Hey All, this C7 Z51 is my first manual car. I've owned it for about 2 months now and I've gotten very used to normal commuting and driving. Haven't stalled the car in about a month now so I've come a long way. I have a few questions now that I have the basics pretty sorted out. A lot of the driving videos on youtube are of guys in a 1.6l turbo diesel so the LT1 is probably not a good apples to apples comparison. Sorry to sound like a total noob.

My first question would be, how can I get moving faster from a stop without putting too much wear on the clutch? Currently, I give it a tiny bit of throttle until I hit the bite point. Then I lift off the clutch while increasing throttle until I'm fully gear. When doing this I feel sluggish compared to other traffic around me. How can I get going faster with minimal wear?

Second, my first to 2nd shift can be a little rough. I find that my car only really smoothly shifts to 2nd when I'm about about 3k rpm. Is that the nature of the beast?

Third, probably closely related to my first question, how does one "launch" this car? If I were out and wanting to test my 0-60 times, or joining my friends at the drap strip, would I just use the built in launch control, or does anyone have advice on how to get a very competitive start without doing an excessive amount of clutch burning? I realize it's a consumable part of the car, but I just want to minimize it if I can.

 

What little help I can is question two; yes it is the nature of that manual for 1st to 2nd to be alittle obnoxious until the tranny warms up. New tranny fluid has helped and I also added a shift kit. Nonethe less it will still be alittle graunchy........

 

The least amount of clutch wear is accomplished by engaging the clutch @ idle.

2nd gear is a bugaboo at times. You're right about that. Especially upshifting. Downshifting into 2nd? No problem.👍

Your Owners Manual is the best source to access for Launch procedure. That's the first place I'd recommend looking.

 

I highly recommend you do not attempt to launch until you are more proficient with a manual.

 

At Spring Mountain's corvette owner school they teach you to start out at idle without killing the engine. While this will give max life out of the clutch but not practical in traffic and I don't have the patience. Best to just use common sense, not to fast with clutch, not too much gas. The 2-3 gear grind is more when it's cold, but yes, shifting at a higher RPM does make it smoother from my experience. Also throwing your shift faster helps.

 

THANKS DAD! j/k

This is more of a curiosity. I'm a very cautious driver for sure, but when the time does arise, I'd like to know how it do it correctly.

 

Ahh yes, It does seem to be much rougher into 2nd when cold. Glad to know it's not something wrong my my transmission.

 

I saw a few videos of guys blowing out their rear diff when doing the launch conrtol procedure (though I think one guy did not do it correctly). I didn't know if the general consensus was to stay away from the launch control method or not.

 

Lots of good Youtube comedy out there...the Owners' manual explains it pretty well for when you are ready.

If it is quite cold out it can be stubborn going from 1-2. A quick double-clutch solves this for me.

 

Most get better times in a manual C7 without using launch control. OP all normal. Each manual is a little different but the principles are all the same.
As said be smart, not too much slip, not too much gas. And don't sit at lights with your foot pressing the clutch in expecting the light to change so you can gas it. That will wear things faster then anything else.
Your in a light high HP V8. Launch may be a little slow, but once RPM's climb you make up for it.

 

First off, the 1-2 shift at very low speeds will damage your transmission if it's trying push you to 4th gear. The car has skip shift built in. If you want to eliminate that get the CAGS skip shift eliminator. It's cheap and easy to install.

Secondly, these cars have very sluggish throttle response stock when trying to be smooth and slow. You can fix that with a Soler throttle controller.

Lastly, leave in 2nd. I leave in 2nd all the time driving my Z51 manual. The gearing is so short on these cars that I find it quicker around town due to fewer shifts. And you'll avoid the 1-4 skip shift at the same time.

 

Yup, it's happened.

 

When you roll out from a stop light in a Z51 or a GS and a Jetta, a Camry, or just about any other vehicle accelerates past you, it ain't all about you.

The Z51/GS are fitted with the Performance Manual Transmission that have the lowest gear ratio train in the C7 Corvette line.


The Z51/GS gear ratios are: first- 2.97:1, second- 2.07:1, third - 1.43:1, fourth- 1:1

The standard Vette ratios are: first- 2.66:1, second- 1.78:1, third- 1.20:1, fourth- 1:1



For street use; comparing the shift points at 3000 rpm, the standard transmission has a speed advantage over the performance transmission.

For reference consider a shift point at 3000 rpm - ( MPH)

Z51/GS first- 24, second- 34, third- 49, fourth- 70

Standard Corvette first- 26, second- 39, third- 58, fourth- 70

For street use the standard transmission has a 3 mph advantage in first, a 5 mph advantage in second, and a 9 mph advantage in third.

But put the Z51/GS performance gear train on the track and you've got a beast.

 

Highly suggest you check out the Solar TB and TC. They made all the difference for me. See this thread;
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1606963448

As for launch control...also been to scared to give it a shot.

 

Informative post learned something new. And another reason I like my base Stingray.
I have the throttle body going in this weekend.

 

Put my answers above in red.

 

Thanks for the detailed info! This was great!

 

The soler throttle body made all the difference. Since installing, I haven't stall out a single time.

 

Do you have rev-match turned on? I find that makes all the shifts smoother.

 

I was going to ask the same question, be sure to sure to turn on Rev Match, you will find the gear changing becomes much easier. Remember also that Rev Match has to be turned on each time you start the car. When turned on the gear indicator in the DIC will have yellow numbers