Coincidentally, during my Saturday drive in the TR6 with my 17 year old
son last weekend, that very topic was discussed and demonstrated. I told
him the story of how I had to drive the TR6 home 35 miles in Dallas
traffic without the clutch when it failed one time. He didn't believe you
could drive a manual without a clutch. I demonstrated that you could.
Simply play with the engine rpms to match the correct input shaft speed
while keeping pressure on the shift lever towards the gear you are trying
to shift into. And at the right point where the rpms and the transmission
shaft speed are at that "magic" speed, the shift lever very nicely falls
into gear without grinding. The real trick (which I did not demonstrate
Saturday because it is a little more dramatic and probably not good for
the car) is starting off from a standstill without a clutch. When I made
that drive from Dallas that day without a clutch, I accomplished this by
turning off the engine at a stop light, putting it in first gear, and then
starting the engine in first gear when the light turned green. As the
engine started, the car would lurch forward and get moving. Not something
I recommend unless you find yourself in an emergency as I was. And of
course, you probably couldn't do this on a modern manual transmission
because of the "safety" features to prevent the car from starting in gear.
Another time, on the same 35 mile route through Dallas traffic, the shift
linkage came apart while I was in 3rd gear. I found myself holding a
shift lever with no transmission attached to it! No matter what I tried,
I could not get the transmission out of 3rd gear. Turns out, that was not
a huge problem because the clutch was working fine and I have overdrive.
The TR6 engine had plenty of low end torque to start from a dead
standstill in 3rd gear at stop lights and, once on the highway, I simply
engaged the overdrive in 3rd gear. If you are going to get stuck in only
one gear, 3rd was the best one to be stuck in! After I got the car home,
I found the root cause was my faulty reassembly of the shift linkage
during a refit a month or so previously.
________________________________
Greg Hutmacher
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 10:29:15 -0700
From: Geo Hahn <ahwahnee@cybertrails.com>
Subject: Re: accelator pedal
In fact -- with strong syncros and deft hand, foot & ear coordination you
can shift a
manual without using the clutch. I wouldn't try this on my TR but have
had too in the VW out of necessity and on the BMW just cause I could.
Geo H
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