When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
After 500 miles of shifting my M7 Z51, trying different ride modes on the mag suspension, working hard to smoothly engage the clutch on starting off or shifting up but still ,sometimes getting a dreaded stall or a jerkie upshift, I may have found my problem. First let me state that I don’t consider myself a beginner stick shift driver. My 69 350/350 was stick as was my 90 ZR1 and I had no issues shifting. I now believe the issue is with the accelerator pedal, specifically, there is very little pressure against your foot resulting in miminal to zero feel for your throttle foot. I’ve started to spend more time monitoring the tachometer during a shift (not a good habit when driving in traffic even with the HUD) until I find the best fix, which is to find the right footwear. For me so far, stiff heavy soles are NFG for throttle feel but too flexible or soft could be probablamatic for fast hard braking. It would be great if throttle pressure could be adjusted to give more feedback and if this is doable I’d love some input for the Forum or any other helpful suggestions. Also does the MGW shifter heip with smoothness, shift speed, or both? Thanks in advance and a special THANKS to our VETS on this Memorial weekend.
get a vitesse throttle controller problem solved. the electronic throttle is not linear. They put dead spots into it. The Vitesse will allow you to modify the slope of the response from 0 oem to 9 oh my god around 5 is linear
Check out Piloti shoes, made for driving. They have a relatively flat sole and some extra padding on the right side of the right shoe. I'm much more comfortable on long trips since I switched to these out of my waffle soled clod hoppers.
get a vitesse throttle controller problem solved. the electronic throttle is not linear. They put dead spots into it. The Vitesse will allow you to modify the slope of the response from 0 oem to 9 oh my god around 5 is linear
^^^
This. I installed one and keep it on 5. The accelerator now feels linear.
No, a decent "running" shoe will NOT be too soft for hard braking, but will give much better pedal feel, in general. Save your brogues for the Denali. Enjoy!
It's even simpler than that... shift above 2200 rpm.... problem solved.
This is true. But what a throttle controller does is gets you to that rpm with more predictability. It feels like having a direct old school cable link to the carb or TB as opposed to an electronic link with lag.
For me so far, stiff heavy soles are NFG for throttle feel but too flexible or soft could be probablamatic for fast hard braking. It would be great if throttle pressure could be adjusted to give more feedback and if this is doable I’d love some input for the Forum or any other helpful suggestions. Also does the MGW shifter heip with smoothness, shift speed, or both? Thanks in advance and a special THANKS to our VETS on this Memorial weekend.
I do not believe that the the actual physical pressure feedback of the throttle can be changed. When your say "jerkyness" like from the 1/2 shift especially, my best guess is the time between letting off the gas, clutching in, shifting the gear, and clutching out is too slow (i.e. you let the rpms drop basically way tp low) to the point where the driveline component have slowed way down past the engine speed. So when you engage the clutch again essentially what your feeling is driveline shock/bounce.
this can also happen if you are accelerating quickly, and just dumping the clutch, and not physically shifting fast enough. It will definitely not be so dramatic though.
All of our cars are stick shift. Both my wife and I drive. We do not own an automatic. She has the same issue when she drives no mtter which car it is. I have been working on it with here on it for the last 5 years shes gotten better, the bogging stopped but she just shifts to damn slow it drives me crazy sometimes
as for shoes, thick hearty soles are not going to help at all they just make driving worse. Like someone said above, consider a pair of athletic shoes like some Nike freeruns or something. Or better yet go out right now, spend $0 and give the vette a quick whirl around the block in some socks only. I'm serious.
I had the same problem when I got my M7. Just could not get the shifting right. I been driving manuals for many many years. Had one in my C6 never had a shifting problem. I find you have to be much quicker off the clutch once in gear than my C6 was. Now I shift better but never as good as with the C6. I never use second gear anymore I go from first to third with high RPMs. Needed to shift into third. I find that much better.
Puma made a nice thin soled shoe, with a hard plastic heel, probably a decade or so ago. Sadly, they stated in the inside, not fireproof. but I love them for driving. Came in black, blue, red and yellow. bought two pair of each. not much sole for walking though.
