I'm relatively new to the manual tranmission, i've been riding motorcycles for years but it's a little different in the car for me. I'm wondering what would allow my 1-2 shifts to be much smoother, is it better to rev it a bit while throwing it into 2nd? Right now the car seems to jump around a bit too much when I get back on the throttle after putting it in 2nd.

 

be easy with the clutch and don't mash the gas in first. If you take first easy second will be smooth.

 

Second you have to go a little slow like first but the rest of the gears should be smooth after that.

 

This is my first manual transmission and let me tell you it took me a while to figure out the 1-2 shift. Try shifting the gear a little slower and letting out the clutch a little slower. Also I find it easier to shift if i shift at about 3k rpms. Give it a shot.

 

I tried the 3k shift in first to second it was pretty smoother.

 

It's really tough to pull off a perfect 1-2 shift without slipping the clutch. Shift at 3,000rpm minimum, this will go a long way to smoothing your gear changes.

 

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try doing it around 3k.

 

If you want to be super smooth as silk (but pretty slow) you can drive to around 3.5k in first, then hold the clutch long enough for the RPMs to drop back to 2k before releasing in second gear. This will allow a perfect rev match.

Shifting at 3k:
first to second = 1.5k difference
second to third = 1k difference
third to fourth = .75k difference
fourth to fifth = .5k difference

 

Yeah, it's the rev matching I need to get down. I guess I can't expect too much of myself as this is the first manual car i've ever owned, but it will be nice when everything is second nature.

 

Yes just get the rev and balance of the clutch correct, you'll get it.
Honestly everytime i drive a differ car with a differ clutch and trans, it takes me maybe a day to get use to it for smooth shifting during 1st-2nd. I'll give u a week and you'll get it.

 

the cobalts have sorry stock clutches.

 

these cars are not the easiest to shift right, but here are a couple mods that will limit/eliminate wheel hop and the rubber banding effect these cars are known for. I did the prothane front engine mount until I get some more serious money, it eliminated the rubber banding effect, and limited wheel hop (don't know yet if it eliminated, the snow is slippery) and it also made shifting oh so smooth, the downside is that at first this makes the car a little vibey, though it subsides to an idle only problem. The true solution to wheel hop, and I imagine since the problems are related, rubber banding, is rotated mounts, the name is deceiving, they rotate the powertrain in place to correctly distribute forces between the front and rear mounts. The first option is $30, the second is $300

the clutch in the f23s are actually quite good, but are a bit touchy, the culprit for this is more the orientation of the powertrain, not the clutch. I have tried to get mine to buck, now it refuses

 

I honestly don't think they are that bad . The biggest problem for the clutch is the transmission's gearing. In the SS/SC the difference between 1st and 2nd is too much, so to try and correct for that..... alot of people abuse the clutch to smooth out the shift .

If you give the 1st to 2nd shift alittle more time to let the RPM drop down, it will be smooth . Slipping the clutch will also smooth it out and IMHO really adds to tearing up these clutches. ............Well that and people power shifting into 2nd way to early after they spin in 1st . The car is still going to slow to be shifted to second but people still shift because they are pinging off the rev limiter cause 1st spins the tires so quickly.

 

this is not a good idea. that's basically using the clutch to make the shifts smoother, which is a nice way of saying burning the clutch. You should be on and off the clutch quickly. Basically, drive in first, push cluthc in quickly, hold it till the rpms drop, then let the clutch out quickly. slowly letting out the clutch on shifts - no good.

they don't have sorry clutches... many people just don't know how to drive, and no on wants to admit that. so they blame the clutch.

 

When I was learning the ins-and-outs of my TC, I found that at 2000RPM, the gear x 10 closely matched the speed.

So when you're shifting, expect:
20MPH=2nd Gear
30MPH=3rd Gear
40MPH=4th Gear
50MPH=5th Gear
...and you'll be at more or less 2K RPM everytime.

Your car may be different, but this was just a rough rule that helped me when I was first trying to get a feel for the car.

Addition:
I just thought about something else today too. In second gear (on a TC at least), your MPH match your revs. For example, 20MPH=2000RPM, 35MPH=3500RPM, 37MPH=3700RPM, etc... It makes downshift rev matching for turns and things a cinch with it like that.

 

Yeah, I've been messing around a lot today and find that if i shift at 3k and let the clutch out when the revs drop to around 2k in pretty much any gear, it's a pretty smooth transition. Now I just need to get better at starting out in first, haven't got that down as well as i'd like.