440 swap question

[andyyyy]

Hello everyone my auto trans just went out today and was reading codes 14 and 15 which are shift solenoid's 1 and 2. Dropping the tranny and getting it repaired was going to cost a lotttt of money and I have a friend who has a tranny off a 98 (i believe) legacy sus. He would give it to me for cheep so I figured mind as well attempt it. Now with the 440 gearing I know the rear diff would need replaced and the axles need to be female instead of the male but does any one know if the drive shaft will fit? Same goes for the front diff and the axles fitting? Also for the torque converter would it need to be the one off the sus or would i need a legacy ss one? I know it's a common mod but i could find much help on the threads.

[mike-tracy]

Find out for sure what year SUS it is, cause the 99 has a "Phase II" tranny which isn't compatible with your car. 98 should be ok.

You can reuse your driveshaft if you're swapping auto-auto. You'll need to grab male-male style axles like you mentioned, to use on the rear. Grab them from a 96-99 Legacy (Outback, GT, SUS, etc). Other cars will work but certain Imprezas and possibly Foresters use a weird rear axle with a different spline count. You should be able to reuse your front axles with the new tranny.

The torque converter needs to be matched to the correct flex plate, so you can use the SS or SUS TQ converter with it's matching plate. It's possible the flex plates interchange, but I found that n/a 2.2 and 2.5 have different bolt spacing. Personally I would use the torque converter with the lowest mileage.

Note that your speedo will be off by +/- 10% with an outback, forester or SUS tranny, unless you use the larger tires. If this is a big deal to you, then you can use a Legacy GT (96-98), Impreza RS (1998 only), or Legacy LSI (1996 only IIRC, previous years used 4.11 trannies, and 96 was the last year of that trim I believe) - all 4.44 trannies with "normal" height suspension.

[andyyyy]

We ran the serial number and it is a phase 1 so we got it in the nick of time. And the speedo isn't a big deal for me. I know they sell correctors you just hook up to the speedometer line behind the dash for like 30 bucks. Or just slap out back suspension on it and some meaty tires to contract the whole thing. Well it's going to be a fun project! Hopefully it doesn't just open up a whole can of worms....

[mike-tracy]

Sounds like fun! One thing I forgot to mention, is you'll most likely have to swap the input flange on your SS rear diff onto the SUS diff. Find someone or a shop with a high torque impact gun to remove the nut.