Originally Posted by C5Z06CE

Sorry but I think this is a bit of a cop out. I say this an an early adopter of Auto blip. In fact I was the first C5 to ever have the AutoBlip installed and my shop worked out much of the issues with install on a C5. As someone that was relatively new to Manual transmission cars (my C5Z track car was the first car I learned to drive stick on about 18 months ago)...yes you can teach an old dog new tricks. When I was interested in the Auto Blip I was hell bent on getting it to work because I was so new to manual cars and HPDE that I had enough things to learn before trying to throw heel toe in the mix to save my tranny and keep from spinning. So I wanted as a "training wheel" type thing to help me get better at other things before focusing on that. I can honestly say the AutoBlip helped me do that by giving me an idea of how much to blip the throttle when heel toeing. I was unable to hear how it's done right in my car because none of my friends that drive stick heel toe regularly. Now that I knew that sound of how high the revs go I just had to add the flip of the heel since you are already braking and letting out the clutch at the right time. I can also say that wearing work shoes with wider print are easier than HPDE/race shoes especially if you learn the side of foot method rather than heel method. All you do is blip with the outside edge of the right foot while braking. So a big foot would HELP you.

Took me about 2 hours of driving at night with little traffic. Just brake and heel toe in a straight line just as you would on track. First I started with heel toe practicing with the car in neutral in my garage and mimicking downshifting with my right hand WITHOUT moving shifter and press brake/clutch, side of foot blip, let clutch out. Do that 100 times then go for a drive and add moving shifter to the mix.

You may wonder WHY did I learn if my Auto Blip was working. Well I was in PBIR on the long straight and my Auto Blip started to have a mind of its own... Several times it scared the **** out of me. I would enter brake zone later and brake harder only to find that when clutch was pushed in my AutoBlip caused my car to have an oscillation of blipping over and over rapidly. So my car would surge forward for no reason when I wanted to brake hard. SCARY when you are approaching a wall!!! So it turns out the AutoBlip caused it all by having a bit of a short in the wiring. I was far enough along in my HPDE learning that I spent a few nights learning. Big feet are helpful not a hinderance!! Try side of foot instead and get rid of that Auto Blip before someone hurts themselves.

C5Z06CE

Originally Posted by C5 Hardtop

I disagree with the unit being a copout, but while reading this thread I was wondering how the car would behave if the unit starts to malfunction.

It sounds like you had experienced problems with the unit. I'd be immensely hesitant to attach a 3rd party device to increase the throttle position automatically. As a long time software and device tester, hardware can break and when it does it can affect the software algorithm. Temperature extremes can affect the hardware. I would have tracked the temperature of it and understood its max operating temp. You were pretty brave to put a prototype device on your car and do laps around a track .

Originally Posted by C5Z06CE

I used the unit as the first in a C5 so I was NOT referring to this AutoBlip unit as a cop-out but the excuse that "I have big feet therefore I can not learn to heel-toe" as a cop-out. As mentioned my car would suddenly Surge and accelerate when the clutch was pushed and I was braking hard for a turn. Scary to feel a surge in power as you are braking. So I took the unit out and learned to heel-toe. It did however give me an idea of the sound and feel of an appropriate blip so when I learned to heel toe I knew better how much to blip.

Originally Posted by harrydirty

Not meaning any disrespect, but I experienced this same surge and found that it was operator error. I discovered that I rest my foot on the clutch pedal in anticipation of a downshift as I am in the braking zone. Depending on how the AutoBlip is calibrated, the unit can interpret any clutch pedal motion, however slight, as clutch fully out and will "blip" the throttle, which is correct operation. Is it possible that your unexpected surge issues were due to the same situation?

I also found the same situation if I were to start a clutch motion and hesitated.....again, the Autoblip unit interprets the motion as full clutch disengagement and will blip the throttle, as it should. I guess I had lazy feet and was unaware of these habits until I installed the AutoBlip.

I found the AutoBlip to work as advertised once correctly calibrated and all my formerly unknown bad habits eliminated.

Good to hear that you bounced back and still enjoying track days.

Originally Posted by C5Z06CE

No disrespect taken, but no... Absolutely NOT user error!! My mechanic was able to repeat the issue. The surge was not a single surge like you would expect with "resting on the clutch in anticipation". This was a bucking bronco type of surge, no surge, surge, no surge, surge, no surge when applying brake as soon as clutch was applied. I tend to press the clutch quickly. This was in rapid succession and was very scary for me. I could only stop it by putting the car in neutral and taking foot off brake temporarily. At that point the lap was blown. It was also intermittent happening 75% of the time which in my mind is even worse because every time you needed to blip downshift you were hoping and praying you wouldn't lose control. I hope no one else will have the same problem I did. My problems resolved when I put my mind to it and learned to heel toe. If anyone is interested I have given detailed info in another post on how I went about learning to heel toe in less than 1 week.

