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What is the car telling me?

So there's two situations I'm wondering about now. (Have had the car almost two months and it's my first stick shift.)

First situation: Sometimes, after getting in gear, engine goes wuh-wuh- wuh before proceeding as normal. A time when this might happen is when I upshift from 1-2 and re-engage the clutch a little too soon for the revs to drop all the way to what would match road speed in 2nd. But really, isn't it pretty common to make a snappy 1-2 shift without fully matching revs? What does the wuh-wuh mean?

Second situation: I am trying to do a faster takeoff from a standing start than just your basic leisurely traffic launch. We're not talking clutch dumps here, or even flooring it. Just a bit faster down with the right foot and up with the left, as someone advised me a few weeks back. Now I haven't done much practicing, but what I have gotten a few times is, instead of a healthy transmission of power going smoothly to nicely planted rear wheels, the rears seem to be doing a shuddery hop-hop-hop before everything hooks up and gets going. Seems maybe not right. What is going on and what should I do?

Thanks in advance & ZZ Eric

Reply to
earache
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Eric, you're cracking me up! I think you'll eventually figure this out thru trial and error, it's just difficult to put into text. If you want to speed up the process a bit, see if you can find a friend that's been driving a std transmission for quite a while and ride with him / have him ride with you. Possibly try to find a local Miata club, you won't have any problem finding someone to show you how to go fast, fast!

Enjoy, Chris

99BBB

Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

Two things that I know of can produce the rear shudder that you describe. The first is that the rear end can bounce up and down when the rear wheel(s) are breaking loose. The next cause is duw to soft rubber in the engine and rear Axle mounts, and some soft bushings in the suspension. In any case you should try modifying your shifting/throttle co-ordination. (Least expensive.)

Reply to
Chuck

Reply to
james winston

Both of your symptoms may be normal. One sounds like poor shifting technique. The other is typical of letting the clutch out too fast with a high rpm. Wheel hop can eventually cause damage to the power train. If you think it is bad with a stock MX-5, you should try a turbo'd version.

Reply to
Chuck

Yeah, guess those things may be normal. Actually I have made some adjustments in my driving and am not so much getting them anymore.

The wuh-wuhs were only an occasional thing that might happen, say, shifting from 1-2. I am still making this shift two different ways - if I'm not in any hurry I sometimes wait a little bit for the revs to match up before lettting the clutch back in. It is slower, but there is a satisfying smoothness. Other times I just get after it. Anyway, I haven't noticed the wuh-wuhs lately with either technique.

(Incidentally, as I upshift at higher rpms - north of 4500, say - there's a healthy amount of vibration in the shifter. This is normal, right?)

As far as the wheel hop, after a few times of that I backed off. Right now I just let everything (clutch, tires) get hooked up first before ramping up the speed and that's fine.

Reply to
earache

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