I am considering in buying a Chip Torque Australia Spool. Any thoughts about doing this? How hard is it to take out the center diff and install a spool?

May be turing my GC into a drift car after I swap it, but theres a bunch of stuff floating around in my head so I am not too sure yet. Another cool thing about going RWD is that I can run a staggered set up wheels/tires.

any thoughts or suggestions are welcome

 

Call Kia over at TD garage and ask him what he would suggest. His GD is RWD and he slides his rider over at Infenion Raceway from what I've heard.

 

I've been reading up on this alot too and am also considering it if you get any more info let Me know please. I read that you can just gut the center diff and get a stronger rear diff and stronger rear axles and Do a bunch more work it'll be good but what is this chip torque Australia spool??

 

I considered this for awhile on my wagon, looked into it pretty seriously for awhile for some options as to what to do. Didn't really prove cost effective for me and I bought an rx7 so I've moved on but I'll shed some light

James, theres a pretty decent discussion on RS25 too but hey whatevers


So basics, you do not need to drop the transmission to remove the center diff. Of course you'd need to pull the driveshaft (easy) and drain the transmission of fluid. You can actually unbolt the back part of the transmission that surrounds the center differential with it still mounted in the car. With that off, you can basically just pull the center diff out.

Couple different options for the center diff, a lot of people for the N/A cars or whatever for simplicity/saving money dissasemble, reassemble and weld up the center differential. Reinstall and, money! basic rwd conversion. Leave in front axle stubs so fluid can't get out.

But you've got that spool in mind there which is better, "true" center diff eliminator. I've heard the welded method makes a little bit of noise in there which isn't bad but you know, its not a rwd diff.
There's also the PPG unit available and then a little bit cheaper, the Watanabe unit which is virtually the same for like 600-800 bucks. I've heard the ppg and watanabe units don't work in the N/A transmissions but I really have no idea.

The big thing imo with this conversion is the rear end. The stock r160 does handle a good portion of power in the awd system but it really does lack when it comes to 100% power. That being said, that guy with the Purple legacy drift car from Drift Union ran a stock welded R160 with stock axles. He was able to get axles for cheap if they broke so that wasn't a problem. Also, apparently the stock driveshaft is pretty weak and you'd be lucky to get 4-5 months out of 100% rwd power. But this can be fixed with a wrx or stronger driveshaft. If you run the stock R160 diff, the spider gears can get worn out pretty quick. There is a kid on rs25 with a rwd rally car had his open diff R160 blow up after 1 event. you might be able to find clutch type LSD's for the r160 but its kinda hard. Welded would make the Diff itself last (can't really brake) but daily driving would be pretty ****ty

So options (especially pertaining to drift, best rwd usage!) for a rear setup would be a full R180 rear end. driveshaft bolts up fine, R180 diff, axles, bolts up to stock rear subframe no issues, and STI rear hubs as well to match the axles. you can get sti brembos or an adapter for the RS brakes or whatever.
James if you are going for that STI swap and happen to pick up an STI driveline, this would be the easiest.
The stock STI rear diff is a 1-way LSD I believe which is OK for drift, but doesn't lock up enough for solid slides. Your best would be to find a good clutch type 1.5 way LSD or even a 2-way if you can for ideal drivability

But the best option by far (not really cost effective lol) is to get an R200, custom rear axles, modify rear subframe to fit, modifiy driveshaft to bolt up. It won't blow up on you but you are definitely going to spend some money on that no doubt. There are a couple people that have done this conversion, I don't really know the specifics off the top of my head.

So that covers some basic stuff lol.

For drift, the stock steering angle on the subaru is kinda ****ty, 38 degrees to be exact. Not too hot. You are going to want to do some sort of modification to the front angle there for better slides. The easiest is to get a FWD steering rack from an older impreza or something, they add something like 4-5 more degrees to angle.
OR, better yet, go here Steering Angle Modifications - KPI and have them mod your knuckles for a significant more angle. I talked to Wishicoulddrift on RS25 (thats his car in their pictures) and he said the install is fairly straightforward, no further modification unless you want to retain the front sway bar, then the endlinks need to be modified. However, a RWD subaru setup for drift can benefit from a lack of front sway bar. This will add more grip during a slid for better control, which is actually what you want for drifting (in a nutshell).

and then beyond that, coilovers, seats and brakes and all the other goodies that don't require custom modifications!

