Marsalis Simms

Hey guys,

Wasn’t sure what to post this under so feel free to move it to a specific section if need be. I know the manual variant of the Type-S is an “interesting” manual to drive compared to a lot of other vehicles; however after owning the car for a few months I still can’t seem to shift quickly without either slipping or it just not being smooth. I drove a couple friend’s manual cars (5.0 Mustang and a 350z) and surprisingly found those cars to be a lot easier to drive. Not comparing the TL to those performance wise as they are in a different class, just trying to see if anyone has any tips as this particular car is a bit strange to me.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

oh yeah, the TL is so hard to drive smoothly.
2006 6MT TL over here and it's such a hard car to master the shifts.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Agreed, the 3G TL 6MT is not an easy car to master from a shifting perspective, that said, I do find it a very rewarding car to drive and shift, much more rewarding than my former 2002 530i SP 5MT (which is the car Acura used as it's benchmark for the TL). If only, if only, if only... If only the 3G TL was RWD it would surpass my 530i as my favorite 4-Door sedan.

Marsalis Simms

Don’t get me wrong, I love this car as it is very fun/rewarding when you do get everything right. But it’s just difficult to get the most out of it because it feels like the clutch is working against you all the time lol idk if I may need to run some sort of different setup in the future for spirited driving or if I do take it to a track at any point.

jeffstlnote

I'm getting better with mine after not driving a manual for something like 20+ years lol. Probably doesn't help that I really don't drive the 6mt much maybe once a week or so. At first I was like...am I tearing this thing up?

Curious3GTL

Get rid of your delay valve and it makes the car much easier to shift.

jeffstlnote

I really wanna do ^this, but I'll admit I'm not very handy garage wise. Luckily I have a shop only 5 minutes away that I trust and use for everything I do. Silly question perhaps, but would they do or know what I'm talking about if I wanted that procedure done?

WDPanda

With the delay valve, i know how you feel.
Without the delay valve, it's literally easiar for me to drive than most other cars (and i have driven many manuals)

Marsalis Simms

Yeah I already did the valve delete and it helped a lot. But it’s still a bit of a challenge. Who knows, maybe I just need to find some empty back roads or something one day and try to figure it out I don’t do too much spirited driving around town as I don’t want additional speeding tickets 😂

DMZ

It took me only about a week so to after taking delivery 17 years ago to get the hang of this shifter, after coming off an '89 Accord SE-i with a 5MT. Also, changing out the trans fluid for the GM/AC Delco stuff helped dramatically.

6MT
.
.

Curious3GTL

Possibly? You're technically modifying the car as your taking something out of the slave cylinder. I bought a new slave cylinder and took the delay valve out and swapped it out for the old one.

You don't have to be randy at all to delete the delay valve from the slave cylinder. I would do that yourself and have the mechanic swap them.

Marsalis Simms

Yeah I put AC Delco in not long ago; it definitely helped a lot

Marsalis Simms

it’s pretty simple to do, and there’s easy write ups on here. I did it myself and only took about 20 mins, and it only took that long due to the OG slave being older and that little clip wouldn’t budge free lol

zeta

iTrader: (1)

^
Although I had grown-up with driving manual transmission cars (ie VW's; Porsche etc ), when I purchased my CL-S6 in 2002 it was so quiet!
I found it very helpful in getting the 'jist' of each manual tranny / clutch combo I've owned by opening up the exhaust, so that I could aurally fine tune the synchrony of shifting much better through the powerband. YMMV

Marsalis Simms

Yeah the Type-S is like dead silent, so I did plan on getting an exhaust here in the next couple months as I figured that will help. Can’t hear shit unless you have the radio off.

Curious3GTL

Hey, where in Raleigh did you get that done? I need to do it too, I have the fluid, but don't have the tools right now to get it done.

jeffstlnote

So in a nutshell..buy the new slave cylinder, do the delete myself... take it to my "guy/shop" and pretty much say....put this in please. I regret not spending anytime in the garage during high school or college. I played division II baseball in college, and during that time my car was just meh my car. Always highly appreciate the advice here boys...

FancyHonda

Yeah man, I completely feel you. I've driven a lot of different manuals, and the TL is definitely not the easiest to drive and shift smoothly. Most of the BMW manuals I've owned (e28, e30, e31, e36, e39) were a lot easier to drive smoothly and felt a lot more natural in the cadence of shifting.

Despite the TL being difficult, I actually do get people who say that it's rewarding.. I'm be inclined to agree, but my car is also heavily modified in this regard. I've said that I'm going to post a large thread said mods at some point but I am giving my word it will be soon.

A tip I received from a mechanic once for driving any manual car is to treat each shift as two distinct motions - from the current gear to neutral and from neutral to the next gear. I'm not talking about delaying your shifting at all, just making sure that you treat each gear/gate as a separate motion.

Marsalis Simms

The fluid? I just had my friend take care of it as he works at a shop. If you want I can have him change it out for you, he doesn't charge much. Can just PM me and we can coordinate a time and I can get an exact dollar amount if you're interested; Sundays usually work best for him. He is in Durham, not sure where in Raleigh you're located.

