Drove my Series III for the first time have some questions

[moodhair]

This may seem like a rudimentary subject but I thought it might be appropriate. I drove my Series III by accident this past weekend and have a few questions. It is a RHD Manual 109 and I had not driven a manual in 20+ years.

If I understand it correctly you start the car out of gear with your foot on the brake and gas if needed,
When you shift you press down the clutch and shift the gear into either reverse or 1 and slowly take your foot off the clutch while holding your foot on the gas. I manage to start and even shift into 2nd gear fairly easy - but I may be thinking too much. Having never driven a series land rover - still trying to get a fill for how to shift accurately and not grind gears. Might be silly question .... but there are no bad questions right?

[I Leak Oil]

Sounds silly but practice shifting throught the gears in your driveway with the motor off. I did this as a kid(pretending I was a race car driver) and by the time I was ready to start driving lessons, a standard tranny was easy to learn!

[ArlowCT]

Shift slowly, take a second to pause in neutral before going into the next gear. Remember this trans was designed in the 30's and its no race car. I double clutch on the way up. Press clutch in, shift from first to neutral, release clutch and quickly press again, shift into second and release clutch. This helps the gears mesh and can be done very quickly with a bit of practice. Also make sure the trans is topped up with oil just in case you have one of those rovers that leaks!

[artpeck]

If your transmission and shifter is all tight and good shifting should be obvious. As well an S3 is fully syncromeshed so no issues requiring double clutching although doing so eases the burden on the tranny and clutch. That said a variety of things can make shifting less obvious. One common issue is that there is a ball on the tranny end of of the shift lever (in an S3 I believe it was nylon) that engages the gates in the tranny. Inevitably this ball breaks down or cracks off. When that happens shifting can become problematic as you can literally have the lever in one gear while the tranny is in the previous one. Since you didn't say if things were easy or hard, obvious or not so much not sure what you are experiencing. But if you occasionally or frequently feel like you can't find the gears start with the shift lever ball. Otherwise as I said it pretty straight forward.

[TeriAnn]

And your clutch should be fully released when your pedal is a couple inches off the floor. If it is not it may be still dragging when you are trying to shift and can cause grinding.

Can't give you any advice about transitioning from auto to clutch as I have never owned a car with an automatic transmission.

[REDrum]

As well an S3 is fully syncromeshed so no issues requiring double clutching although doing so eases the burden on the tranny and clutch

Not all are. For best results double clutch coming down thru the gears. (which I do in all manuals, since I learned to drive in a landy...) Both your sycros (if you have'm ) and driveline will love you for it.

[moodhair]

Thanks for the explanation on double clutch.. never knew what it was. Shifting isn't too bad - just me trying to get my feel for when to release the clutch and push the gas. I imagine it just takes practice.

[moodhair]

Since I am knew to "double clutching" is it recommended to do all the time?

[moodhair]

And your clutch should be fully released when your pedal is a couple inches off the floor. If it is not it may be still dragging when you are trying to shift and can cause grinding.

Can't give you any advice about transitioning from auto to clutch as I have never owned a car with an automatic transmission.

Thanks Teri - I'll be out this weekend tooling around again.. I'll let you know how it goes. I posted an entry on my blog that I keep for my car adventures (so as they are). It's at barryjags.com

[Partsman]

Thanks for the explanation on double clutch.. never knew what it was. Shifting isn't too bad - just me trying to get my feel for when to release the clutch and push the gas. I imagine it just takes practice.

It will lengthen the life of your clutch, and reduce the strain on the syncros in your transmission. All in all, it's a good practice to follow, and really becomes second nature.

[REDrum]

Since I am knew to "double clutching" is it recommended to do all the time?

Yes, once you get it, you've got it. It took my wife (then GF) 6 months to get it in our Subarus, now she double clutches everything, including me.... When we bought our first Series truck she just hopped in and drove it, no oh gosh or gear mashing.

[giftshopduane]

I have been teaching my daughter how to drive my SIII so she can enjoy it every now and then, so here goes my attempt at explaining it..

You have to use most of your senses when driving a stick, you will have to rely on your hearing quite a bit. I explain it like this to her. Its like buttering toast, if you jab at it it the knofe will tear the toast, if you use to little butter, not so enjoyable, but the the right amount of butter, pressure etc... then it just comes out nicely. I know its a silly.. but it makes sense in my head, you can apply it to many situations, shaving your face or what not, painting a wall, *** (not the example I was going to use..). Its like anything really, if you rush it and are ham fisted then your results will suck. You will have to match your rev's with the amount of clutch pedal you let up, luckily the Series motors have a decent amount of torque and a heavy flywheel. Try this:

sit in the driveway (pointing away from the house!) with the engine running, slowly let out the clutch with no gas and your foot on the brake, you will hear the engine note slowly drop in relation to the amount of pedal let out eventually it will stall (you are not required to stall it though) push the pedal back in. Practice this a few times and note when you hear the change, now try it without the brake, you will notice even without gas the truck will start rolling, you can if on a downhill or flat start driving away at this point (given the right circumstances) but this is never the case. So, now we add gas, at the point when you notice the engine speed start to drop you want to slowly and smoothly start to add gas, you don't really want to raise the RPM too much and race the motor, nor too little and start chugging and bucking the truck, just enough to keep the engine note slightly higher than at idle, with a soft foot let out the clutch more add a little gas and your on your way, if it starts bucking then too little gas and too clutch was let up too fast, if its starts bucking push the clutch in a little to settle the truck (and your nerves) then resume. Once on your way listen to the engine again when as speed increases so does the engine pitch, when it feels and sounds appropriate to shift to 2nd (this is up to you and practice listening) let off the gas, press the clutch pedal shift to second (don't panic just pull straight back) let out the clutch add some gas and get going (typically it is not necessary to add gas while you are letting out the clutch, once you are comfortable it does no good but shorten your clutch life..) 3rd and 4th same... worry about double clutching later. Downshifting is much of the same except you want to omit the gas part, just clutch grab a new gear and MODERATELY let out the clutch add some brake and start slowing, downshifting is not necessary to come to a full stop but will be when facing a hill or rounding a corner, get the upshifting first. Just remember to push the clutch in when you want to stop.. practice all this and you will be well on your way. Remember listen to your truck, it will tell you when its not right, this goes for mechanical issues as well.

If your grinding gears then you haven't pushed the clutch in all the way or you have some mechanical issues..

[Ray]

Youngest daughter learned to drive our SIII in the back field in 4WD Low range. That was a bit more forgiving with less tendency to stall....probably tougher on the half shafts, but she got it pretty quickly with less stalling at first. Her first exposure to a manual transmission.