Ok, I decided to ask you guys and start a poll.

I am on my second s2000 and feel like there is no better MT in any other car out there. In daily driving situations, the gear shifting is excellent and very direct (all shifts).

BUT:

Once you want to have fun or drive auto-x, thing are different.
I have ZERO problems with all shift but the first one. 2nd to 3rd is like a dream, 3rd into 4th the same, 4th into 5ft is a little tricky but no problem what so ever if you focus on it and 5th into 6th is a dream again.

It's only 1st into 2nd that is VERY annoying while shifting at redline. During "normal driving" it's ok, but once you really rev it, I can't match this shift with the others. I feel some sort of "resistance", some click in the middle that is there and needs to get overcome that stops me from shifting as fast as the other shifts. It simply take me more time to shift it right and I can even chirp the tires anymore (well, 255 Michelin PS2 don't chirp just like that). Professional drag drivers have driven my car and other s2000 here and they mis-shifted as well But only 1st>2nd

Time to time (at least twice a week) I can't even shift into 1st from neutral, have to shift 2nd and than 1st. This has been already discussed tho'.

I found out that if the car stands still and you shift 1st>2nd>1st>2nd a few times, the shift becomes better (I guess the synchros line up), but in auto-x situations I don't have the time to stop and line up my synchros

Please don't advise me to learn how to shift, I am an european and I have never owned a automatic.All other shift are ZERO problem for me.Car has 15600miles on the clock, 2003 model.

Please vote and post

 

sorry to hear of your trouble. 1st to 2nd does take effort, but i've never run into what you're describing. my only issue is that a high rpm shift from 1 to 2 is usually rough and the car feels like it bucks. but in terms of ease of shift, 2 to 3 is more awkward for me than 1 to 2. and the going from 2 to 1 and back again sounds like something is wrong. hope this helps.

 

I have exactly the same problem, and i have no problem with the 3th, 4th, 5th and 6th.
I have that fuc... problem when i try to shift quickly from first to 2nd at redline.
You can try an other thing, when you shift at redline from 1st to 2nd, wait just a few fraction of second before shifting and it will shift easily.
Of course, it's not the way to shift when you are racing but it works, it seems to me that there is a large delay between you press the clutch pedal and the time that the clutch is out.

sab

 

it's only bad when it's cold

 

I have the problem into 2nd only also. I hate it, because it's such a money shift when you hit it but often I'll tear the hell out of the synchros in a grind. I've found that slowing the shift and doing it carefully at redline will fix the problem, but that isn't good for racing situations. In a race, you need to slam through the gears quickly, and I always have this 2nd gear problem as well.

 

The only time I have problems is when I am high in the revs and trying to shift quickly. I think half the time it is my own fault though.

 

And its never cold in Southern California ..
so no problem here.

 

I grind the 1st to 2nd at least once every few weeks... its definitely a difficult shift to perform both quickly and smoothly (for me at least)

 

Try changing your MT fluid, will probably make a world of a difference.

 

I find 1>2nd to be the worst shift at any speeds. At high revs, I've found it to be no problem (but admittedly, I shift very quickly and hard into 2nd from 1st when doing a short drag).

The problem I have is that every day when I take my S out to drive to school I hear a bit of a click into 2nd. It sounds healthy enough, not a grind or anything, but it doesn't happen with any of the other gears.

But I would suppose between 1st and 2nd there would be the worst shifting because between those gears is the largest change in dimension/speed/gear size/ratio, you know.

Gear Ratios - 1st
3.133
Gear Ratios - 2nd
2.045
Gear Ratios - 3rd
1.481
Gear Ratios - 4th
1.161
Gear Ratios - 5th
0.971
Gear Ratios - 6th
0.811

So my theory is that the synchro that works going from 1st-2nd gets the most wear because of that and generally has to work harder.