first, when i am shifting, it is sometimes kinda difficult to get it into gear. the lever moves forward, meets a bit of resistance, then goes in.
second, when i am driving and need to come to a stop ahead is it better on the tranny to physically down shift through all the gears or is it better to just pop it in neutral and use the brakes to slow down?

 

Well your not using parts that don't need to be turning if your in neutral coming to a stop. Down shifting and engine braking doesn't wear a transmission much but will wear things faster. I would recommend getting your transmission oil changed as well as the rear differential. Might help w/ the resistance your feeling and its just good for the car.

 

downshifting is the proper way to slow down and stop. If done right, you should have no wear on the drivetrain including the clutch...right being that you properly rev match the engine speed to the next gear...this should be done whether you upshift or downshift. I drive semi's regularly that have non-synchronized transmissions where if you miss the revs by even a few 100 rpm's, you'll have a lot of grinding. If you properly rev match, you will have no jerk whatsoever.

 

as for the resistance to get into gear...sounds like a worn out synchro, does it do it in every gear? how many miles on the car? try double clutching...it should smooth things out....rev through 1st, push clutch, pull out into neutral, release clutch, rev match to second gear speed, push clutch in, put into second, release clutch(this should have no "jerk")...continue this process through all gears...same process for downshift

 

Haha its not a model A. But try it and see what happens...

 

it does it in pretty much every gear besides fifth. its pretty smooth there. although it does have a few on it, almost up to 118 now but i got what i thought was a kick *** deal on it so i picked it up (little over a month now). i am going to change tranny fluid on wednesday cause its my next day off of school and work but when down shifting, if the r's are matched perfectly its downshifts nicely, except when going into first. first is always a bitch unless completely stopped. i just thought it was weird. i have never driven a standard tranny that was this hard to get into gear. i have missed my next gear when accelerating hard more than once cause i think it will go in and it doesn't

 

You shouldn't be putting it into 1st unless you are stopped or right before you come to a stop bellow 5mph. If you are doing a rolling stop, rev it up a little as you are trying to put it into first and it should go in. You def do not need to downshift through each gear as you slow down. Going straight to neutral is a good idea. Brake pads are a lot cheaper and easier to replace than drivetrain components in the long long long run.

 

Yeah they are. I used to downshift in my first car... An old 1995 altima. But thats because it had an exhaust leak and it sounded cool when i downshifted. The only time i downshift now is when i need the power or if the speed limit changes. But i ALWAYS match the rpms to the gear, never just drop the clutch.

 

you don't need to downshift while slowing down. going straight to neutral will save you gas and drivetrain wear. no matter how well your rev matching is, there will still be wear. i hope your synchros are ok. i'm not sure of a way to check the synchros though. what synchros do is, it detects how fast your going and then it only lets you put it into certain gears. say you're going 65 on the highway, the synchros will lock you out of reverse. i only use first gear when i'm doing 5mph or starting from a stop, otherwise there is not need to use it, just put it into second.

 

Redline just make sure you have the special socket you need to take off the fill plug... If you drain the oil and then find out you dont have the fill plug socket your def. gonna be screwed lol.