Originally Posted by harrydirty

So when your car was surging, you were applying brake and had the clutch pedal pressed in? If so, then it sounds like the engine continued to blip several times? I guess I misunderstood surge; when I mention surge, I mean the car leaps forward, not just engine revving up.

Either way, engine blipping several times while you have brake and clutch applied steady state does not sound normal.

In any case, good on ya for learning heel/toe and continuing with your track days.

Originally Posted by UrbanKnight

Bossdog,

You calibrate the clutch to the point you want the autoblip to activate, so if you calibrate it with the clutch pushed to the floor, thats how far you will have to push it to activate it on track.

Personally, I have mine set about midway through travel as my clutch engages up high, and I don't put the pedal to the floor when on track. You can set it wherever you like.

So yes, you are understanding it correctly!

Originally Posted by harrydirty

Guys, I could be wrong here, but I do not think there are different levels of calibration for the clutch pedal. There is only a clutch safety interlock switch, which is either on or off. I followed the instructions and during calibration I pressed the clutch pedal to the floor, and then fully released it as per instructions. However, during operation the unit would produce a blip when my foot rested on the clutch pedal enough to trigger the interlock switch, which is hardly any movement of the clutch pedal. On track, the blip would occur as soon as the clutch pedal made even the slightest downward movement. Based on these observations I would say that all the auto blip unit is looking at is whether the clutch safety interlock switch is open or closed (pedal depressed or not, irrespective of how much).

Originally Posted by harrydirty

Guys, I could be wrong here, but I do not think there are different levels of calibration for the clutch pedal. There is only a clutch safety interlock switch, which is either on or off. I followed the instructions and during calibration I pressed the clutch pedal to the floor, and then fully released it as per instructions. However, during operation the unit would produce a blip when my foot rested on the clutch pedal enough to trigger the interlock switch, which is hardly any movement of the clutch pedal. On track, the blip would occur as soon as the clutch pedal made even the slightest downward movement. Based on these observations I would say that all the auto blip unit is looking at is whether the clutch safety interlock switch is open or closed (pedal depressed or not, irrespective of how much).

Originally Posted by UrbanKnight

my experience is that it is completely relative to where I set it. Your explanation makes total sense, but I feel I can set the activation point anywhere in the travel range, and have

Originally Posted by UrbanKnight

Bossdog,

You calibrate the clutch to the point you want the autoblip to activate, so if you calibrate it with the clutch pushed to the floor, thats how far you will have to push it to activate it on track.

Personally, I have mine set about midway through travel as my clutch engages up high, and I don't put the pedal to the floor when on track. You can set it wherever you like.

So yes, you are understanding it correctly!

Originally Posted by Bossdog

I just received my Auto-Blip and I'm reading up.
I don't understand the idea of calibrating your clutch at different levels. In the instructions it says to calibrate completely depressed and at full release. Is it being said to calibrate the clutch pedal semi-depressed rather than fully released, so when you depress the clutch, the sequence does not start immediately but rather when it reaches the semi-depressed point you used in calibration.
Do I understand this correctly?
Thanks for the help

Originally Posted by Fletch F. Fletch

Hey guys.

I'm considering an auto-blip for my 2013 GS. I think you guys are hitting on the part of the instructions that are confusing to me -- specifically what I have bolded and underlined. Wouldn't it be bad and/or dangerous to set this at anything other than fully depressed???

Thanks for any input/clarification/understand you can provide.

@Mordeth
I saw you installed one of these in a separate thread; any help/insight you could provide would be much appreciated as well.


http://www.auto-blip.com/pdf/2008_20...vette_v1_7.pdf

"8. At this point the “STATUS” LED light will blink (5) times followed by a short pause. Press the clutch pedal to the position where you want the AUTO-BLiP to activate. With the clutch pedal pressed, press and release the ON/OFF button once, continue to hold the clutch pedal down. This step records your vehicle’s clutch pedal pressed position. (See Note 1)

9. At this point the “STATUS” LED light will blink (6) times followed by a short pause. Release the clutch pedal approximately ½” to 1” from the pressed position in step 8. With the clutch pedal released approximately ½” to 1”, press and release the ON/OFF button once. This step records your vehicle’s clutch pedal released position."

Originally Posted by UrbanKnight

Why would it be bad or dangerous? As long as your cluthc is disengaged at the point you set it at, all is good.

Originally Posted by Fletch F. Fletch

I guess I'm thinking my clutch is not fully disengaged until it is fully depressed. Am I wrong on that?