gingerly tried and got a shorter GRRTGRRT and have never tried again.

 

Yes for starting the car from a dead stop or coming to a stop.

All road racers utilize this technique. I don't think they do it to be showy. They do it because it's better than using the clutch.

 

Exactly what I was thinking

I don't give much credence to published 0-60 times for manual cars as they abuse the car so much to acheive them - not exactly real world driving/ownership

 

They do it because it's FASTER than using the clutch. And because they don't really care very much how often the tranny needs to get rebuilt.

Dumb a$$ thing to do on the street.

 

Clutch-less shifting is extremely popular among the motorcycle/dirtbike folks. Many only use the clutch lever to launch. Truckers do this, too. I've done it in my '05 from 5th to 6th , but only a few times.

 

I think you may be a little off base when you say all road racers shift without using the clutch. Some race cars use a tranny that is shifted without a clutch once it's moving. Most racers don't do that unless they have the right tranny to do it. I have to say that a MINI box even with a set of close ratio gears needs to be clutched to survive. When I raced in SCCA nobody on the grid shifted without the clutch. In my class you had to use the stck tranny. This doesn't mean I'm an expert.....just my observation from my place on the grid. That was a few years ago & its likely changed some. I wish Mr Nuzzo would chime in here & set us straight. I'm sure he knows the answer.

Chuck