Marsalis Simms

Yeah I'm not sure what to do with it really, I'll just keep toying with it and practice some I guess. Love the car, but idk what Honda was thinking setting it up the way they did lol I mean, i get it's a more "luxury" oriented vehicle but still

awoc

Mine shifts great and quick! A lot of it has to do with the long throw sloppy shifter, the damping of the clutch master cylinder, and the rubber bushings of the shifter cables.
I replaced the shifter with a short one one. I had one I made a few years back and installed it.
I machined some shifter bushings, and replaced the rubber ones.
I changed the master cylinder to the EM2 Civic.
Removed damper in slave cylinder.

I'll try to dig up some pics.

Marsalis Simms

I have heard that these things do correct it to an extent. I actually read up on FancyHonda's recent post in regards to his current drivetrain setup and these were mentioned. I wasn't even aware the master cylinder had another one of those valves in it, so I'll probably pick that up soon. I might give this setup a try before I go all-out and switch from dual-mass to single.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

All the things mentioned but also take a look at your clutch pedal and adjust throw if necessary...it's self adjusting but still.
I had short shitfer, delrin shift bushings, checkvalve delete etc...TL was always finicky and requires a lot of attention to drive smoothly.
Nature of that car IMO...S2000 on the other hand is very natural...just flows...even my S5 is smooth and easy.

You'll get the hang of it.

Marsalis Simms

I'll have to take a look at this as well. Yeah the car is just weird in general; again I love it but it can definitely be improved drivability wise. I'll take a look at this soon as I plan to start doing said modifications within the next week or so. Did you go with CT's short shifter?

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Yes sir, but if I may...
placement of the shifter in relation to the gears wasn't the issue...it was clutch release smoothly, primarily in 1st.
That won't improve with shorter throws since it's not like I was missing gears.

Marsalis Simms

I got ya. Yeah I knew as much, I mainly just wanted to get the short throw to see if I like it. I wouldn't mind a shorter throw but I don't necessarily dislike the stock throw either. Just wanted to see if it was a better fit. For the clutch and such I just plan on going from a dual mass to single and probably going with a recommended clutch from threads here. Nothing crazy though, as this will still be a daily driver that'll only be used for spirited driving on occasion.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I originally had a spec stage 2+ on my last TL...it was rough...it was replaced with luk stock equivalent and a lightweight fw, I think...
It was reasonably easy to drive smoothly but I practiced a lot too. As I get older there are a lot of mods that get moved from must have
to maybe
On the Audi supposedly a short throw is a must have but part of what I love about the S5 is how rubbery and loose the shifting feels...for a
daily I actually don't care for it to be super tight and crisp.

Marsalis Simms

That's kind of where I'm at on the short throw; I don't really push my car often and am not sure if I'll enjoy it on a daily basis. For the fw I think it's AASCO? they make a lightweight aluminum one I believe; I don't think it's a stage 2 or anything like that though. For the clutch, I'm just going with XLR8's "Street kit" or whatever it is. I don't plan on putting a lot of power into it yet, so I don't see a need for any performance variants for either. Drivability over performance IMO.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

that's the way, man...
gotta be a pleasure to drive.
The way I determine a good manual car is that I don't think about what I'm doing when I'm driving...that means it's all flowing naturally

Marsalis Simms

I agree 100%. I never find myself just relaxing and subconsciously shifting with this car, which is what I'm trying to achieve

FancyHonda

This train of thought really puts to words what I didn't like about driving my TL initially - it took a lot of mental effort and thought to shift it smoothly.

Marsalis Simms

Yeah that's kind of why I'm thinking of just pulling the trigger on changing the setup entirely; cuz despite my enjoyment of the car as is I REALLY do not enjoy it's current one.

CasuallyHung

Recently started driving my 6spd type s almost daily this past month and I feel what you mean. Sometimes my shifts are smooth and car doesnt jerk, sometimes I feel like the clutch engagement point is at different places and I am slipping the clutch. I know my clutch is still good and like to think it is engaging and disengaging fine. Just sometimes these weird shifts make me worried lol

Curious3GTL

That's just the car. I have given up trying to get my 1-2 shift smoothly all time and have just accepted sometimes it's going to jerk.

2.2Lude

A lot of the the suggestions in this thread will help but only to a certain extent.
The real "issue" with shifting these cars smoothly lies in the DBW(drive by wire) system. Tuning with Flashpro makes the largest difference for DBW Honda/Acura's.
My tuner first informed me about this and I have since experienced the before and after difference on two separate cars. My own 06 TSX tuned with Ktuner, then Flashpro and again on a buddies 07 S2k(06+ are DBW).

After tuning both cars were worlds easier to drive in terms of smooth shifting feel but they were still unable to match the smoothness of older cable driven TB cars. If that is what you are chasing unfortunately it is unattainable according to people much smarter than me.