Legacy777's 1990 Legacy Turbo

[Someperson]

the gears the same as the N/As? or harder?

[mike-tracy]

^^The only US n/a subarus that came with a 6mt are the current Legacys (and the BRZ!). I'm not sure how strong they are but Subaru probably didn't design them to hold well in excess of 300hp like the STI and LGT-B trannies. I'd love to prove myself wrong someday.

[Someperson]

that was about the 5 speed turbo tranny

[mike-tracy]

Haha I missed that. Hopefully n/a 6mt's will be cheap enough for the average joe to consider swapping into older cars.

[Someperson]

i was more wondering what the differences between the NA and turbo trannies are

[mike-tracy]

Different style clutch action, pull vs push. Also they are hydraulic vs n/a's cable. Some say the Legacy SS got special shot-peened gears because they can certainly take a lot of abuse.

[Someperson]

ahh

[entirelyturbo]

The 6spd N/A transmission in the new Legacy are just the same split-case 5spd transmission with an extra cog. So they're not as strong as the STi transmission.

The 6spd in the BRZ, according to several sources though they're unverified, is a Lexus IS250 transmission with a different bellhousing.

The 1st-gen turbo 5spds did have shot-peened gears; there's some post here on this board from long ago showing an official Subaru quote on that. So they are stronger than the N/A transmissions... but they still break.


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[Legacy777]

I've been rather deliquent at updating my pictures and this thread and have a big update.

Since the last update I was checking whether the 5spd & 6spd dust shields are different, and they are. Additional, there are three more bolts for the pressure plate. More info can be found in this thread.

I've been working out the details on getting the lower starter mount. This thread has more details.

I've updated the 6spd swap details thread with new lengths of the transmissions, drivelines, and other details.

Lastly, I've weighed the flywheel, clutch, & pressure plate from the 5spd for comparison to the 6spd components.
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=50920


Here are the pictures from the last several days of work.

11/23/12 - 5spd Removal
11/27/12 - Test fitting, weights, & 5spd vs. 6spd component checks
12/01/12 - Lower starter support mod & trans crossmember bushing upgrade

[Legacy777]

I spent about 12+ hours yesterday working on all the little stuff I needed to do before putting the trans in. I fixed the trans wiring harness (there was a break in the insulation) and repinned the connectors to use the existing 4-pin 5spd connector. I also grabbed a 2-pin connector from a spare harness I have for the center diff. It turned out very nice.

I redid the TiC shifter joint bushings since I didn't like how they turned out last time when I pressed them in. Also did the shifter lever pivot bushings, and swapped the shifter joint housing on the trans (the old one was bent). I punched some holes in the rubber shifter mount boot because we have six mounting holes vs. the 6spds four.

I replaced the starter solenoid from a used one I got, and swapped the lower flywheel cover. That was a pain to get off. The 6spd cover, which has a little deeper depression was actually easier to install. Lastly, I installed the flywheel, pressure plate, & clutch. I made note of some markings on the flywheel & pressure plate, which indicate areas of residual unbalance. These should be located a minimum of 120 deg apart from each other.

One thing I ended up doing is making a homemade flywheel stop plate. You slide this piece of metal over the lower stud and bolt it to one of the flywheel holes. This keeps the flywheel from moving while you torque it down. It worked very well

All this info has been updated in my 6spd swap details thread

Here are the pictures

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... spdswap/11

Hopefully I'll get the trans in next weekend!

[NICO]

lol i like that flywheel tool you made, very nice good for tourquing it up. also freaking clean job you done so far !!

[kimokalihi]

Great idea on the tool! Its so simple and easy. I'm always jamming a huge prybar in the teeth and its a major pita to get all the bolts tight.

[bmxkelowna]

duhhhhhh

[cj91legss]

Different style clutch action, pull vs push. Also they are hydraulic vs n/a's cable. Some say the Legacy SS got special shot-peened gears because they can certainly take a lot of abuse.

Why am I on my 4th SS trans?

[Legacy777]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Yeah I got the idea for the tool from the factory manual. There's a similar tool you can buy from Subaru....but this was simple and pretty easy to build.

[Legacy777]

I weighed both the 5spd & 6spd tonight for comparison.

The 5spd was 124.1 lbs and the 6spd was 194.8 lbs.

Here's some more info
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=50982

Pics
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... spdswap/12

[cj91legss]

Wow....

