... on shifting.

I do alright. Still getting used to the new Fusion. My short-shift bracket is on it's way so that will makes shifts much more precise and 30% shorter according to steeda.

But anyway .. what's the secret to being as quick as possible with a manny trans? i'm not slow, but it just seems like there is something i don't know..

I'd say mainly just practice. Once you drive a manual for a while, you start to get faster at it and before you know it, you're making clean, fast shifts. That short throw kit will help.

That gearbox is a mess on the Fusion, it really is. Throws are rough and not precise whatsoever.

I'm excited for the short throw kit. A couple people on the Fusion Forums have installed it and they say the difference is night and day. So that should be sweet!

Practice, practice, practice. The best mod you can do to a car is a good Driver Mod.

Well, normal driving and shifting is real easy for me. But when I get on it and attempt quick shifts, i'm doin alright. But it just seems like there is room to improve. I think the short throw kit will help clean it up a lot though. But I've already got 1800 miles on it, and my shifts get smoother everyday.

you should also play around with the clutch and really feel out where it starts to grab. Since you don't always need to depress the clutch all the way, but of course you don't want to depress it too little. My dad could do rev matching and shift without a clutch, it's pretty amazing actually, he learned how to do it because when he was in the military he was a truck driver and part of the training was that he had to down shift without using the clutch WHILE the huge Russian GAZ truck rolled down hill, lol. But that's something you'd have to really master, lol.

Yeah, rowing gears isn't the hard part, the clutch work is. The more you drive it, the more you'll figure out exactly where the clutch engages and disengages. I know that I don't depress mine all the way anymore because it isn't needed.

AJ, I know that I've accidentally slipped mine out of gear without touching the clutch. It's pretty amazing how that works.

Ya, I've seen videos of that. At low rpms when the engine and trans speeds are the same, it enables you to perform a clutchless shift. Impractical for the most part, but kind neat.

I am still trying to get a good feel for the clutch. Usually, I don't push the pedal to the floor. A little further than 3/4 of the way down is sufficient from what I can tell. I think I finally have my seat positioned the way that works best. At first, that was a major issue.

And rev match downshifts are a lot of fun. Going from 5th to 2nd without a heavy jolt ... good stuff. Have you tried it before? It's a double clutch downshift without the double clutch, essentially. Every time I pass on a highway or something like that, I rev match instinctively now. That too is a feel thing, different for every engine. It makes that downshift to pass a breeze. Almost all of my friends with mannys don't rev match for a downshift and it's a pretty choppy ride with them to say the least :/

But I'm having a ball though with the Fusion. It's fairly quick for a 4 cyl. About 8 seconds to 60 with a clean 1st to 2nd, and I've heard of people running the 1/4 in the low - mid 16's pretty consistently. The car actually feels much much faster than it is. It's good fun.

The tires are rated for 120 mph, so the other day, me and my buddy grabbed his radar detector and searched for an empty stretch of interstate. Turns out the computer kicks in at 113 mph at 5000 rpm (redline at 6500). It definitely had a little more .. without the governor, I would say at least 120 due to wind resistance.

Yup, always do the rev match. In the Z it pretty much requires it, especially from third to second. It's especially fun in a car with a nice sounding exhaust.

Magnaflow has a nice cat-back system for the Fusion I4. It's not ricy at all. Very smooth. Actually sounds more like a V6.

I might look into it next summer, we'll see. Not too worried about it to be honest.

www.youtube.com/watch

Oh yes, always rev-match, lol. Mine does the pop and gurgle on downshifts when I rev-match, it's good fun :)

Quote: Tex

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Oh yes, always rev-match, lol. Mine does the pop and gurgle on downshifts when I rev-match, it's good fun :)

oooo, i'm jealous. Maybe when I get my exhaust done next summer, I will get that too :)