Clutch Pedaless Shifting
Clutch Pedaless Shifting
(OP)
Im working on a Hewland NLT transmission and am thinking of removing the hydraulic clutch pedal and trying for all electronic-controlled shifting. Im having trouble finding documentation on the subject. Does anyone know in racing setups how this kind of system works? For example, how might you know the clutch is displaced before the computer shifts? Thanks
RE: Clutch Pedaless Shifting
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Clutch Pedaless Shifting
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: Clutch Pedaless Shifting
Regards
Pat
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RE: Clutch Pedaless Shifting
I had a 4 speed Volkswagen when in college and when I would get a girl out on a date that I knew knew how to drive a stick shift, and especially one whose father had done a good job of teaching her a lot about cars, I would get to a point where I was in tight traffic where I had to do a lot of rapid up shifting and down shifting, all of which I would be doing without a clutch of course when I would ask her, 'what is that third pedal over there on the left for?' with the question being timed for an occasion when a shift or two was required and as she looked at the clutch pedal, I'd make the shifts without it.
Invariably, she'd say something like, well, you have to use that when you shift the gears at which time I'd grab another gear (without it, of course) and answer, no you don't, I just shifted and I didn't use it. Usually, I'd have another shift timed for just about when I finished that sentence too. I got a wide variety of reactions, most of which I enjoyed thoroughly. I don't know what their fathers told them when they got back home and asked about it.
I trained drivers for a church with a coach sized bus with sticks (4, 5, 6, and 7 speeds) which required double clutching if the clutch were to be used, and I often found it easier to teach them how to shift without using the clutch at all, and when they mastered that and the speed matching that it required, then teach them how to use the clutch to make the shifts.
On an 18 wheeler that I once owned that had a 14 speed transmission, in the lower range, the first 5-6 speeds, it was much faster to just pump the fuel pedal rapidly and move the stick through the gear pattern about as fast as you could move it than to try to pump the clutch pedal each time along with it. I taught several "old truckers" who still drive today how to do it.
I've had several people say "well you can't do that in this vehicle" but I haven't found the one I can't yet. For some reason Fords tend to be a little more difficult than the others to shift like this, but not impossible once you get the feel and learn their quirks.
rmw
And PS: The girl whose dad had trained her well to get her oil changed, etc, did come looking for me when I asked her if he had mentioned about changing the air in her tires. She went home and ask him about it. He reminded me of that for years after when I would see him from time to time, but I digress, that has nothing to do with trannies.
RE: Clutch Pedaless Shifting
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Clutch Pedaless Shifting
As a side note when we built gearboxes with a gear lever we would life the gears by eye -as in if they had wear they were changed. When the "auto" box was introduced we had to life the gears with mileage as the dog wear was virtually non existant.
When gear shifting is this quick it almost negates the need to drop engine load momentarily.
ps i was a techy not an engineer so cant give specific timings etc.
Tony