"Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer" (dash-doorhandle-and-bondo)
01/21/2016 at 09:28 • Filed to: None
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"Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer" (dash-doorhandle-and-bondo)
01/21/2016 at 09:28 • Filed to: None | 3
| 17 |
About the manual only business....
I’ve driven nothing but stick for 20+ years. I’m something of a car enthusiast but I’ve also been frequently dirt poor, so my kind of car ( old shitbox with hatch), is usually available with the manual feature. My first car was a 5 speed beercan. when that got bent and I needed a car I went looking for a Chevette. They were plentiful at the time so I had a quick read of the newspaper classifieds (only the 5 richest kings of europe had the internet at this time).
Later that day I was driving a red 81 Acadian 2 door 4 speed for the princely sum of $400 Canadian Dollars. It was even shiny. It was also a total piece of shit, the charm of these cars comes with the don’t give a shit factor. They’re basically indestructable and will run badly longer than better cars will even run. Any way, my Point being that Having a clutch lets you continue to drive a car that shouldn’t even run but does.
I’m past the point of getting away that sort of thing. I needed a car, a sensible shoes kind of car. I bought A 2010 Vibe, first manual wagon there was. Manual, hatch 4 tires, I’ll take it! It’s a super stripper base model, crank windows, manual locks, a/c delete! TPMS delete. As I claim a disdain for creature comforts, I’m okay with that. It was a standard, I’d learn to love the boring colour and anything else.
So what don’t I like about this car? THE MANUAL TRANSMISSION! Not that I’d have gone with the 1.8 auto. Through a combination of numb, cable actuated shifting, traction control (I’m Canadian, I know how to slide any Pontiac around thank you very much) and a drive by wire gas pedal that seems set up for the automatic driver. It’s a good car that’s not much fun to run through the gears. It seems to shift 3-5 better than 3-4, and there’s a slight delay to the throttle response that makes downshifting clunky and goes against 20 years of muscle memory. I realize it’s not a sports car, and not even the sporty version of a mundane car. I needed something newer, reliable, easy on fuel and capable of family car duties. The stick was the only thing I was treating myself to and it’s really the only thing keeping the vibe from being a great car in my eyes.
My friend with a 6 speed Vibe GT says it’s the cables, My trucker friend says you can talk to your ecm and adjust the delay. Anyone out there know these cars? I want to love it, it could be my Batmobile, But the one thing I wanted in a car seems to be it’s weak point. I can drive stick, once it’s moving I can run from first to fifth and back down to first without using the clutch. I ‘ve had an old car with a crash first gear. My grandpa taught me to double clutch and rev match just like the army taught him. And I remember the day in 1981 when both my dad and Grandpa bought 81 Reliants, Dad’s was a 2 door 4 speed, and Grandpas was a 4 door auto. I remember asking about the column shift, and why he wasn’t shifting it. He drove me around, pointing out the thumps and that the car was shifting itself. Both sides of the family were in the Honda/Datsun camp at the time so I’d never seen an Automatic at this point. I’m really the only gearhead, but my people prefer practical transportation and grabbing their own gears.
Any suggestions, tips and tricks would be appreciated.
AkursedX
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 09:33 |
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Yeah, bad linkages can suck away the fun of a manual transmission quite easily.
One time I had to drive a Saturn Vue with a manual transmission and I swear that linkage was built with twigs and rubber bands.
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Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
> AkursedX
01/21/2016 at 09:39 |
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I know those saturns, they had plastic fittings on the end of the cables known to fail, Saturns actually shifted quite nicely, until you broke the plastic bits, so there are lots out there with boogered together linkages not secured back down properly.
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AkursedX
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 09:41 |
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That was probably the case as it was a pile of junk with almost 200k miles if I remember correctly.
UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 09:45 |
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Having only driven manuals since I got my license, I swear if I don't get a decent manual soon I will be pushed to a ZF equipped car or DCT. Something about the recession era GM transmissions. I have a 2009 Cobalt and the manual is atrocious. Driving my old 2002 Cavalier with 175000 on the original clutch (my dad has it now) feels like a sports car compared to the 'Balt.
RazoE
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 09:49 |
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I know on the IS300, you can add a spacer on the gas pedal to “pre-load.” Try it on your Vibe (a ‘Yota in disguise)
TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW!
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 09:50 |
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A Chevy (Pontiac if your from Canada) will run like shit longer than most other cars will run...
I don’t know where I heard it, but man it is true. Nice to see another $400 CAD car enthusiast here...
I had about 5 of them in a row...
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Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
> RazoE
01/21/2016 at 09:52 |
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will look into that, was disapointed in Toyota over this, my 85 Toyota is the nicest shifting vehicle any of my friends have ever driven.
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Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
> TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW!
01/21/2016 at 09:54 |
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me too, awful cars, love them. They’re nearly extinct now, but I bet most of them drove to the crusher under their own power.
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TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW!
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 09:58 |
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Most of them. I ended up selling the best one, a 1998 4 door Neon Highline with a stick. It was super clean when I bought it, and beside someone backing into the drivers door, it was still in great shape. I only sold it because I bought my first “Nice” car. A 2004 SRT-4. I still miss that neon, and the DGAF attitude it exuded... I mean it would have killed me in Any accident, but it was only $400.
Justin Hughes
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 10:28 |
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Same with the S series. A friend and I took my SL2 to Carlisle when his broke, and entered it in the time trial event. As he started his practice run, the shift linkage detached and he was stuck in neutral.
He rolled back down the hill and off the course. Then a horde of Saturn enthusiasts descended on my car, tore out the center console, repaired it, and reassembled it in time for him to squeeze in his practice run. I couldn’t even get near my own car to help repair it!
Here’s my second place run after the repair. I beat everyone except a modified Eclipse in a mostly stock Saturn SL2.
TTercel
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 10:56 |
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Check out ToyotaNation.com they are usually very helpful with this stuff. You won’t be able to change any of the ecu setting unfortunately. Toyota ECUs are pretty much uneditable. The alternative would be those sprint boxes that increase the response of your gas pedal.
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Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
> Justin Hughes
01/21/2016 at 13:12 |
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Saturns are groovy little cars, had a 5 speed twin cam wagon, loved it!
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Justin Hughes
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 13:30 |
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Those things are like unicorns. None of the soccer mom wagon drivers wanted to shift their own gears. That’s partly why I snagged this one.
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Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
> Justin Hughes
01/21/2016 at 13:35 |
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Was hard to find.
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Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/21/2016 at 17:59 |
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wagon wouldn’t have held the road like that! Strut towers in the back of a wagon= really flexy car. Was not designed to be a wagon, my favourite Saturn by far though.
Jonee
> Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
01/22/2016 at 01:27 |
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I don’t know how to help, but I wanted to say I enjoyed the read. I used to have an ‘03 Matrix with a stick and I thought that car shifted fine. It thunked into gear pretty satisfyingly. I’m also a former Chevette owner. I’ll never forget the turning radius on those things.
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Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
> Jonee
01/22/2016 at 15:10 |
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found lots of play in the shitfer end of the cables, not broken, just not very good. Thanks for reading, once I get some old photos from windows to show up on my chromebook, I’ll have lots of project car stuff and fixit nightmares to share.