I have the opportunity to buy a WRX trans that has a stripped 3rd gear for $150 shipped. Since my car has 144k miles on it I thought it would be slick to have a spare ready to go. The trans is very solid now though. My plan was to buy it, buy a synchro,bearing, and seal rebuild kit and then the RA gearset I hear so much about. Sounds like the new gear ratios are super HOT! looking for your past experiences... What could I expect to pay for a full rebuild kit? How much for a RA gearset and anyone have them? I was contemplating rebuilding it myself, but what could I expect to pay for professional assembly? Do people generally upgrade the front diff? It's an open diff right? Anyone here ever rebuilt a Subaru 5sp? Are there many special pullers and tools required? Thanks for the responses, Chad
I rebuild subaru 5 speeds all the time, They are a little difficult to do. Once I am done with Zach's ( esperunit ) gearbox I can let you know how much the whole build was with the RA set.
RA gearsets are not cheap. They start at about $1500. theyre not bulletproof either, but they are significantly thicker in the tooth root and significantly shorted geared. One thing you may not have thought about yet is how its going to affect your top speed. RA gearsets do 70mph at about 4000-4500 in 5th gear. doesnt leave a ton of headroom for high top speeds. It will get to 100 really fast, and give you not much more on top of that. one option is to retain teh stock WRX 5th gear, some people have had varying results with installing it this way. I found a WRX transmission within driving range of the cities quoted to me as $1500 shipped with 4k miles on it. It was in a garage fire. If you want info on that, please let me know, if not, I'm sure mike can build you a really nice RA tranny, but they're relatively expensive compared to finding a full WRX tranny.
Holy smokes! That is spinning at 70mph! I drove an STi and I loved how short the gears were. That would be the main reason for doing RA gears, to get closer ratio gears. Not for the strength as I would only ever go to Accessport "stage 2" power levels. But I don't know if I could live with 5000rpm while cruising on the highway. And the sti 6sp requires swapping the rear diff and axles etc. etc. Hrm...I will have to do some research on the 5th gear retainment with RA gears. Appreciate the help. btw, I like your avatar...Are you into oldschool scooters? a couple years ago I had a kitted smallframe vespa. 55mph with 8in. wheels. whoa!
For more of a streetable gearbox I could even do a half RA gear set. That way you can have shorter shifts for 1-3 and still be at the same revs in 4th & 5th gear.
I was running about 3100 at 60 mph. 4th gear in my car redlined at about 105. I had it up just past 140 and was getting close to redline. In my opinion that's plenty of head room for top end. Keep in mind these cars weren't intended to have long legs.
