Date:         Wed, 22 Jan 1997 13:24:11 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Tony Moore" <tony@moorelab.com>
Subject:      Fw: Shifting, No Clutch

I regret to AGREE! I've been forced to do this in a beetle, an air-cooled
vanagon, and (sorry) an old toyota station wagon. Not recommended, but if
you have to, you have to :-(

tony

----------
> From: ERIC ZENO <emz@pgh.nauticom.net>
> To: Multiple recipients of list <vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu>
> Subject: Re: Shifting, No Clutch
> Date: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 1:13 PM
> 
> 
> On Wed, 22 Jan 1997 mac.chen@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> 
> > A little while ago, my clutch slave cylinder failed and due to the 
> > location and the time (Washington DC at 1 am) I decided to take a 
> > carefully planned route to a safe haven, cranking over in second and 
> > actually making it there without having to stop (or shift).  I 
> > mentioned this to some people I work with and a few mentioned they 
> > "knew people" (don't they always?) who shifted their manual trannys 
> > without using the clutch just by cranking over in gear and just jamming

> > the lever in for the upshifts. 
>    (snip)
> 
>     It's easier then you may think. I drove a car home across 3 state
>     with no clutch. Start it in 1st gear. When ready to shift, apply
>     a constant GENTILE presser to the shifter and let off the gas.
>     It will come right out of gear, and jump right into the next gear
>     as the RPM's of the motor fall thru the speed of the next gear. The
>     only problem is stopping. As you approtch a stop, make sure you
>     pull it out of gear before the RPM's drop. If you  don't there is
>     no other way to stop other then turning off the motor!
> 
>                     Good luck Eric Zeno