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

Yeah, that price is way too high. That's why I didn't even consider buying that one. Well that, and because it's black.
We just traded my wife's black Acura for a new white Highlander in February.
The Acura was a beautiful car when it was clean, but boy was it a bitch to keep clean. Never again.

 

I generally like a white vehicle after years of only red or black but the TRD in white was that refrigerator white and didn't go with the trim. I just saw my first Lincoln truck, in white. It was kinda creamy white. And with the perfect trim to match. It was a beauty.

Way back I owned a 1961 Plymouth in white with a red interior. It looked magnificent. I kept it mint in and out. I was constantly stopped so people could really look at it. Even then in 1972 it was old and out of style but the engine was a 318 cu in v8 w/ 2 barrel carb and single exhaust plus it's unique push button drive controls ( that always fell into the area under the dashboard. I got so good at reinstalling them I could do it just waiting for the red light to change )

Bottom line. My black Tacoma is hard to keep clean and requires a delicate hand when polishing or waxing but I think I like black the best of all the current choices. Just my opinion of course Dannyblues

 

I'd think you have way more hp to the wheels than that. But you know WAY more than I'll ever know about that. Dannyblues

 

Stock 2nd gens are only at about 196ish to the wheels. I'm probably 350ish at the crank, but you lose a good chunk of power getting it to the wheels. The blower only adds 60hp at the crank. That smaller pulley only adds 15-20 hp AT THE CRANK. Not 40 to the wheels lol. Currently I have no true tuner other than the Toyota ECU reflash. The blower comes with larger injectors already, so unless dude went down to say a 2.5 pulley (which he didnt) larger injectors at this point would be retarded lol. And hes got an auto IIRC. Not regeared. Ugh. I could go on and on about that dude and his discrepancies, but I'll stop lol. Don't believe everything you see on youtube lol, everyone wants to be a star.

 

Again ... Wow!! I only understand about half of what you just posted. I know more about points and distributors and four barrel carbs and advancing timing by moving the distributor. I know the 57 Chevy 283 v8 and mostly that entire car by heart as well as everything on my 1988 Harley superglide but all this electronic stuff and all these new mods put together by not just a backyard mechanic like me but by guys like you who are really mechanical engineers.

You know I suspected something was fishy with that guy ( and really amazed you know who I'm talking about understanding his whole build ) BECAUSE everything he had done was done by Toyota themselves, not himself.

I guess I too could go online and learn to buy and pay someone to install all the high performance items I gave them off the Internet.

I remember in the distant past a friend with a 265 V8 with three speed on the column that he paid a mechanic to relocate to the floor. He took it to the dragstrip then put big slicks on it. The first run with stock tires that little v8 was a fast high revving pass. Next with the slicks he redlined it as the Christmas tree came to green and dumped the ckutch. He didn't move an inch. Twisted the driveshaft right off.

So he went out and bought everything high performance he ever heard of : 427 inch engine, two four barrels, cam, headers with dumpers and big twin exhaust pipes, and threw it all together into his grey primed only 55 Chevy AND now he had the power to break those big slicks loose. He even ran cheater slicks daily in the street. I was in that car. Engine was too big for the engine compartment and it ran so hot you sweat your ass off on the black roll and pleat imitation leather seats.

Well he took this big hot noisey beast to the track and it turned out to be a pig.
Pound for pound and cubic inch for cubic inch in comparison his old 265 cu in three speed was actually faster than that second monster he built with friends. He even had a Chevy dealer shop put the engine together with the parts he added then they installed it.

Long story short: I learned then that you can't just spend a lot of money and buy every new high performance parts out there and throw them all together and come out a winner. You have to know the engineering behind all that stuff. Wrong cam? Wrong timing? Radiator too small. Wrong gearing. Wrong tranny. Wrong tires. Weight. Brakes inadequate. That I remember because that beast couldn't stop. Since then I realized I personally lack the technical experience to modify anything unless I have the benefit of a real engineers help and that often less is more.
Please keep sharing your knowledge. I'll probably have to research most of what you said but I enjoy learning. At 67 it keeps me young. Dannyblues

 

P. S. I use Shell nitro 93 premium gas in my stock 3.5 L TRD sport Tacoma. My thinking may be wrong but the owners manual states use 87 octane gas OR HIGHER. With 11:1 compression I figure that's surely high enough to burn premium efficiently.

