As some of you may know, my car is a 2011 WRX with a Blouch 20G XT-R. It is tuned on E85 and made 462WHP / 492WTQ. I have been running the 20G XTR for 8-10k miles. Originally I was at around 22-24psi and making just over 400WHP. My motor blew over the winter so I swapped in a built short block. When I did this I also increased the boost to about 27psi peak (this is the boost level I was at for the dyno results above). Once I got to this point the clutch started slipping, even with the ACT HD pressure plate, ACT full face organic disk, and ACT flywheel. I decided I had no choice but to go with a new clutch. I swapped the disk from the full face disk to an ACT 4 puck sprung disk. I really wanted to avoid this type of setup for the sake of my tranny, but with the other setup slipping, I went with it anyways. Here's more info on the car: http://mnsubaru.com/threads/nf-project-11-b.36996/ With the puck clutch setup and the torque I was making, I feared it was only a matter of time before the tranny went out. It lasted through the winter and all was going pretty well. A few weeks ago I went to the road course at BIR. I did a warm up session and everything was going fine. I made it through about half a dozen laps during the first full speed session. During the track day I was not flat foot shifting, or slamming the gears. I did not have any mis-shifts. I just came out of a turn in 3rd gear and when I put the pedal down it just let go completely and the car revved like it was in neutral. It sounded like a tin can full of loose change. I pulled the tranny drain plug and found a bunch of teeth stuck to it. When the fluid drained out I got a few more. Here are some photos: I had been researching my options and looking at what was available. I eventually ruled out the 6 speed because of the added cost and complexity of doing the complete swap. I then began looking at built 5 speeds. Unfortunately the 08+ WRX's use a 3.9 final drive, so it's not quite as easy as just swapping in a new tranny. This left me with the option of buying a tranny and having it disassembled and swapped over, or just buying a gearset. After looking around I decided to go with just a gearset if possible. Andrewtech had nothing but good things to say about the PAR 650HP gearset and recommended it to me over PPG's. I had been PM'ing someone on NASIOC about a nearly new set of PAR gears he was thinking of selling. The timing worked out very well for what I needed and I am very fortunate to find a set in the condition that I did. I would like to thank Andrewtech, PAR, and the gear seller, Joe, and Vandde from NF, for all the help along the way. Andrewtech and PAR were very helpful for someone who was trying to do research (even though I did not spend any money with them, and they were aware of this). Joe went above and beyond in getting me the parts and answering questions. Vandde and PAR helped out getting everything assembled correctly. Also thanks to Derek and my brother for the help removing (Derek) and installing (my brother) the tranny. Now, onto the swap! First, pulled the tranny for the rebuild: Here are some photos of the stock (broken) gears: And you can see that there is some wear on 1st gear:
Now, here are the PAR Gears: The PAR gearset comes with a straight cut 1st gear and helical 2nd-4th. 5th gear is OEM. The ratios are as follows: Code: Gear Stock Ratio PAR Ratio 1 3.166 3.180 2 1.882 1.850 3 1.296 1.310 4 0.972 0.950 5 0.738 0.738 FD 3.900 3.900 Using those ratios, this calculator gives the approximate vehicle speed by RPM. It is not perfectly accurate, but should give a good estimation on the difference between the gearsets. The difference is quite small. 1st-3rd are within about 1mph of stock and 4th is a few mph's faster. Stock: http://www.car-videos.net/tools/spe...7=&Redline=7000+&Increment=100&B1=Recalculate PAR: http://www.car-videos.net/tools/spe...7=&Redline=7000+&Increment=100&B1=Recalculate Code: Gear Stock MPH @ 7k PAR MPH @ 7k 1 40.7 40.6 2 68.5 69.7 3 99.5 98.5 4 132.7 135.8 5 174.8 174.8 I think this is a good match for my powerband. I don't find myself needing the close ratio's of the 6 speed, so my preference was for keeping the longer 5 speed gears. The slightly taller 4th should be plenty for the 1/4 mile unless I make the car considerably faster (stock 4th would also have been OK, but this is more headroom). Comparison Photos: The tooth size and profile of the PAR gears is much larger than the OEM gears. They look great. Everything appears to be in excellent condition. The straight cut first gear whines quite a bit (just like reverse). It is quite a head turner in parking lots! I'll have to try and get a video of this soon. Here it is all cleaned up and assembled. Ready to go back in. So far, so good. It's only been in for a few days now, but it's all running smoothly. Nice solid whine in first gear, but the rest is pretty stock-like. Overall it is a little noisier, but not much. It drives very nicely and shifts smoothly (like a synchro tranny should). I'm hoping it can hold up to the power, unlike the stock gears!
Here is a video from the track when 3rd gear actually failed. I'll try to get a video with the new gears sometime soon!
Thanks guys! I hope someone finds the pictures interesting. STI is still much cooler. Ha! Not very clean. It got my photo area all greasy! Autocross someday, although my powerband may not suit it well.
She said it sounds broken, lol. But it's only first gear so it doesn't really matter for cruising, you only hear it for a few seconds.
She's a tooth chipper! Sorry about the mess that you had to deal with Poppa Ben. Glad to see that it's up and running again tho! And now that everything has been tore up and then built back up properly, you should be pretty issue free from here on out.
Ben whines regardless or what gear, in or out of the car lol. JK man, maybe it will be out this weekend then huh?
Yeah, we'll see about that... Only first gear is straight cut, so it is the only one with the whine. Idk. We'll see... I wouldn't count on it. The gearset is $4500 from Andrewtech. On my gears only first is straight cut. The other ones are a hair louder than stock, but not much. 5th is OEM, so it's obviously quiet like stock.
Oy... forgot about this thread and thought you just blew the box with the PAR gears in it. I was gonna say...
Awesome car, videos, and writeup. Wish I had the funds... any advice for me? http://mnsubaru.com/threads/blown-tranny.40145/
I've rode in this car, it's bad bad bad!!!! Makes me want to spend money on my car to go faster now. I couldn't stop smiling from the G forces of acceleration, and might have dribbled on your seat. :-/ Sorry Ben Lol
I'm going to have to climb into the back seat and hide to get I ride. Want to know and get a feel for what I should do in the future for transmission wise.
