> > All right, class, pay attention. Let's say you are driving up hill and find that the gear you are in is too high and you are losing speed. To get into a lower gear smoothly, you push in the clutch and shift to neutral. You let the clutch back out and then you blip the gas a little to speed up the engine. With the clutch engaged, this also speeds up the gears in the transmission.
> > Then you push the clutch pedal back in, shift into the lower gear and get back on the gas. If you do it quickly and smoothly and bring the engine speed up just enough, the gears don't make a sound.
> > Actually, it takes a little practice, but it's not difficult and even if you miss it a little, you really just get some noise. Gears are tough.
> > I used to shift into low gear while moving just to impress my buddies. In those days, first gear wasn't syncronized. And they were really impressed because none of my buddies was the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. You can make it sound like a double clutch if you just leave the clutch in the whole time, but it won't work unless the transmission is fully syncronized.
> > Howard
>
> What is the benefit of this? Why don't you just downshift? I just push the clutch in, shift from 4th to 3rd, release the clutch and go. Have I been doing this wrong for the past umpteen years?
>
> -Faux "what's that grinding noise?" Pas

No, you haven't been doing it wrong. It's just that if you do it Howard's way by going through neutral with a touch of gas, the gearing is smoother. Dave (my Dave) says he's been doing this for years, having learned it by trial and error (and never knowing that this maneuver was called 'double-clutching.' It's especially good for going into Reverse. Hey, I learn something new every day.

What's interesting is Howard's use of the term 'synchro mesh'. Cool! Now there's a phrase you don't hear at all anymore, along with 'carburetor' (which has since been replaced entirely by fuel-injectors on today's autos). The reason being that there are no new cars made today that /don't/ have synchro trans and fuel-injection.

Wolfspirit