sure you can any manual transmission shift fast and rough and it can easily be fixed with big fat cheque.
The OP is learning because he hasn't driven standard , prior. I think its good advice to move the shifter a bit slowly and not bang it into gear or pull it out of gear without the clutch fully depressed.
he does seem to know how to doubleclutch and that requires some feel and practice. its the same action on a bike. some with lots of experience really have it down to a fine art.
Id encourage practicing that because having the revs right and shifting properly does have a bit of a learning curve, there is definitely some technique to getting it right and every car you sit in will react a little differently.
My suggestion is focus on smooth shifting before you try to become a quarter mile racer.
I think how you drive is more dependent on your driving style and habits than what car you sit in, but see no point in disputing about that, it just becomes a difference of opinion and not very helpful to anyone, drive how you like..
"I let the tachometer come back down to ~2500 RPMs before I put it into the next gear. This alleviates most of the crunchiness.
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Yes to that, Id say definitely, dont be in a rush, instead get a feel for smooth shifting, shifting at the right RPM to match the driving style, If hard driving, sure take the revs higher to get more power.. But with a car you can't pass in front of you in traffic, take your time, banging your transmission around isn't helping you get anywhere then.
yes letting the revs drop by just the right amount is important. you can shift without the clutch if you have it just right but wouldn't recommend it right now.. but just making the point..
when you shift , and if you doubleclutch properly, what you are doing inside the transmission is making the gears spin at the same relative speed, then the synchros are a lot less stressed than depending upon them to match the gear speeds, by friction. It simply wont come by way of type, it takes some practice to get a feel for it. If you miss a shift, Id say, dont force the situation , instead put the clutch back in..
basically match the speed of the car with the gear and the RPM's , that will reduce stress on the synchros. if you are coasting, because you blew a shift, dont worry, dont force it..
with it out of gear and the clutch in , you have disconnected the engine from the drive gears and the driven gears.. if you get stuck and its not in gear,, you might want to lift up on the clutch to drive the "drive gears" to enable you to once again attempt to get the speed to match properly, get it into a gear, even one down from the intended gear,, then try again. If you instead apply force to the shift lever you are forcing things, that's how you wreck a transmission.
The synchro's might be worn by poor shifting , so I'd drain the tranny oil and check it out, see if there is a lot of brass... is the tranny low on fluid?
there might be something off with the shifter fork. could be problems with external play in the shifter linkage etc. Id check that first, before the rebuild. I remember snapping a shifter fork as a kid by pulling it out of gear without the clutch fully depressed.. then I got to take a VW tranny apart and learn.
shifter fork might have a loose pin or grub screw or similar, it can wear too,, hard to see without disassembly.
most cars have springs in the clutch disks, I know the older ones like my early 85 have an inherent problem with the rubber center, due to rubber age-rot.. maybe others with experience on this newer clutch arrangement can elaborate about the inherent issues surrounding this particular clutch release mechanism. I think there is some rubber near the throwout bearing. perhaps a similar issue with rubber deterioration due to time.
i seem to recall some parts around the throw-out bearing can have similar issues but lets ask the experts.. Ive been hoping to find an aftermarket clutch with springs for mine. im finding better availability on the aftermarket parts for the S2's than for the early versions.
"I did just flush the master cylinder a month ago. "
ok so you changed the fluid? did you bleed it properly to let any trapped air out, air in the system will cause the clutch not to disengage fully. your foot may hit the floor before it is completely disenguaged.. you should be able to tell by the distance from the floor where the clutch starts to grab, if the pedal seems too close to the floor Id try bleeding it again to make sure. extra floor mats can save the carpet, but some might interfere with pedal movement.
It can be a little troublesome to get the air out of the line, if it helps you can break the flex line open a little to try to get the air out, Once the clutch is functioning somewhat, which it seems to be, then you should be able to bleed it properly.
if it is full of air then you can have an issue where the piston in the slave cylinder isn't moving because you are basically just compressing air .. in that case you can crack the line and et a helper to work the clutch pedal, to get the air out. that might be a problem if the system looses all its fluid , this clutch is at least functioning somewhat so thats only applicable if you drain all the fluid or replace the slave etc.
yes slop in the external shifter linkage can cause the shifter fork to not move to its proper extent so checking and fixing that is a good first step and may solve the problem.
if you have trouble going into reverse and find that the gears grind when you are at a standstill it may be likely that the clutch isn't fully disengaged... so then what is happening is that the gears are still turning inside the transmission because the drive gears are turning because of some clutch engagement while the driven gears are at a standstill
you can have sort of a similar issue if you are rolling along at some speed in neutral with the clutch in, then the drive gears stop without anything to drive them while the driven gears are of course running as they are connected to the back wheels. lifting the clutch will then cause the drive gears to spin again.
I don't race but racing is a lot about smooth driving so a racer has in depth knowledge of all this and is matching speeds, not abusing the transmission by hard shifting without paying attention to gear speeds.. its not just a matter of slamming the shifter into whatever gear you desire... similar with truckers who shift without the clutch..
you can shift without the clutch, when you can do that smoothly you are matching the drive and driven gear speeds accurately. you can practice that but I'd pick a less expensive car.. I got quite good at it when I drove the bosses car as a kid.. Id just use the clutch to start and then try to never use it when driving, that helped me get it down better. His Ford Fiesta did live on lol..
when you step on the cluch you have disenguaged the drive gears and they arent being driven by the engine nor the wheels so they are then slowing down, this pause between shifts allows those drive gears to slow and when you shift into the next higher gear, and get that right the synchros arent; mating the gear speeds , they are already going the right speed, that's easier on the synchromesh rings. the synchros help mate the speeds by way of friction before engagement so if the speeds area little off they help correct that..
when you doublecluutch to gear down, its the opposite then you are taking it out of gear, lifting the clutch , giving throttle thus speeding up the drive gears so that when you shift to the next lower gear the speeds match up. then the gears slip in easily because they are going the same speed relative to one another. getting that just exactly right does take practice.
if the gear speeds , engine speed , car speed dotn match right and you let the clutch out then there is a shock through the drivetrain..
sure you can "race" by doubleclutching , gearing down , slowing the car by way of speeding up the engine like a gyro, half your foot on the brake, making a corner, shifting up with the revs really high and then obtain a little boost upon letting the clutch out, in that you are basically storing power in the fast spinning engine rather than wasting it braking.. this is using the kinetic energy to your advantage.. I find it fun to do in my 66 volvo.. I did lots to it , balancing, large pistons hot cam polished ports etc etc,, to make it have more power but kept the clutch at the standard weight.. I lowered the rear axle ration, it works well in that car.
the transmission I have in that car is a bit rare with the overdrive, it has a longer mainshaft than a standard 4 speed.. no LSD but otherwise its basically like a hopped up 123GT.. It wont corner like the porsche but it's still an absolute riot to drive
I also have a 740 and a 240, they are workhorses and automatics, great cars.. not hot rods..