My first tranny swap - With questions *UPDATED 6/12*

[KingDustin]

Well I dropped off my Legacy at a local shop owned by a subie master tech, to get the transmission swapped out for a 99 Impreza rs tranny w/ rear diff since mine died. They took a look at it and it's not something they feel comfortable doing, I guess the previous owners messed some bolts up (stripped, wrong bolts, in sideways etc.) and they don't want to be held liable for getting it back up to stock standards. So I guess I'm going to save some money and tackle this project myself with some friends.

I already have the rs tranny and rear diff. I plan on going into Subaru tomorrow afternoon after we pull the tranny to order a new clutch and all of the bolts and anything else that looks like it needs replacing. Since I'm saving the roughly $600-800 that I was going to pay the tech I was thinking about doing some other stuff while we're swapping the tranny, any ideas of some cheaper, easy mods I should do while I'm at this? New shifter assembly w/ short shift kit, bushings etc..?

I plan on doing a couple other things at the same time, I've got a set of 04 WRX springs/struts that I was planning on throwing on if I can find the top hats, swapping my rex's 17x7.5 rims, picking up some winter tires, remote start and alarm and cleaning up/repainting some the trim, roof rails and stuff like that.

Any tips/tricks, problems people have run into, special tools that would help or I'll need, would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance! :smt023

Oh and here's some pics of the subies!

First picked/cleaned up the leggy:

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2012/12/leggy-1.jpg

Teaching my little brother about cars

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2012/12/leggy2-1.jpg

The leggy and a friends SVX

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2012/12/leggy3-1.jpg

And gotta have a pic of the rex!

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2012/12/rex-1.jpg

[MonstarMotorsports]

when its out of hte car is the time to do shifter bushings and a short shifter. dont buy a clutch from subaru. buy an exedy off amazon. and better buy a really nice tap and die if theres some messed up threads your going to be fixing. they are about $100 bucks for a good craftsman.

[GTDrifter]

If you're swapping the wiring harness and ecu make sure you also swap the wiring that goes through the driver fender....I can't stress that enough

[r3v_v3ng3]

Check the RS transmission sleeve to see if its good. Otherwise get yourself the snout/sleeve kit

[KingDustin]

I will definitely check that when I get out there today. I found the clutch and flywheel on Amazon so I'll see if they have the sleeve kit as well. Now just trying to track down an Impreza short shifter w/ bushings. Also, any suggestions for OEM tophats? Or aftermarket if I can get a better deal? I'm just using a stock wrx wagon suspension.

@GTDrifter, I wouldn't need to swap any wiring harnesses, would I? It's a manual to manual swap.

[d1giPhux]

You will definitely want to pick up an oil separator cover kit. This is something you should DEFINITELY replace while the trans is out. Also don't forget new rear main seal, etc.

http://subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partdet ... rtid=11564 (http://subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partdetail.php?partid=11564)

[harrymaneuvers]

I JUST bought an oil separator kit today from Gillman North Subaru.

$30.68 shipped for everything :)

[KingDustin]

Update: This last weekend was a pain. This was my first real time taking anything apart on any of my cars, I've done some bolt on stuff, exhaust, intake, interior, some body stuff and have helped friends w/ some tranny and engine swaps but this was the first time I was taking it on on my own.

So first off my Legacy has 225k miles on it, so we knew almost every bolt was going to suck to get out ha.

We were going by the book and I had almost everything ready to come out besides one crossmember bolt, which was stripped out and rigged up by previous owner (will post pics later). After working with a torch, air socket and and open end wrench we finally got it out.

With a little rigging we grinded down a screwdriver to use to knock the pins out of the axles. Going by the book the next step was to take the axle all the way out. We lowered the car back down to break the axle nuts loose. We used a 1 1/2' 1/2 drive breaker bar with another 2' pipe and could not get it broke loose. We tried everything we could think of but couldn't get it to budge. After some research online we found that using a 3/4 drive with a larger breaker bar seemed to be the weapon of choice. Luckily my dad is friends with the owner of a local tire shop and they had one we could borrow. Finally we broke it loose.

I'm working all week and waiting for all the parts to get here so I can't get back out to our garage until this weekend but I'm hoping we will be able to get it all finished up this weekend.

[KingDustin]

Well still working on this one....Had a few other projects pop up so this one got moved to the back. Finally have the new transmission ready to go in, swapping out the rear diff and ran into another problem. The diff that came with the new tranny did not have the coupling that attaches the diff to the driveshaft. I thought it would be easy enough but I cannot get the nut off of it to swap it to the new diff. I tried placing it in a vice to hold it still but still no luck. Soaked it in WD40 and pb blaster, even heated it up with a torch. Any other suggestions? I might just see if I can pick up the part at the stealership.

[KingDustin]

This part for reference:

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2013/06/diff_zps5295120d-1.jpg (http://s196.photobucket.com/user/parry2007/media/diff_zps5295120d.jpg.html)

[ctbrighton]

you might have better luck finding another matching final drive diff complete with the input shaft flange.

[KingDustin]

That's what I was afraid of....Looks like I'll be going to the junkyard this weekend.