Are you using the rev match feature as you are driving? I found that in my 2016 Z that Rev Match makes shifting as about as great as it can be. Rev Match is the first thing i turn on when I get into the Z. Even at Spring Mountain, the first thing they tell you when you get into the car, is to turn on the Rev Match. I do agree that the gas peddle is not linear as in the old days.
I have about 530 on mine now. When I picked it up from Bowling Green I wore loose fitting fishing type shoes. They were too wide and loose for me in my Z06. Had all kinds of trouble with clutch and throttle, same as you describe in the OP. I bought some Puma driving shoes direct from Puma online (they were 1/2 the price of piloti) - Since then I have not had any issues at all. I do agree the throttle is much less resistant than my 1998 vert, but I have been taking off and shifting pretty well since I have been wearing them.
I have not tried the piloti's, but I imagine they are similar or even better.
Not sure if it would help you, but it did help me, even if it is the placebo effect.
Just my $.02. YMMV.
This is true. But what a throttle controller does is gets you to that rpm with more predictability. It feels like having a direct old school cable link to the carb or TB as opposed to an electronic link with lag.
Been rowing gears more than 60 years.... let's not do "solutions" to problems that aren't really problems.... it's just not necessary to do twig grafting with a scalpel.
It seems to me that after the car is warmed up for about an hour, that it takes more pressure on the gas pedal to start off from a stop. I usually have no problem starting from a stop while warming up but occasionally almost stall out the car after it's been running for an hour, then I just have to remember to add more gas pedal pressure. Anyone else have this experience or is it just my imagination?
Jerry there is nothing wrong with the car gas pedal or clutch (unless you’ve already ruined it) you just might be a little out of practice.... I never had an issue with the m7 in my stingray. The cars you described above were a lot older.. you might just have to get used to the newer more refined equipment of today’s cars.... just my opinion:
I got a Mamo ported throttle body and it really helps smooth throttle response. This helps at smoothing clutch engagement as well. It works better than the Vitesse I had before which I removed because it sometimes threw a code and put the car into reduced power mode.
I drive my M7 in topsiders, sneakers, etc. It's not the shoes.
Like others said shift at a higher RPM. The hydraulic clutch sucks as far as I'm concerned, but of my last 3 vettes, the clutch on my 18 GS is better.
After 500 miles of shifting my M7 Z51, trying different ride modes on the mag suspension, working hard to smoothly engage the clutch on starting off or shifting up but still ,sometimes getting a dreaded stall or a jerkie upshift, I may have found my problem. First let me state that I don’t consider myself a beginner stick shift driver. My 69 350/350 was stick as was my 90 ZR1 and I had no issues shifting. I now believe the issue is with the accelerator pedal, specifically, there is very little pressure against your foot resulting in miminal to zero feel for your throttle foot. I’ve started to spend more time monitoring the tachometer during a shift (not a good habit when driving in traffic even with the HUD) until I find the best fix, which is to find the right footwear. For me so far, stiff heavy soles are NFG for throttle feel but too flexible or soft could be probablamatic for fast hard braking. It would be great if throttle pressure could be adjusted to give more feedback and if this is doable I’d love some input for the Forum or any other helpful suggestions. Also does the MGW shifter heip with smoothness, shift speed, or both? Thanks in advance and a special THANKS to our VETS on this Memorial weekend.
I reached the same conclusion and thought I needed to get proper driving shoes. Funnily enough I went to Wally World and found some water shoes that would easily slip on and off, had a flexible thin sole and a rounded heel area that gave me the necessary feel for the clutch and throttle. They were $14 and had no problems with braking. Super comfortable. Only issue was the rubber on the right heel portion quickly wore away but I put some goop on it and it is fine.
Last edited by Frosty; 05-28-2018 at 08:59 AM.
Reason: add image
05-26-2018, 01:29 PM
Maybe it’s not me or the clutch!
Enjoy!
