I went for broke, literally, in buying this tranny. After reading about what other parts I would need to buy to do the swap, I opted for the ring & pinion in order to retain my stock diff and half-shafts, as opposed to buying the complete drivetrain...for probably obvious reasons.

Anyhow, the ring & pinion I ordered from my dealer. He ordered the USDM STi one which doesn't fit. Does anyone have the part numbers?

As an aside, there are no Subaru AWD's in the junkyards here on Oahu, so scavenging for a used ring & pinion wasn't an option (unless I had one shipped here). I got a pretty good deal, anyhow.

 

The USDM ring and pinion don't fit because they are for a different differential than the WRX has (the STi piece is bigger and beefier, much like the rest of the drivetrain). What you need is a Legacy turbo ring and pinion, as it is the same ratio but comes from the same type of diff as a WRX. IIRC the WRX has a Hitachi R160 and the STi the R180, but it might be R180/R200. I can't remember anymore because my last "other" car was a Datsun Z car which had the same differential, and upgrading to a limited slip meant gettign an R200.

 

STi uses R180 rear diff.

Your WRX has R160. Thats why it didn't fit.

You need a ring and pinion out of 90-94 Legacy Turbo w/ LSD.

 

Matt, I paid $3300 + expenses which I haven't paid yet. My local suby dealer is giving me a good deal. $200 for labor for 1)swapping out my broken one with one they had laying around which had a little damage to reverse (a friend's), and 2)swapping out the loaner for my STI. Other services rendered are the storage costs for the last few weeks while I scavenged this and that and their understanding shoulder when I've had it towed there after not one, but two depressing nights at the track. Yeah, I broke the loaner too.

I chose the STI v7 tranny because I understood it to be much more sturdy and durable than what I had. Also, I understood the 5spd to be more feasible for racing.

BAN and Alex, thanks so much. Circumstances for me right now have me in isolation for 14hrs a day this week, so I wasn't able to get to the internet when the dealer found out it wouldn't fit.

I just can't wait to get into the drivers' seat. I've been without for 3 weeks now. And I'm tremendously anxious to experience the new tranny.

 

pat have you found the ring and pinion that you needed?

 

I think so. Ed is working on it right now. There are 2 options, the 2002 TS wagon ring & pinion is a 3.90 (which is what I need), but it's $5xx.00. The 90-94 Leggy Turbo is the other. I think that the r&p will be significantly cheaper for this, but it's not a perfect match. There are different sized yokes that just need to be ordered then swapped out.

 

^^^ good to hear. I think that I'll be on the same journey real soon. When do you think it'll be done? Im sure that there are alot of us that would like to see it and Im no different, cant wait.

 

I can't wait.

Ed says that since I'm trying to go with the Leg Turbo parts, they might actually be on hand so soonest possible might be tomorrow or Friday. Latest would probably be next week if I have to wait on the parts to arrive.

 

Pics once its done please! Sounds like a awesome job.

 

I got a awesome deal for labor from the dealer, so I haven't been down there while he was installing it. No pics (unless Ed the mechanic took some. I sort've doubt).

I've seen it up on the lift with it installed without the shifter reverse lock-out cable attached and the driveshaft not attached. Ed said that it went in so much easier than the stock ones do, if you'll believe that.

One update. I found out all of the details in swapping in the Legacy parts. There is a yoke that goes on the end of the pinion that needs to be swapped out. We finally found all of the part numbers for that and the ring & pinion. Turns out that the dealer had all of them in their warehouse. Even better, the service manager is not going to charge me for them (either because he's tired of my car taking up space in his garage, or because of my brilliant personality...must be the former). Could be done as early as tomorrow.

 

Alright Pat! So what type of break ins are we looking at or is the sucker ready to go?

 

I'm probably gonna give it some break-in miles. I was just imagining in my head how I will feel up on the line at the dragstrip. It's not a pretty sight. I will probably be too scared to launch it hard.

You know, Dan says you don't have to launch the 6spd nearly as hard. My only problem is that I still have the R160 in back, so the 'spider gears' are a weak point. I might just wait to drag it until I've had a chance to swap out the rear end.

 

damn u got a killer deal on labor... i mentioned this to the local dealer and they just laughed can u pls pm me contact info for the source u got your tranny from? thanks...

 

Lemme retract the 'awesome deal for labor' part.

I'd rather not include it, now. Let me just say that I missed out on an opportunity to learn how to swap a transmission and I'm pretty pissed about it....and now with the higher labor fees, I'm a little bit higher than my original budget.