I have a buddy who will help me with my clutch, but he is in Baltimore Maryland and I am in York PA. He claims I can start out in second gear roll down to the interstate. Then he claims I can knock it out of gear and find the right spot with a little bit of pressure it will frop into third, fourth fifth. He called it power shifting, he said it will not harm the tranny, and I asked around, other people have done this with older cars and had no problem. I have to run about 62 miles straight with no stopping, then i got to get it through downtown baltimore. It sound like an adventure. I plan on attempting 9am tommorow, what do you guys think.???

It WILL damage your trans eventually, unless you can RPM match exactly (not likely for most people). I guess I wouldn't exactly call it "damage", but more like accelerated wear. If you're not someplace hilly, I'd start in 3rd, and either stay in 3rd and not go very fast, or shift once, into 4th. If it's hilly you'd probably have to start in second. Of course you will have to re-start it every time you stop, so make sure your starter and battery are in good shape. If you have an occasional hot start problem, it'll probably come up at the worst time.

Edit: Oh, and it'd probably be wise to rig up a manual starter button, so you don't have to turn the key all the way back to lock every time you stop. Just stop, which will kill the engine, then hold the start button when you're ready to start moving again. In 3rd you'll probably have to hold it down for a few seconds until you get rolling. It'll be like driving a Prius!

I drove a 1967 type I from San Diego to Long Beach California with NO clutch. Start the car in neutral and let it warm up a bit then turn it off. Put the car in first gear, start the engine, (it will bump and buck for a second) and you're on your way. With a little practice you should be OK. Then get the clutch fixed.
Cheers, Elliot

MY grandfather was a bus driver in Washington DC just after WWII. Before they could get their license, they had to be able to drive the city bus without using the clutch, so that they could get it back to the garage in the event of failure.

It can be done... just requires a lot of finesse and timing.

-Mike

call AAA and have it towed for free!
Andy

The man raises an excellent point.

Power shifting is shifting without taking the accelerator pedal off the floor (with or without the clutch). NOT done with Porsches (although it IS possible ).

Shifting without the clutch by matching speeds is easy in a lot of cars - I do it all the time in 944s, VWs, etc.

It is difficult with Porsche servo synchronizers, though (914, 901, 915, and 930 transmissions). I have done it, but it is much more difficult than shifting with Borg-Warner synchros. It only takes messing up once or twice to kill the gear engagement in a Porsche box. Don't do it.

I got myself home a couple times in my 280ZX and 280Z this way, but I wouldn't try it in a 914 unless it was a last ditch save.

Sounds like a good way to cause more damage on the way to fixing something. If AAA won't do it, rent a UHaul tow dolly.

I did it with a 63 bug in the 70s....Palm Springs to LA....

AAA is better...I'm too old for that shit, now.....

Mine was a '68, same story, different town, Riverside.
My clutch pedal broke Fri. night and I couldn't get it fixed until Mon., no welder, no parts. I still took a girl to the drive-in movies Sat night.
My dad and two of my uncles were truck drivers at different times, they don't use the clutches in those things except for first gear, so I grew up knowing how to drive without the clutch.
Your goal is to match the speeds of the two spinning gears as closely as possible. If there's say 1200 RPM's between gears, you run it up to like 4200 or whatever you'd normally do, lift off of the gas, slide it out of first and when it rev's down to about 3300 or 3200 you start pushing the shifter gently up against the next gear. It will drop into the gear without too much effort when you do it right. Downshifting is harder. You almost have to be good at heel-toe downshifting to make it work, but you can do it. You slow the car down to say 2500 rpm's, slide it out of gear, press the shifter up against the next lower gear and gently speed up the engine until the speed matches what it should be in the next lower gear and gently nudge the shifter into that gear.
I would never call this POWER SHIFTING. This is eggshell for a shift knob shifting. do it with your fingertips and get really good at it and you can drive everywhere without the clutch except for leaving a stop and you won't damage the transmission. If you drive it like you're POWER SHIFTING you'll ruin $2000.00 worth of parts inside of your tranny in half a day.
I've even finished a practice session at the Streets of Willow with a broken clutch cable. I waited to change it until lunch time.
Eggshells.

Bingo. Well said, Steve.

I have done it only a short distance to get home <5 miles

Lol, my buddy's 280zx is currently in this condition... The clutch master cylinder goes low every 500 miles, and then you have to fill, bleed the clutch and be on your way. Or drive home banging gears Tough tranny.

But Joseph, for this tranny, I wouldn't do that. Sure they're cheap to replace (there's a guy near you with at least one good box for ~400), but why destroy a good tranny. Who in Baltimore is the 914 expert? Need an extra set of hands? I'm free Saturday because my engine probably won't be out of my car by then!

--dave

Mine was the slave cylinder puking out on the ground

No need to bang gears, though... just take it out of gear, blip the throttle, and hold the shifter gently into the next gear... as the engine revs drop, the synchros will match and it will click right into gear, smoothest shift you ever made.

I've tried it with every manual transmission I've ever owned (over a dozen), and it's easier with some than others. The 280Z/ZX were both very easy.

All my VWs were easy to do this with, with a bit of practice. I never tried it in my 914, though. If you *do* have AAA (a real good idea for anyone who regularly drives old cars) then I'd push it down the street (AAA here gives me a hassle anytime I try to get them to tow *from* my house to a shop) and call them.

Someone please correct me if I'm reading this wrong.

You said your bud is gonna help you with the clutch. What are you doing to the clutch? Is it worn to the point of not engauging? What everyone is describing is when there is a problem with the pedal or cable and the clutch won't disengauge. If the clutch is blown, your not going anywhere anyway. Why not just fix the cable, or pedal where its at? I've replaced a cable, a broken pully, and even driven a screw through the pedal roll pin hole, all on the side of the road to get me home.

I made it. It was a little bumpy at first but it wasnt so bad. Getting to the freeway was cake. Once I got on the freeway, no problem, there is a exact place where it drops right into gear. I was in fifth doing my regular commute. In Baltimore it was quite terrible. The first two lights were green then i got two red lights in a row not so bad.....but the next light was on a hill. I had to crank the car and the wheel into a uturn and take 3 left turns. anayway.....

I dont recomend it in the city, but it was kinda fun in the ruarl areas.

cable is fine, pully is fine, tube is in great condition, someone already replaced.cluster looks great. I was driving along and the pedal started dropping by the time i got home there was no more pedal. from under i could see the fork was floppy comming out of the tranny.

Ok, maybe a throwout bearing then, or the fork came loose. Thanks for clarifying, and glad ya made it.

Thanks for the offer dave.
My guy is jimmy@dean st auto in highlandtown , he may not be an expert, but his shop is always got at least one porsche in there. i have brought my last three porsche cars to him. good guy. he owns 3 or 4 911s and a 928. he has our sickness

Glad to hear you made it Joe, though I'll be interested to hear his diagnosis of the problem!!

Sounds like your starter got a workout.

That place is like maybe a mile from my friends house, heck it's barely 5 miles from where I'm sitting!