Manual transmission Fan Club and BS thread (All Generations Welcome)

I'm 6'5". I feel like I have plenty of room. I don't even have the seat all the way back.

 

I can understand that. Maybe the shared brake - clutch reservoir warmed up faster due to brake application but that wouldn’t explain the scenario when it’s cold and the vehicle is just started before being moved or use of the brakes.
Basically I think Toyota screwed up and foresaw individuals in cold climates adding engine heaters.
Thanks for the post
Dannyblues

 

I usually let my 2008 warm up in the winter till the engine temp reads 120°. The transmission shifts smoother when I do

 

I should have driven the frontier before getting my Tacoma, but I let my emotions of getting into a 12 year old truck get to me. I always felt something was off. I am always struggling to keep up with normal traffic and in order to do so I really have to push it and hold gears longer than I'm used to. Then there's the long throw of the clutch and high catch point, but eh, I can get used to that.

Then my wife started driving and said, wtf, why is it so hard to drive and why do I have to rev higher and longer to stay with the traffic.. nah.. didn't want to believe her.

Then the clutch started making noise and got the pedal and assembly replaced through warranty, no issues. The creaking sound is gone.

I also have a 86 landcruiser straight 6 Diesel and that beautiful beast is slow.. my Tacoma is better, but not too far off.

I would like to test drive another manual Tacoma, but can't seem to find them or if I find one it's at a dealer out in the boonies.

So I decided to get in a frontier pro-4x. That's the trim with a manual left in a 500 mile search.
The clutch in the frontier is shorter and the catch point is low. Hmmmm.. ok, how does it fare in street traffic? I didn't have to try to hard to stay with traffic, it was a completely different feel. That's when I had my oh shit, I fucked up moment. Oh well..
The Tacoma has everything going for it, size, style, ergonomics, features (although most are subjective) and this is the engine and transmission they give us.
Some friends have commented, it's a truck, drive it like one. Umm.. No, this is not normal IMO, the 2nd gens seem to glide in traffic like any other car without having to push it so hard.

Rant over. Thank for reading.

 

Dude, where did you find that photo of me from my teenage years?

 

I finally figured out why I like this manual transmission so much, now that I know a little more about this 3.5L "Atkinson cycle" engine.

This engine has multiple personalities. I can tiptoe on the gas and upshift as much as possible, keeping rpms low and really squeeze out some gas mileage. Or, I can drive the crap out of it and keep the rpms in the magically powerful 3000-4000 range and just rampage! I suppose this is obvious and maybe just a reason to like manuals and not this truck in particular. Still, it seems like this engine's 2 personalities are much more accessible with the manual from what I can tell.

 

BillyToy - You nailed it! I keep trying to tell the group that owning a Taco with an AT is giving away a huge amount of the driving experience! If you are satisfied with having a computer replace you ....Fine, but don't gripe about it!

 

and some of us got the Orange Virus ECU tune to bring these two personalities together and make them one. non-linear unpredictable throttle and power delivery isn't at all why i bought a manual truck speaking for myself

 

I was following along on that thread - I don't really mind my truck as much as a lot of guys seem to - but figured if the tune works as advertised I'd give it a rip once it settled into a release version. Then I saw that it requires $900 of my US dollars and bought a season ski pass and winterized my boat instead. I can be patient until it comes down to a reasonable price and let all the early adopters work out the kinks before I try it. THe thing I'd really like to give someone my money for is a software solution to a 2Lo Mod for us manual transmission guys towing heavy in hill country. The OV guys hinted at one back in the beginning of the year but there is nothing on the website and my PM went unanswered. I've worked it all out in my head as to what I need to butcher doing it the old fashioned way but I really don't want to do that if a little canbus hacking can do the same thing w/o me operating a wire cutter.

 

Not to mention it doesn't do shit for MPG's.. Speaking for myself, avg 15.8MPG whether I deal with the Atkinson crap or go rev happy all the time.

 

That'd be nice. I'm not sure on third gens, but in second gens our reverse ratio sucks balls. Trying to back up under any sort of load and I smell clutch afterwards. Just backing onto some leveling blocks I have to put it in 4lo

 

I'd love a 2lo mod!

 

do people actually buy a $700+ tune for mpg's? can't imagine. i got it for the driving. this motor & tranny combo is actually pretty great and stout if the tuning is on point, tons of fun actually. the factory tune is the worst i've ever experienced. there was no fun, no power, and worse of all no predictability with the factory tune, at least in the context of how i drive.

 

Only people who are both gullible and bad at math

 

interesting. I wish I could drive one that has been tuned so I could get a feel for the difference

 

any chance you're local to me?

 

Oregon

 

I'm right off I80 for when you travel between SLC and Reno....

 

Sweet. Hit u up next time we do Tahoe

 

Road trip!