Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle Smooth shifts (MTX) long question

I recently bought a 99 contour SE Sport. This is my first manual transmission car and I have some questions.

I've fixed the TH problem with the car but I still can't seem to get smooth shifts all the time. From 1st I get the tach up to 3,000 rpm, put in the clutch and let off the gas simultaneously. When I put the stick into 2nd and let out the clutch then get on the gas, the car jerks hard. When I get on the gas a bit quicker and have it revved in a little bit, then let out the clutch the shifts go smoothly. Is there a problem with my clutch or do you all have to shift this way as well?

Also, before I bought this car my friend taught me how to drive stick. He taught me how to slowly let out the clutch from a stop and in between shifts you can just bang the clutch in and out. I've have found that if I steadily let the clutch out while shifting the shifts go smoother as well. I'm not letting the clutch out as slow as when I get going from a stop but I am afraid that I might be taking miles off my clutch. So basically how do you guys shift?

Our cars suffer bad tranny lash. Hard shifts jerk the engine real bad. You have to easy out the clutch for the most part.

By the way, you will get a lot of people respond saying what I told you they never experienced. They they will say you don't know how to drive a stick, I don't know how to drive a stick, etc. But, based on my 17 years of driving only sticks with many differenct cars, you have to ease the clutch out on shifts with ours. I had a '95 SE rod shift and currently a SVT. Hell, my old toyota corolla shifted better than this car. I learned to drive on an old Ford ecoline van with three on the tree and also a chevy vega four speed and an old 5 speed dodge ram. I've owned a Plymouth champ with a dual stick. Owned a '71 camaro with a three speed. I've driven the new celica and my dad's 300 Z.....I love the SVT but the trannys suck!

Installing polyurethane motor mount inserts will reduce this problem.

Originally posted by Gerald:

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Installing polyurethane motor mount inserts will reduce this problem.

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Is that difficult to do?

I work as a valet, and I've driven many manula transmission cars. Out of all that I have driven, the top three clutches that I have found are hardest to drive and get smooth shifts from are:

1.) Ferrari 308GTS (only Ferrari I've ever driven, and it was an '85)
2.) Older Toyota pickups
3.) Manual Contours and Mystiques

I'm sure that many people will agree with me that the Contour and Mystique clutch is the hardest to get used to to be able to shift smoothly. My dad who's driven a manual car for over 30 years still has a hard time shifting smooth (not as good as I am either ) in my car. It's just a clutch you have to get used to.

Well, you sort of need a little more complete info on driving a stick.

Using the clutch needs to become something that you feel, not just a matter of stroking the pedal. If you don't learn to feel the clutch engagement, you will always have difficulty adjusting from one car to another. It is true that you can (and should) move the pedal quicker when you are already underway, but you still need to feel the engagement and gently feather it when needed.

Some things that you can do to learn how to better feel the clutch engagement include starting from a stop with no gas pedal and learning how to start from a stop in 2nd and then even in 3rd gear.

About the only time you can justify just "banging" the clutch pedal is on hard acceleration. Less agressive driving calls for less agressive clutch action.

I just remembered another clutch that is extremely hard to get used to: Older models of Geo Trackers

I would definitely agree that the drivetrain combines several factors that make it difficult to drive, i would say sloppy motor mounts, little torque at low rpms, sensitive throttle, and short clutch. But now that i'm used to the the short clutch and sensitive pedal i actually prefer it. Switching to other cars it seems like a huge pain not to be able to work the clutch simply with the ankle, and just tapping the gas to get started. my .02, but at this point i prefer it, the car feels quite a bit like an s2000, very direct.

Originally posted by holycowSVTpaul:

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I learned to drive on an old Ford ecoline van with three on the tree and also a chevy vega four speed and an old 5 speed dodge ram.

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Good God, one of my friends learned to drive a manual on a '79 Chevy van, with a three speed column shifter like your Ford. After that thing died, he didn't drive a manual again until about four years ago, when his sister got a Nissan Stanza 5spd. Right after that he got a '92 Eclipse Turbo. F***ing SWEET, I thought, until I got in and saw watched him drive it: Accelerate to 15, put it in neutral. Massage the shifter, then second. 25 mph, neutral, massage it, third great. He never engaged the turbo once. I think he was afraid he was going to hurt it if he wound it out in the least...

--T.J., who has to try a column shifter one of these days...