What do you members think of installing a line lock on the rear of a front wheel drive car to encourage my wife to drive a 5 speed car? Ago
When I was learning to drive on a manual tranny, people who had no understanding of cars would try to explain to me how a clutch system worked. It was not helpful at all. Once I realized that if you let out the clutch slow enough, even with no throttle, it won't stall, I picked it up easily. A lot of what makes people nervous is that need to succeed and embarrassment over failing even though you are just learning. If she is that unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the feeling and use of a clutch, I would think the added idea of ("some damn gadget my husband put in the car") a line lock would be just one more step for her to get confused over. The E-Brake is also a good idea...My driver's ed teacher made us use the E brake when we stopped on a hill with an auto...he said it was state law...sounds dumb to me. With a manual tranny I used to find it difficult to get to the sweet spot when I use the E-brake on a hill...What I mean is when the light goes green it seems like I'm always over (and then, in turn, under) compensating for clutch and throttle and end up either bogging down because I back thinking that I'm going to burn out the clutch and then stalling, or opening the throttle too much and peeling out. The real issue is asswipes that don't follow the rules and get right up on your bumper when you're on a hill. That can make it more annoying. I think they're supposed to be a car length, or you're supposed to see the bottom of the car in front's rear tires or something...but nobody ever enforces THAT law. You might want to just weld two 8 or 10 foot spikes to the rear bumper to assure that other drivers back off. My best advice is to find a secluded hill and have her practice, practice, practice...
Rent a car with a clutch and let her learn on that. It'll save a lot of wear on your ride. If she blow's it out, they'll give you another car. I put line locks in all of my cars. They are just too much fun not to have one.
If you mount the line lock near the master cylinder, make sure you install it *after* the distrbution block/proportioning valve. If you install it before, in the lines that go from the master cylinder to the distrbution block/proportioning valve, the little pressure sensing piston will move when you try to engage the line lock (because you have no pressure to the other side of the brakes) and the brake pressure won't be enough to hold. If you're installing it at the rear brakes though, it won't be an issue. Also, remember it's a one-way valve. It will work best if you hit the button, then pump the brakes, not the other way around. Pressure will still go into it when the button is activated, it just won't let it come back out.
late 80's subaru had hill hold on stick cars - When you stopped, you just held in the clutch and it held til you started off again. NO idea how it worked.
It had a mechanical line lock that hooked to the clutch pedal linkage. As you released the clutch the line lock would release.
You can't train them to like a manual trans if they're set against it, no matter what. My mom still complains about the manual trans VW that was our family car until 1986 - I was like 12 when we got rid of it, it's been a while. Good luck -
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