That shell 93 premium is independently proven along with shell engineers to have more detergents and additives to keep a new engine clean as new. Even an older engine can benefit by using only one tankful that will remove 65% of all the built up crud in injectors and valves and cylinders and pistons.

I get only 1 more mpg with premium and as far as I know every gas station here in Connecticut has up to 15% ethanol added. I've heard there are fuels available in some places that do not use any ethanol blends but I dont know who or where those fuel suppliers are yet.

I pay $3.09 per gallon for shell 93 premium vs $2.19 for BJ's regular 87. Is it worth it to get 1 mpg more? Yes I think so in the long run. I hope to save a lot of money on repairs down the road.

This is only my opinion. But if a knock sensor can adjust for a lower octane fuel why can't an engine with high compression like the 11:1 in my Tacoma be able to efficiently burn premium 93 with all the electronic sensors and ECU etc recognizing the higher octane fuel

Surely this is my own theory and I welcome any truly informed engineer with more education in this matter than me to advise me and others on this site to correct or agree with me ( hopefully in a manner I can understand) Thanks Dannyblues

 

Haha its all good man! I'm no where near an expert on these trucks. But what I do know about them, I know well and have first hand experience in, and do not hesitate to share that knowledge with others! Engine wise I couldnt tell you the first thing about the internals, but I'm learning about it from others on here that do have that knowledge and hope to upgrade my truck for more HP in the future. And then someday when I finally grenade the 4.0, Im thinking an LS swap in the 500hp-600hp non aspirated kind is going to happen.

My Dad taught me the basics of mechanical tinkering and maintenance on stuff which led me towards my career in the Navy doing the same thing at an industrial scale and then on to my current job now. I have zero formal training in vehicle maintenance or work, but I've watched enough people do it/watched you tube videos to attempt stuff myself and have self taught myself how to do most installs/maintenance on the vehicle. Mostly due to getting screwed by dealerships forced me to learn. Once you realize 90% of everything on the truck comes down to bolts and nuts, suspension and engine work become pretty easy. Its the electronic crap that always grinds my gears, thats why I have eletrician friends

 

Where can i find a premium fuel that doesn't have up to 15 % ethanol in Connecticut. I live in New Milford Ct, northwestern part of the state.

I'll have to check if the Shell nitro premium 93 octane fuel contains the up to 15% ethanol blend that I use almost exclusively. ( it's the best proven top tier detergent additive fuel on the market ) Dannyblues

 

There was a thread a while back where someone did an actual dyno and several tanks of gas comparing the difference between 87 and 91 and they found a 1-2mpg difference and something like 4-9 horsepower at the wheel difference. They tried to keep all the same standards during the dyno. On my previous tacoma I could feel a difference in my butt dyno between 87 and 91. Ill toss in some octane booster every once in a blue moon to give me a little more pep, but I dont really need it

 

Dood, check out http://www.pure-gas.org

Shows locations that serve 0% ethanol

Hopefully some in your area

 

For CT http://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=CT

 