Its a little bit of a knowledge dump here, so not everything is perfect but I can help as best I can if you have more questions!

 

Damn. He basically explained it. Lol

 

haha yep but how he said for the N/A cars you can just gut the center diff and weld it up again? would it be the same for a turbo car?

 

yea that is true you can for the turbo cars as well. Not sure what the big differences are in performance though if there are any noticeable downsides to going with welded besides some extra noise

 

damn eric lol thanks for all that info. still thinking about what route i want to take for the future but that helped alot. i just saw a chip torque spool on rs25 for a decent price which is better then the one ppg makes. its the same thing they run in the team orange gc so it got me thinking lol.

 

+1 for Kia at td garage. He knows whatsup. I've been on a ride along drift in his car and it feels like it came from the factory in rwd.

 

My Sweet Transvestite RWD GC8 - NASIOC

This thread here has everything (:

 

Dammmm, how much is that going to cost?
That guys explanation is making me want to go RWD even more! haha.

 

so he went the long term, won't break expensive route. Obviously the engine swap is sweet, he is making good power so that was a safe idea.

You can see that rear diff, the r200 i think he has there, is a lot bigger, waaay bigger axles etc, that thing can easily hold 100% rwd power all day.

but you gotta go with the custom driveshaft or driveshaft modification, custom rear subframe, either custom rear axles or find some way to use nissan rear hubs (has been done before).

its a pricey option but hands down definitely the best option

 

Depending on how low you drop the car and if you're going to be using the car for comps then even the R160 diff holds up.
The main reason for broken axles are because the car is too low so on bumps the axles hit the subframe.
Couple of ways for a RWD conversion. permanent or part time. as in you can convert back to AWD.
permanent is you rebuild the transmission and take the front diff out (which helps in front weight loss) and weld the axle holes shut. welded rear diff or get a 2way.
if you want to be able to go back to AWD again you can do that too. either get the PPG kit and save your center diff or buy a second center diff to mod. instead of welding the front axle holes shut you can just leave the axle stubs in there or if you don't have them then buy them. that's for the transmission. the stock wrx 5speed works well but rebuilding it at the same time is a great idea.
Rear diff: again you can just weld the R160, you can go with a R180 but you'll need to change axles and hubs depending what year you got. or you can buy a LSD.
we can mod the rear diff also to sit a bit higher in the subframe so even if your car is lowere the axles can sit a bit more straight. and depending on how much wheel spin and smoke you want you can do different ratio.. the original 3.5, 3.9, 4.1. we stuck with the original count of 3.54.
Front set up on the wrx's it'll be a good idea to use the STi aluminum lower control arms. the shape has a better cut then the WRX chunky metal one because with more angle the inside of the wheel gets closer to the control arm. With the WRX arms you may need to mod it depending how much angle you're getting, not so much with the STi aluminum ones. Also it saves a bit more dead weight from the front. We can mod the knuckes by making new tie rod end holes. a bit better then cutting and welding them back on. and for bump steer problems we can install aftermarket tie rod ends which also will give more adjustability. currently we're running no front sway bar, and at the same time the car is daily driven. with coilovers the front sway bar is not really needed.
Engine: we have a hybrid 97 Legacy 2.5 lower end with the ported and polished wrx heads and no other major mods besides the downpipe and exhaust and the car can clear big banks with no problem.
since the car wasn't meant for being RWD. The e-brake should be moded, cause you don't want to clutch kick too much. the force pushes the center diff in to the bearing and if it keeps going then it'll start putting force on the housing and break it.

call us @925-952-9999 if you have questions or want to get the project started.

 

Thanks you for guys help doing it as we speak.