Quote Originally Posted by Go Mifune View Post
I look forward to your thread! Do you live in a rust state? Only asking because it sounds like that with all of the parts cars. When living in Illinois, I was lucky to be able to store my good car in the garage during winter.



It's open AFAIK but have this fantasy of eventually doing a 4.44 final drive and LS diff with my current 5-speed. Probably will never happen but the 4.44 gears are still available; $345 through RalliSpec. Haven't priced labor but that will probably kill it right there.
Maybe consider a 4.11 Outback or Forester transmission in the meantime. I think the only factory 4.44 5MT that is "easy" to get is the FXT 5MT from 2004 - 2008 (or the Baja turbo).

I think the rallispec kit you are referring to is this one, right?
http://www.rallispec.com/gea_syn_rst1141.html

That basically gives you the ratios of the JDM GD WRX. The US FXT 5mts have shorter 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears from that. First gear probably doesn't matter much unless you are doing autocross, really for bigger tracks it's going to be the third gear difference that you would notice, and it probably depends on the track as to whether the rallispec one is better or the forester one is.

Oh, and I don't believe that the rallispec kit come with the 4.44 ring and pinion, so you'd still need to source that.

I think you're best bet for 4.44 is the USDM FXT or Baja Turbo 5MTs or roll the dice with a JDM transmission.

For the best bang for your buck though, try a 4.11 Outback or Forester (non-turbo) 5MT. You can pull one out of a junk yard for $150 and then get a 4.11 rear diff for another $75 or so (might as well find a VLSD for it). That's a pretty cheap way to experiment with different gearing (assuming you do the swap yourself instead of at a shop).

Edit: I just looked at the rallispec kit again, it looks like that you buy the gears and then buy the install kit, so probably $1500 or so before labor.