Well, it’s been 5000 miles and a year later, and I am just as in love as I have ever been. Learning stick on this car has been so much fun; I’m content enough to take ribbings from people on my lack of skills. And humble enough to ask for help when I fudge up. I thought I was damaging the tranny with my skills, started hearing some noises here and there. Had a few Mass members drive the car last weekend and they noticed nothing abnormal about the clutch or gears. Good news. Even explained my concerns to Jeremi and he stated it seems like a typical RWD manual ford. Which I had previously absolutely no experience with.
But alas, I had to have someone look at it to calm my nerves. I dropped the car off at MPE Performance in Taunton Ma and the owner personally looked the car over for a few hours. Said there was no clutch dust, no wear, the clutch engages as it should, and everything is SOLID. He absolutely loved the car and the love that was put into its build. He changed all the fluids and bled the clutch a few times. There must have been some air in there as it is completely different now. It engages a lil lower and feels like I always thought one would.
Now, I have a bad driving record in Mass and if I get another surchargable ticket in the next 13 months I lose my license so I baby this car, and it don’t really want to be babied. I kick it sideways a lot, but only when I am dam sure there are no other cars around (we have all makes and models as UC’s around here). However, I could not help but chirp 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] the other day after a few pops on my way from picking up some steaks. So effortless and smooth.