6 ms·

I guess if your engine has enough torque you can get going in first with zero additional throttle... But having driven some serious clunkers myself, a lot of sm

I guess if your engine has enough torque you can get going in first with zero additional throttle... But having driven some serious clunkers myself, a lot of small engines cannot even get the vehicle going without adding a little throttle while letting out the clutch, and just stall.

sokoloff 4y ago
On level ground? If you could push the car, you ought to be able to get it started rolling without throttle. You just have to be willing to be abusive in slipping the clutch, which is fine for the short time you'll do while learning.
nsxwolf 4y ago
I had an 85 Honda Prelude and 88 Honda CRX and they both needed a little gas when you let off the clutch from a standstill or they’d die. My 2000 Miata could make it, but it would lurch and complain loudly.
- jjav 4y ago
  To be clear, you don't let the clutch out for this exercise, that would indeed cause lurching or stalling. The idea is to very slowly feather it in and out at the edge of friction to transmit just enough power to slowly get going smoothly. I have an 88 CRX, it can easily get going with clutch alone.
  - nsxwolf 4y ago
    Mine was the “HF” model, which I think had less horsepower than the base or “Si” models. Could have been the difference?
    - lostlogin 4y ago
      It would seem more likely that you just don’t ride the clutch (usually a good thing). If you let it out fast you’d get a lurch, but letting it out as slowly as you can and sacrificing a bit of clutch would surely get the car moving slowly, whatever the power. Though if it isn’t flat, it wouldn’t work. More power or heavier flywheel would probably help.
invalidator 4y ago
In the old days, the idle was only controlled by a simple mechanical adjustment which lets through a fixed amount of air, which means the engine makes a roughly fixed amount of power. When you let out the clutch, the revs would drop a lot, each stroke would get more air so the torque would come up some, but it's fundamentally an open-loop system and didn't do a great job when tested like this. Newer cars have better engine computers which have made this a lot easier. In a modern engine the computer controls the idle air supply. It also can control the ignition timing, which provides very fast feedback. Between those, if you're careful feathering, the revs will drop a bit at first but the ECU will quickly bring on some more power to compensate.
jjav 4y ago
> I guess if your engine has enough torque you can get going in first with zero additional throttle... An engine with lots of torque at idle is actually the worst for this learning exercise as it makes it too easy. Any small 4 cylinder that I've had the chance to drive can easily get going without throttle if you're careful enough with the clutch play. Of course it makes no sense to drive like this for real but as an exercise in learning how to feather the clutch, it's great.

sokoloff 4y ago

On level ground? If you could push the car, you ought to be able to get it started rolling without throttle. You just have to be willing to be abusive in slipping the clutch, which is fine for the short time you'll do while learning.

nsxwolf 4y ago

I had an 85 Honda Prelude and 88 Honda CRX and they both needed a little gas when you let off the clutch from a standstill or they’d die. My 2000 Miata could make it, but it would lurch and complain loudly.

jjav 4y ago
To be clear, you don't let the clutch out for this exercise, that would indeed cause lurching or stalling. The idea is to very slowly feather it in and out at the edge of friction to transmit just enough power to slowly get going smoothly. I have an 88 CRX, it can easily get going with clutch alone.
- nsxwolf 4y ago
  Mine was the “HF” model, which I think had less horsepower than the base or “Si” models. Could have been the difference?
  - lostlogin 4y ago
    It would seem more likely that you just don’t ride the clutch (usually a good thing). If you let it out fast you’d get a lurch, but letting it out as slowly as you can and sacrificing a bit of clutch would surely get the car moving slowly, whatever the power. Though if it isn’t flat, it wouldn’t work. More power or heavier flywheel would probably help.

invalidator 4y ago

In the old days, the idle was only controlled by a simple mechanical adjustment which lets through a fixed amount of air, which means the engine makes a roughly fixed amount of power. When you let out the clutch, the revs would drop a lot, each stroke would get more air so the torque would come up some, but it's fundamentally an open-loop system and didn't do a great job when tested like this. Newer cars have better engine computers which have made this a lot easier. In a modern engine the computer controls the idle air supply. It also can control the ignition timing, which provides very fast feedback. Between those, if you're careful feathering, the revs will drop a bit at first but the ECU will quickly bring on some more power to compensate.

jjav 4y ago

> I guess if your engine has enough torque you can get going in first with zero additional throttle... An engine with lots of torque at idle is actually the worst for this learning exercise as it makes it too easy. Any small 4 cylinder that I've had the chance to drive can easily get going without throttle if you're careful enough with the clutch play. Of course it makes no sense to drive like this for real but as an exercise in learning how to feather the clutch, it's great.