can my tranny handle my mods?
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can my tranny handle my mods?
so far i have the helix up/down pipe ans HKS carbon Ti making a full turboback. If i get the vf34 turbo package( fuel pump, sti injectors and everything) will my transmission hold up? i dont commute that much...probably around 50 miles a day. i push my car once in a while but i dont slam the gears or anything. you guys think if i get the turbo that my tranny will be gone very soon?
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Joined: Oct 2004
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can someone please ellaborate on that? i plan on having the same mods done as GDB Dragun, including the turbo upgrade, i just wanna know if my tranny on my 02 wrx can handle that much power, i dont really push my car much but when i do i do shift kinda fast which im sure is a bad thing to do, so someone please let me know if i would need a new tranny with those mods and how much it would cost
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It really depends on how you drive. You can make an example of how but unless I'm sitting next to you when you drive I don't know your style.
Lets put it this way...........
If you have a good clutch, and you don't power shift, and you don't dump the clutch off the line, and you run the right type of fluid, it will hold up for a while. Eventually it will start to wear out. The trans just wasn't made for that type of power. You are basically increasing the rate at which things will wear. Nothing lasts forever. My transmission has lived with 250WHP for 2 years now and it's been fine until recently. It is starting to make some noise. It shifts just fine and works just fine, so either I have a/some worn bearing(s), or something has worn enough that under deceleration a load is being placed on a shaft that doesn't normally see said load, resulting in some gear noise from being out of tolerance. I drive my car daily, it has 46000 miles on it, I've replaced the clutch once, and that was only because I had the trans out and installed a lightened flywheel. It's also been at the dragstrip about a dozen times. So for two years of use at my power level and just starting to get a faint noise from it, I'd have to say it lasted about as long as it should. Most people that experience catastrophic failure experience it because they think they are driving something they can just beat the sh** out of and don't understand that the car isn't an old chevy that came with a big block and a Muncie. If you want to mod a WRX, be prepared to replace the trans down the line. It might not happen tomorrow, but it will eventually. If you aren't up for that, don't mod to that level and buy something else that was made to handle it. All cars have a weak point in the transmission, some just get to it sooner then others.
As far as your shifting fast, replace the crap in the trans with some Redline 75-90NS. The synchros will thank you for it. You'll be able to shift faster without grind. If someone says to you Redline is crap, ask them if they used the 75-90NS or the MTL, I'd bet they'll answer with MTL. If you do use Redline, make sure it's the 75-90NS and not just the 75-90.
Lets put it this way...........
If you have a good clutch, and you don't power shift, and you don't dump the clutch off the line, and you run the right type of fluid, it will hold up for a while. Eventually it will start to wear out. The trans just wasn't made for that type of power. You are basically increasing the rate at which things will wear. Nothing lasts forever. My transmission has lived with 250WHP for 2 years now and it's been fine until recently. It is starting to make some noise. It shifts just fine and works just fine, so either I have a/some worn bearing(s), or something has worn enough that under deceleration a load is being placed on a shaft that doesn't normally see said load, resulting in some gear noise from being out of tolerance. I drive my car daily, it has 46000 miles on it, I've replaced the clutch once, and that was only because I had the trans out and installed a lightened flywheel. It's also been at the dragstrip about a dozen times. So for two years of use at my power level and just starting to get a faint noise from it, I'd have to say it lasted about as long as it should. Most people that experience catastrophic failure experience it because they think they are driving something they can just beat the sh** out of and don't understand that the car isn't an old chevy that came with a big block and a Muncie. If you want to mod a WRX, be prepared to replace the trans down the line. It might not happen tomorrow, but it will eventually. If you aren't up for that, don't mod to that level and buy something else that was made to handle it. All cars have a weak point in the transmission, some just get to it sooner then others.
As far as your shifting fast, replace the crap in the trans with some Redline 75-90NS. The synchros will thank you for it. You'll be able to shift faster without grind. If someone says to you Redline is crap, ask them if they used the 75-90NS or the MTL, I'd bet they'll answer with MTL. If you do use Redline, make sure it's the 75-90NS and not just the 75-90.
Last edited by ReXoRaMa; Feb 10, 2005 at 09:43 AM.
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Posts: 4,499
From: town / kaneohe
Car Info: gc w/ neons and a wrx that needs neons
the current wrx 5 speed tranny is almost 20 years old and came from a 90 horsepower legacy, or something of that sort.
it was spread really thin by pairing it with the wrx engine. adding all those mods makes it worse.
like the others said, its possible to keep it, but don't be suprised if it goes to hell.
subaru paid porsche a good deal of money to make the 6 speed, so its pretty damn good quality. if the 5 speed shats out, then throw down for a 6 speed.
it was spread really thin by pairing it with the wrx engine. adding all those mods makes it worse.
like the others said, its possible to keep it, but don't be suprised if it goes to hell.
subaru paid porsche a good deal of money to make the 6 speed, so its pretty damn good quality. if the 5 speed shats out, then throw down for a 6 speed.
I had my '03 with 340whp on the stock tranny for about 15k miles (and about 10k miles at 310whp). It never gave me any issues. In the end I decided to stop tempting the car gods and upgraded to an ra gearset (awesome upgrade!)
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RA gears
I have about 310-320 whp and my stock tranny just got rebuilt after about 20K miles and lots of road course abuse. third and 4th occasionally 2nd. I think it may have lasted longer had i not put in synthetic gear oil around 3K miles(did not know any better). The RA gears feel more precise and are worth it. Replace the synchros and the bearings also. My humble opinion is that the stock tranny is just that for stock use and no launching. I bet if you drive it like an average joe who drives to work and back and occasionally nails it in 2nd or third it will last 150K miles. But that is not you and so it will break.
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