Spare Your Tranny

1. Never, ever, ever slam-shift an Alfa. For all other rules, when in doubt, see rule #1. This kind of rude behavior should be reserved for “Rock-crusher” trannies. Alfa trannies aren’t that robust. You can definitely tear one up doing this.
2. When the light turns green, never, ever, ever just stomp on the clutch and slam it into 1st. Most Alfas only have 1/2 a synchro on 1st. You get no synchro action doing this. Contrary to other published views, you should also never use 2nd gear to stop the moving parts in the tranny before slecting 1st. Second gear gets enough abuse as it is. When the light turns green, step on the clutch, wait a second, then select 4th, then select 1st. The same applies to reverse gear. Step on the clutch, wait 1 second, put it in 4th, then select reverse. If you do it this way, you’ll never hear a crunch. (See rule #1.)
3. On upshifts, all it takes is timing your shifts. You’ll find that if you don’t rev the motor up enough, upshifts can be balky. It’s probably a bit silly to rev the motor all the way up to redline in heavy traffic, or buzz along in 2nd at 5000 rather than upshift, but you should get the motor up to at least 4000 before upshifting. In “normal” traffic, I shift up between 4 and 5000. If you’re trying to get ahead of a cement truck dropping goop all over the road, then by all means redline it. Alfas were made to do that. A normal upshift only requires a slight pause in neutral gear before selecting the next higher gear to make it smooth.
4. The exception to #3 is the first 1-2 upshift in the morning with a cold gearbox. This is usually quite balky, less so with synthetic gear lube, but still balky. You should really baby a cold box. In order to allow extra settling time on that first upshift, I will sometimes blip the throttle in between gears (with the clutch pedal still depressed), just to make me take extra time on the shift. I also shift at lower RPMs until the car is warmed up. Again, because low-RPM shifts can be balky, allow extra time.
5. Downshifts are the most controversial part, and more tricky to do. The technique of keeping your foot on the gas, stepping on the clutch, and selecting the lower gear as the RPMs rise to the right point works well on the freeway if you’re going uphill and need a lower gear to maintain speed, or if you’re just forming up with a large convoy. I’ve tried it. It does not work if you’re slowing down in a big hurry. For that, you really need to do the classic heel-and-toe downshift. The procedure only sounds complicated. Once you get into the rhythm, you’ll find it makes it easier and smoother. Heel-and toe really refers to the action of blipping throttle to match the RPMs before all the parts engage with each other to make things smoother while also keeping pressure on the brake pedal.

   There is a related, and usually complementary technique called double clutching (double de-clutching across the pond). This refers to the action of taking your left foot off the clutch pedal while you blip the throttle in order to make all the connected parts in the tranny speed up to the right speed for your downshift. Here’s the step-by-step:

   • Do your braking with your big toe and the ball of your foot. Keep your little toe poised to blip the throttle. It helps to align the pedal height to make this comfortable.
   • As the RPMs drop to your shift point (around 3000 or 2500 on a street motor, much higher for a race motor), step on the clutch.
   • Move the shift lever to neutral and near the lower gear you want to engage. Release the clutch pedal.
   • Blip the throttle.
   • Step on the clutch and the gear shift lever should just drop into the lower gear with very little pressure. All of this is done while braking.
   • Release the clutch and brake and make the turn, or whatever it is you needed to downshift and brake for.
6. Lastly, another somewhat controversial point. Should you downshift for a stop sign or red light? Probably not. The brakes on most cars, especially Alfas, are more than powerful enough to stop the car under any circumstances unless you were going too fast, following too closely, etc. If you know you have to come to a complete stop, just step on the clutch and use the brakes. Remember, brake rebuilds are a lot cheaper and easier than clutch and tranny rebuilds.
7. When in doubt, see Rule #1.

As a data point, I’ve been babying marginal synchros in the same 2 Alfa gear boxes for 15-20 years. Neither one has degraded to the point that I just can’t bear not rebuilding them yet. -- Simon Favre

W

ell Simon has some very good points and following them will extend the life of your transmission. But I drive my Alfas because I love to drive and I love to drive my cars at their limits. If I have to baby my transmission, what's the point? Sure, for most driving you should follow Simon's advice. But there are two rules I break all the time--rules #1 and #6. I guess I just love to spin my tires when I shift from 1-2 and 2-3, so I break rule #1 all the time. I also always down shift and don’t rely on my brakes (rule #6). I feel that I have much more control when my foot is off the clutch.

I am in a somewhat unique situation in that I rebuild transmissions and therefore the cost is lower when I have to rebuild my own. But let me assure you I do not like pulling a transmission!

When an Alfa transmission is properly put together with lightened gears there is no way you can shift fast enough to grind the gears. Listening to my son shift my race car at 8000+ RPM without lifting his foot from the gas pedal is an experience. I believe that the additional expense to lighten the trans gears is well worth the money. Sure this will double the cost of the rebuild but it will more than double the life of the syncros. This will save at least one removal and replacement of the transmission (if you keep a car that long) and that is where a significant part of the rebuild cost is. Plus you get an Alfa transmission that shifts like butter and requires no particular shifting rules.

My GTV (which is really a daily driver) has over 110,000 miles on the transmission. This mileage has been put on by my wife, who is unconcerned with shifting rules, myself, who violates any rule whenever I can, and my 18 year old son, who learned from his old man--what more can I say? Second gear has now shown some resistance to fast shifts and the transmission will have to come out. That's a pretty good lifespan in my opinion.

If you get a chance to drive an Alfa with a lightened transmission do so, but only if you want to eliminate some weight from your pocket book. Once you shift a good lightened transmission you will be hooked. -- Tom Sahines, Alfa Romeo Association Tech Advisor

T

om can disagree with me any time he wants, but it’s not fair. ;=) He builds these things all the time. He can build them as light as he wants and to last as long as he wants. I wouldn’t exactly say the tranny in my ’62 Spider has led a sheltered life. I may not drive it as much as my GTV, but the ’62 is an autocross car. Doesn’t upshifting at 8000 RPM without lifting off the gas require a rev limiter? Didn’t you and Mike tear up a motor doing that? “My dad was driving the car when the motor died, honest.” ;=) Even shifting at 7000, that car still sounds wild.

If you can extract more out of a car in terms of reliability and/or power than it was ever intended to get, and back it up on the track, you don’t need any directions. Different audience.

I’m still waiting for the box in my GTV to die. Put me on the list for one of those wallet-lighteners... -- Simon Favre