You're not kidding! Those electronics and programming crap drove me towards early retirement. I was a Pepsi mechanic for 32 years. Vending machines, fountain systems, refrigeration mechanic and Coors beer plumber. I love wood so I became a woodcarver as a hobby. Love building and fixing so I stripped and renovated an entire bathroom then redid all the plumbing in my house plus electric service upgrades. Built closets and installed and repaired appliances. I always wanted to build a house so a few guys and I who belonged to this cool community minded church were asked to be the labor force to build a two story six bedroom house way out on Long Island, much farther out than where I lived. It was in the Shinnecock Indian reservation. Took five months of every Saturday dawn to dusk plus here and there for two years. I built these homeless Indians a house !!For free!! Some rich people donated the materials.And yet i was still renting after my divorce. They made me an honorary member of their tribe. I was very proud of that. I also tinkered with cars and nearly every thing that moves or has wheels and engines including yard equipment and stuff like that. But most of my experience is old and no longer applicable to today's modern stuff with all its electronics. Even Pepsi vending machines became electronic computer driven machines. I hated that. I no longer felt like a real mechanic who had to diagnose and repair. Just push buttons and get codes that tell you what part to replace. I was a part changing monkey. Anyone could do it.
Anyway I admire your skill and thank you for your military service. Keep learning and keep sharing. Anyone who is truly skilled is happy to share their experience. Only the inept and phony hide the little they know for fear you may find they don't know anything.

I too get screwed over at the dealership shop. Many times I know more than their master mechanic.

A very talented foreman at Breyers ice cream where I set up and ran a huge production line with plumbing and refrigeration equipment and fillers and hoppers and mixers and conveyors that I set up, ran and kept maintained shared so much he'd learned in the many years he worked there. Nobody else would teach you anything. It was difficult to learn without dangerous mishaps. I asked him why he told me so much. Wasn't he afraid that I'd know as much as him. He replied: Kid you now know much of what I now know. But in five years I'll be building on my experience and will know five years more than you at that time Kid. You'll never catch up to me.

That lesson stayed with me. People who are truly skilled or gifted like you aren't afraid to share what they know because of the example above. In five years those skilled people building on what they know will be light years ahead of the people they helped along the way.
Dannyblues

 

I work on them, which is why I know it wouldn't matter. It is no different than taking off--the throw out bearing is engaged for less time than double shifting.
Honestly I don't use any method other than just putting it into the next hear on each clutch engagement after letting off the gas. I am going to switch over to mt90 redline to help smooth 1st to 2nd which has been notchy as CRAP since day 1

 

Yeah I'm inclined to agree with you on that one. Holding the clutch and blipping the throttle and then letting out would be just the same as 2 clutch presses with a blip in between.

 

Is that MT 90 redline a 75/90 transmission fluid? Is it synthetic? How does it perform in very cold or very hot weather? Maintains warranty?? Questions Questions Questions!! Thanks for that information. I too shift regular except for sharp sudden downgrades Recently tried a double clutch downshift into first now that I've learned it's synchronized at maybe just under 15 mph. Went in like butter. Dannyblues

 

That's music to my ears and contrary to much of what I've read. But what I hoped to hear was valid.

I do find a gain of 1 mpg but pay 90 cents more per gallon to get it. 2 mpg more I doubt in my case but maybe?

But at least you illustrated an actual side by side scientific test that proved the mpg and hp gains from 87 to 91 octane. However was it on a vehicle that like my Tacoma requires 87 octane or higher or on a vehicle that required minimum 91 octane? That would skew the results as the knock sensor would calculate and adjust for the lower octane fuel in such a vehicle and there would be of course a related drop in both hp and mpg in that vehicle when using the lower 87 octane gas. Dannyblues

 

Thanks and I am sure you are more knowledgeable than me and perhaps my information and experience is outdated but I've still read too many reports where proper double clutching is best even on today's fully synchronized vehicles.

So please allow me to disagree if not ignorantly at least respectfully. Dannyblues

 

Thanks very much for the link. I'll check it out. But I thought the federal government mandated ALL pump gas suppliers put up to 15% ethanol in all their gasoline products plus some minimum base line for detergent additives ??? Dannyblues

 

Thanks. I'll check that out Dannyblues

 

Yes, 75w90 gl4 fluid that won't hurt the syncros in these transmissions. From my reading it performs better than the stock fill all the way around.

$24 Red Line (50304) MT-90 75W-90 GL-4 Manual Transmission and Transaxle Lubricant (MTL) - 1 Quart.

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Line-503...8&qid=1490464339&sr=8-1&keywords=mt90+redline

It does maintain warranty as it meets the specifications of a GL4 fluid