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[Legacy777]

Yup...it's girthy! A 70 lbs difference.

[cj91legss]

Yeah that's a huge weight diff

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[mike-tracy]

Yeah I'll stick to my 5mt for now, since I don't break them like CJ.

[cj91legss]

I don't break them. I destroy.....

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[Legacy777]

Well the 6spd is in the car and the car is back on the ground!

A buddy came over Friday after work and we tackled getting the 6spd into the car. The first challenge was trying to get it under the car. What we ended up doing was putting it on the jack and jacked up the car with a second jack since the jack stands were too low to allow the trans to slide under the car. We started jacking it up, but the 6spd's weight distribution is kind of funky so it was starting to slide back and off the jack plate. I then took a tie down strap and strapped the trans to the jack. This actually worked pretty damn well! We ended up supporting the back half of the trans with a piece of 2x4 that was resting on a set of jack stands. This gave us a little bit of a safety factor in case the strap broke.

As we started working the trans up to the engine I noticed there was an issue with one of the mounting extra tabs/bolt holes on the trans was in the way and was hitting the turbo flange bolt. I'm not sure if this is an issue with the 8-bolt main engines or not. What I did was take out the lower engine stud on the passenger side so I could sneak the trans by just below the turbo flange. This worked, and I just had to bend the lower flywheel cover down a little bit. Once the trans was clear of the turbo I screwed the stud on the passenger side back in.

Up until now, everything was going relatively well.....there were a few issues, but we overcame them. We got the trans and engine about an inch or two away from coming together, and they just didn't want to. We tried several different engine and trans alignment angles and they just wouldn't go. I finally broke out the engine hoist and was going to use that to give the engine some more angle. However about that time, we were both hungry and tired. So we took a break and got some Jimmy Johns sandwiches down the street. As we were eating our sandwiches, I was staring at the engine and thinking to myself....."100 bucks says they're not going together because the clutch and trans input splines are not matching up". So we finished the sandwiches and I rotated the engine slowly while my buddy pushed and lifted the back of the trans, and then poof! they slid right together! The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, and I worked on a few more things, but was pretty pooped.

Saturday I started by replacing the rear diff carrier mounts with the power flex bushings I bought almost a year ago!
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... ffbushings

I had to cut out the old bushings and then the metal casing....it sucked, but I knew it was going to suck, and just had to put in the time.

After lunch, I got back on the transmission and put in the driveline (the AT front section fit perfectly). Then I worked on getting the pitch stop mount bracket in (I had to cut off a small section that held the vent hose because it interferred with the routing of my turbo coolant hose below the TB). I reused the turbo legacy clutch slave cylinder (works fine with the 6spd) and bled the clutch line because I hadn't done it since I did the AWD & 5spd swap. The starter went on without a hitch.

Next came the exhaust....the stock 6spd bracket is close, but I did have to bend it and drill bigger holes to get the alignment just where I wanted it. I spent a lot of time bending, fitting, bending, fitting to get it just right. I ended up drilling the holes on the bracket to where it bolts to the trans to a larger diameter so I had some more wiggle room for adjusting. It was about 11pm on Saturday and I decided to call it a night. I didn't end up finishing the bracket until Sunday morning, and then got the rest of the exhaust back on and everything buttoned up.

The garage was a mess, so I cleaned it, and I'm ready to do the wiring. Despite some of the issues, I'm quite impressed with how smothly everything has gone, and that everything has fit. Subarus are truly like Legos!

One thing to note is that I think the engine & trans alignment is slightly different now with the 6spd. I noticed that my exhaust seems to fit better now compared to before. I am wondering if the group N 5spd mount is raised ever so slightly, compared to how the 6spd sits.

I will update the thread with pics once I've had some time to sort through them and get them on my server.

All that's left is the electrical work! However, I'll be yanking the dash since I've got some other wiring to do and the new gauge cluster to put in....so it's not quite there yet

[Legacy777]

Finally got the Powerflex rear carrier bushings installed! It's been over a year!

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=48078

[cj91legss]

You know you wanna pull all nighters to drive it this weekend Josh.......

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[xise]

Sounds about right for the weight, I remember being under my RS and my cousin and I lowered the trans, he had to get a tool we forgot and I just said i'd rest the transmission on my chest until he got back.....that thing was pretty serious, that 150 lbs is in pretty much on spot on the trans.