How difficukt is it to learn double declutching?

Not very difficult. A heavy slow revving engine, like that in an old Bentley, makes it easier to judge the revs. Dunno what the steering is like. A 2 ton straight 8 Packard I drove had surprisingly light steering. Stub axle king pins ran in ball bearings. Mike.

Umm, you also have to get to grips with manual mixture control and manual advance/retard.

Berntleys had a couple of different gearboxes. The worst is the A type box, the one with 6 nuts holding the top on. There's no need to double on the way up the box but you do on the way down. Its a matter of practise to get it right with the engine revs and your ear soon tunes in. It still catches me out though. You can do 50 good changes, go to change as normal and crrrrrrrrrrrrrrunch it throws a hissy and you have to stop and start again. Very embarassing.

Other cars I have or have driven all have different characteristics. 2 Berliets same running gear 1 needs doubling up and down 1 you get up through the as quickly as possible.

Most of the old cars steering is heavy at low speed but comes a delight at higher speeds. Some are heavy at low speed and more of a controled aim at higher speed.

The car I like driving most is my Darracq. Lovely precise steering and a sweet gearbox up and down. Virtually anyone could drive it.

So when you win the lottery go get and practise makes perfect.

Andy

Not a major problem I'd think. True manual mixture control is quite early, although carburetors with air levers do require adjustment as they warm up more than most chokes I've used. Manual advance and retard is not that much of a problem and certainly although I need full retard for starting, my 1930 Morgan will run full advance from only just above idle.

True Bentleys of course have centre throttle pedal and life does become more intersting once you start moving the controls around. I've got air, advance, and throttle on the steering wheel. No throttle pedal but at least the clutch and brake pedals are the nomal way round. But, the best brakes are the front ones, a lever on the left (pedal only operates the rear) and the gear lever is on the right. I have luxury of an electric starter - and the switch is on the floor.

As for what you you started with, double declutching, I too never have to do it on the way up. Going down I'm getting better, but for me at least, the hardest thing is actually remembering to let the clutch up in neutral.

You may find a box that will not go into gear if you depress the clutch too long. Morgan 2 speed changes are like that, and you do have to accept there will be a slight "scrunk" as you have engage the gear at rest as the shaft slows. Stationary you have a chance of about 1 in 180 of getting in gear.

But I defy anyone not to have a grin after driving such things.

Crash boxes aren't that difficult really. I'd never driven one before I got my first Series II landrover, which has crash on 1st and 2nd. Now I can get it right 99 times out of 100 (there's always the odd occasion, no-one can honestly say they never have the odd scrunch). I can also crash the transfer box up and down, something that the Landrover says is not to be done (they're big gearwheels, get it wrong and there's a hell of a racket)

The only solution is practice, and getting used to listening to the gearbox/engine, to get the input/output speeds correct. Once you get really skilled at it you'll find you can slip from one gear to another without using the clutch at all.

And the best advice is - don't rush it. Take the changes steady, if it misses the gear, don't panic and wrench the lever about, simply take the box back to neutral, let the clutch up, adjust the revs and have another go. I've heard some nasty sounds coming from gearboxes after people panic and start trying to force it into gear when they've missed one. Oh, and remember to give the box enough time to stop spinning after you've come to a complete halt before attempting to engage first again

Alex

Used to take great delight in doing this when I was a new driver (in a trusty hand me down Fiat 127) for the hell of it :o) Going up the box was a doddle, coming down was a little more hit and miss.

Ah, now there's a reminder of something! In my teens an uncle and aunt came to visit us occasionally, and he drove a Beetle. This was the

Years later, and I had my own (second) Beetle - this was one of the Weltmeister metallic blue ones that VW built to celebrate beating the Model T production record - and I was down in Herefordshire one weekend when the clutch cable snapped. Remembering my uncle's performance, and given that there was no possibility of obtaining a clutch cable in the vicinity until the Monday at least, I drove all the way back to my home near London without a clutch! And, true, there were far more motorways and dual carriageways then than in the 1960s, but there is still a lot of country via Birdlip Hill, Northleach, and Burford to get across! Mind you, I was just driving on the synchromesh, so it's not really the same as a green label Bentley's crash gearbox!

MM

bugger it if you win the lottery you coulda fford to put anew engine and gearbox in it !!!!

He could also afford to buy a new Ford with all the advance and retard and mixture control done for him, coil ignition and syncro in the gearbox but probably wouldn't want to.

Andy

Dam must stop buying cars that no-one else wants

Sacrilege!

MM

Landrovers have an added advantage, you can engage low box, and simply turn the ignition off when requiring a stop. Turn it back on, stab the starter and it will move off quite nicely in low first.

Alex

Funny synchro design on Beetles (Porsche's way of doing it). I don't think it was deliberate, but they're all (any of the aircooled flat Porsche derivatives, and a few others) easier and happier about fooling around the box sans clutch than most boxes are.

What was special or different about the design? I am an ex-motor mechanic, so I suppose I ought to know. But I don't!

MM

Something innovative and expensive with no real added benefit, if Porsche had anything to do with it.

Alex

Must be all VW boxes I think. I used to have a Mk 1 Sirocco (sp?), on which the clutch cable used to pull itself through the bulkhead so I got quite used to driving that clutch less.

Richard snipped-for-privacy@epbyr.bet (ROT13 to e-mail me directly). See

Nah, not just VW boxes. I've driven home with the Ford Type 9 in my Caterham Seven three times now sans clutch after the cable broke. One time it was about 30 miles, including some stop-go traffic.

I put in an uprated cable 2 years ago and never had a problem since. I think most gearboxes can be used sans clutch for a short time if you're thoughtful and careful.