can an MT AWD trans. be converted to MT FWD?

greg donovan · Post by **greg donovan** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 4:42 am

i mean permanently not w/the fuse.

i mean take the center diff off of the AWD unit and replace it w/the mounting plate from a FWD trans.

can this be done?

this could save me alot of hassle in my quest for better acceleration if it were easily done as there are way more AWD subaru transmissions than there are FWD ones in the junkyard.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 5:00 am

Are you talking about automatics or manuals?

greg donovan · Post by **greg donovan** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 5:24 am

sorry meant 5MT

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 5:49 am

Why not just convert to AWD?

greg donovan · Post by **greg donovan** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 6:02 am

BAC5.2 wrote:Why not just convert to AWD?

having seen what that involves i would rather just buy a awd car. i know it can be done but im not sure i want to. if a found a good donor in a JY then maybe. but they dont like to sell whole cars and all the subarus in the JY here are AWD 4EATs. and i dont want an auto.

i like rallyxing my FWD subaru. i really like beating AWD cars w/my FWD subaru. i think learning how to drive a FWD car fast will make me a faster driver in a AWD car should i ever decide to go that route for rallyx or rally.

and if im gonna have a FWD car it might as well be a subaru. they are FWD pioneers afterall.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 4:14 pm

Maybe you could pull out the center diff, weld it so it's locked, and put it back in. Then you'd just have to somehow seal up the opening for the rear driveshaft.

greg donovan · Post by **greg donovan** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:28 am

vrg3 wrote:Maybe you could pull out the center diff, weld it so it's locked, and put it back in. Then you'd just have to somehow seal up the opening for the rear driveshaft.

i was thinking of using the back section of my FWD tranny in place of the back section of the AWD unit. coud it be as simple as removing the center diff and putting the FWD "cap" on it?

i would assume its not that easy.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:33 am

Could be. I don't know.

It also might be possible to transfer the front differential gears from the AWD junkyard tranny into yours, right?

greg donovan · Post by **greg donovan** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:46 am

vrg3 wrote:Could be. I don't know.

It also might be possible to transfer the front differential gears from the AWD junkyard tranny into yours, right?

that is definatelty possible and what i was plannning on doing. the ratios in 90 for the AWD and FWD were the same except the awd had a final of 4.11 instead of 3.70.

but having to simply unbolt a few external pieces,if that is possible, would be much better than haveing to tear two apart.

91legacyman · Post by **91legacyman** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 2:13 pm

wouldnt it be easier to just take out the awd diff and just weld a cap over that hole?

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 8:31 pm

Looking at the FSM and knowing what I do about manufacturing and Subaru's resourcefulness, I'd say it should be pretty easy to just bolt the fwd end piece to the awd transmission. It looks like everything that's the same between them is ahead of the end piece.

Steve

91legacyman · Post by **91legacyman** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 11:19 pm

still though what about that opening in the end? wouldnt oil leak out that opening while driving or if your driving and u hit a rock or what ever and knock that seal out what then lol?

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 5:57 am

The gearbox/front dif is one section while the seperate back section transfers power from the gears to the difs. On the fwd transmission it only sends it to the front dif, while the awd version has the center differential. Essentially it would become a fwd transmission with adifferent ratio, but little to nothing externally would give away that it wasn't originally fwd.

Steve

91legacyman · Post by **91legacyman** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 1:39 pm

ok i know that the opening in the rear where the drive shaft hooks up to the rear of the tranny when u install the tranny on a fwd my question is about that hole not about the gears (the opening in the rear of the tranny) do u leave it open or cover it some how?

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 2:31 pm

to be quite honest with you guys, the FWD tranny is really quite a bit different.

The AWD trannies have a driven shaft that is driven from the mainshaft. This is then connected to the center diff & viscous coupling.

The center diff is then connected to the rear transfer drive gear, and front drive pinion shaft. The front drive pinion shaft goes through the center of the front driven shaft.

On the FWD trannies, the front driven shaft is also the front drive pinion shaft.

Here's some diagrams to help show what I'm talking about.

FWD:
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... iption.jpg

AWD:
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... iption.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... n_assy.jpg

You can see in these scans how the power enters and exits the center diff.
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... rdiff1.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... rdiff2.jpg
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... rdiff3.jpg

If you wanted to convert it, you'd have to weld the center diff up, or I guess you could swap in a FWD drive pinion shaft....this is assuming it will fit.

91legacyman · Post by **91legacyman** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:36 pm

would the awd even bolt up in place of the fwd tranny ?

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 2:26 am

91legacyman wrote:would the awd even bolt up in place of the fwd tranny ?

you talking about the tranny?

yeah it'll bolt up just fine....just need a different tranny mount.

91legacyman · Post by **91legacyman** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 2:43 am

it would be better if he just looked alittle harder for the fwd tranny i found a bunch of fwd 5mt trannies cheapest one was 650$ and it had 50k miles on it i also found some with lower miles but the price was like 700-750$

good luck i got one on order ill get it in like 3 days

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can an MT AWD trans. be converted to MT FWD?

can an MT AWD trans. be converted to MT FWD?