basic manual transmission questions

#1) As long as you're not holding the hill for oh, 5 minutes waiting for the light to turn green, this is fine. Minimal wear.

2) It's not really going to "hurt" the clutch for a long time doing this, but you're basically doing a jump start every time, just at a lower rpms. I'm sure Lance will chime in with more technical details, but it's causing the synchros to work a little bit harder right off the bat.

3) Very very bad boy. Stop completely before going into reverse. What you're doing is forcing aside the shift gate that keeps you from accidentally going into reverse while moving forward. It doesn't like that. You'll get the same effect if you back up, put it in neutral and then try to pop it back in reverse. Reverse should be best engaged if you're at a complete stop.

4) I don't think I've ever double clutched...so I'm probably causing wear on my clutch that way.

5) As I told ya...just wait 'til after the break in period to be in 5th at 2k. otherwise you'll have a little more wear on the engine, not the clutch.

6) Let's go driving...I'll see if I can point you into better shifn' techniques.

Clutches last a pretty long time, even with new people learning them. My first one in my first car lasted 10 years. and it was a toyota. And I learned on it. So you'll have to try real hard to fry your clutch.

1. Does lead to premature clutch replacement, but I've done it for years. As Labfish said, 5 minutes would be very bad. I try not to hold the car on an incline more than 10 seconds. Worst case, you will overheat the flywheel and pressure plate causing the clutch to glaze and slip. If it starts to slip, you will notice it first in 5th gear, and as it gets worse you'll notice it in lower gears.

2. As you gain experience, the rpm will get lower. 2k isn't too bad though. Believe it or not, you can take your foot off the gas completely and start the car moving very smoothly at idle with just careful clutch engagement. Perfect practice makes perfect.

3. When you shift into reverse while going forward (which you can do at any speed, there is no lockout that I've found, and I can say it is very bad to have a 5 speed and a 6 speed in the garage at the same time), the friction disc in the clutch has to spin backwards, which means you are using the reverse synchro to reverse the motion of the entire geartrain. This is a LOT more than this synchro was designed to do, so if you want to keep the synchro working in reverse, don't shift until you are at a full stop. Otherwise you'll be playing lots of clutch-in-clutch-out games to get reverse to engage. AMHIK.

4. Double clutching is a waste of time and effort. Period. Let the synchros do their job.

5. I drive at 2k in 5th a lot. Nothing to worry about. However, running below 2k and applying a lot of throttle to accelerate is lugging the engine. It is very bad for the rod bearings because oil pressure is rpm dependent. At low rpm, oil pressure is low, and a heavy load tends to squeeze the oil out of the rod bearings and wear them out prematurely. If you need to accelerate hard from a low engine speed, gently roll on the throttle until you are at or above 2k, then hammer it open. It is very bad for the bearings to lug the engine. Again, AMHIK.

6. If you drive the way the owner's manual says, you can't go wrong. Some pointers not in the book: Don't downshift into first at more than 5 mph. First gear is the largest gear in the gearbox, so the load on the first gear synchro is more than any other gear (except maybe reverse with forward motion unless you are shifting into first while rolling backwards). Downshifting into first at 5 mph or more is very hard on the synchro, and may lead to premature failure, AMHIK (I didn't rebuild my Getrag 6 speed for fun!). It is ALWAYS better to match the engine speed to the road speed of the gear you are shifting into to minimize the work the synchro has to do. It is also a lot less unsettling to the car.