legacycentral bbs

I just took my daughter to school and after dropping her off I took off from a stop sign and 2nd gear grenaded! I wasn't even in it all the way. It was just as the turbo spooled up and BAM! Clank, clank, clank. Now I don't have second gear and there is a horrible grinding clanking noise coming from the gear box.

What the hell am I going to do now? I can't afford a built tranny or probably even a used turbo tranny. I'm totally screwed. I was so excited to be able to drive my car this winter too, since I didn't get to all last winter. I believe this may be the end of Subarina.

Oh man!

What is the external difference between a transmission meant for push-style hydraulics (like an Impreza RS transmission) and one meant for a cable (like a 1st-gen Legacy transmission)?

I have no idea.

Oh no Matt .

I think Blackbart said he has a few NA trannies, I wonder if maybe you could get an NA tranny cheap to hold you over. You might have to go a little easy on it but it'd at least get you around. Don't give up on Subarina just yet (I know, we've had to tell you that too many times ).

skid542 wrote:I think Blackbart said he has a few NA trannies, I wonder if maybe you could get an NA tranny cheap to hold you over.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too... But it would be easier to swap in a transmission with a hydro clutch, since you wouldn't have to deal with setting up the cable. Or is that easy to do?

What years and models have AWD 5MTs with 3.900 gearing?

Edit: If the information here is correct, it looks like an EJ18 or EJ22 Impreza would have to be the donor.

I don't know much about switching from a hyrdro to a cable since I just don't know much about our hydro set ups. But adjusting the cable at the shift fork that sticks out of the tranny is pretty easy to do, not much help I know ., I can take a look at my cable routing and see if there's anything 'fancy' to it.

Another half educated idea, aren't FWD tranny's 3.9? But I guess they probably don't make it where all you have to do is remove a plate and throw in a drive shaft? I don't know if a FWD would be cheaper and/or even work. I can take some pics of mine if need be.

Hm, I don't know. But it seems to me that swapping pedal boxes might be easier than installing a transfer case on a transmission that never had one.

Hawk296 says in this thread that hydro trannies have the necessary mounting hardware to fit a cable. I wonder if it's the other way around.

Hm... You make a very good point.

What would I be looking for to see if my tranny would with a hyrdo? Just a diffent spot for the clutch fork?

Thanks Lee, and V.

I don't know what to do. Does Subaru still sell our gear sets or is there somewhere to get them new? Maybe I can just rebuild my tranny or something. I put in a request with one of those salvage yard search sites. We'll see if any of them come back with a hit and what they're asking for a used turbo 5mt.

Any guesses as to price?

I wish I wasn't hurting financially so bad right now, I'd have Andrew build me a monster tranny. Dogged 1-2,3-4 with a synchroed 5th. *sigh* that'd be nice.

Does anyone know the model # that is on the top of the turbo 5mt tranny? I have a salvage yard that is asking me for it.

I think you'd need to take a look inside the bellhousing.

Ooh ooh ooh! Look inside the bellhousing of the transmission that Josh pulled out of his NA donor wagon:

http://www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/ima ... efault.htm

Look at the pictures near the middle of the bottom row. DCP_3076 and DCP_3077. There are two spots for the clutch fork pivot!

I don't know the model number, but it might be in that big stack of printouts from the parts manual that I sent you that one time, if you still have it.

Phil needs to chime in on this thread.

What about doing an uber-ghetto fix? Crack the transmission apart, remove all the bits and remnants of 2nd gear, and put it back together...

Yeah he does! I think he's in class right now though.

I might still have that, I usually keep everything. I'll have to look for it.

Nice spot Vikash. Do we have a picture of turbo bell housing to verify they do indeed match, I'd assume they would.

Matt, I don't know of anyone that sells the gears by themselves but it would seem like someone should. I'd think Phil would be able to shed some light on this option.

Prices? I have no idea but I'd start searching around for an NA tranny too, bound to be a fair bit cheaper I'd think.

vrg3 wrote:What about doing an uber-ghetto fix? Crack the transmission apart, remove all the bits and remnants of 2nd gear, and put it back together...

That might work.

*sigh* I'm really getting sick of this crap. I didn't see this coming at all. I just ordered that Redline gear oil too. I knew that cheap shit I had in there was no good but damn, I didn't think it was going to do such massive damage. Even if the gear oil had nothing to do with it I'm still totally blind sided.

Lee - You mean whether or not the turbo bellhousing bolt pattern is the same as the non-turbo? It is.

Matt - Yeah, I can't believe it!

It's all because you yelled Hardy and Phil about their tranny talk in the Ashtray...

I don't think anyone see's grenaded gears coming, unless you're throwing out massive power. But I know that doesn't do anything for your cause and I certainly feel for you. You've been putting up with a lot with Subarina. I can't put a hand on a wrench for you so all I can do is offer encouragement - hang in there, she's worth it and it's not all uphills.

And our motors are torque monsters, you could bypass 2nd without too much hurting.

Edit : Yep Vikash, I couldn't imagine why it wouldn't be but you never know, well I didn't .

skid542 wrote:It's all because you yelled Hardy and Phil about their tranny talk in the Ashtray...

Yeah, no kidding. I should have kept my mouth shut.

I don't think anyone see's grenaded gears coming, unless you're throwing out massive power. But I know that doesn't do anything for your cause and I certainly feel for you. You've been putting up with a lot with Subarina. I can't put a hand on a wrench for you so all I can do is offer encouragement - hang in there, she's worth it and it's not all uphills.

Thanks. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take though. I can't really build the car up the way I want and it doesn't fit my family lifestyle very well either. What I need is another vehicle, like a pick up truck, then Subarina could be my toy and this kind of stuff wouldn't sting quite so bad. Then I could haul stuff too.

Aw dude, what the hell!? I'd be getting fed up about now too. I don't know what it costs to rebuild a manual tranny. It might be worth shopping around if you don't already have an idea. I know Alex Bobatas does that kind of thing and there's a guy in Montoursville who's rumored to be really good and inexpensive. Do you have any way to get around?

Very weak.

Installing a cable clutch is going to be more work for you than you need it to be. You'll have to change your pedal bracket (unless you have a really new pedal bracket) as there's no place for the cable to attach to. It would be easier to just use a hydraulic push slave cylinder and clutch fork. Don't forget the flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate too. Does the transmission still drive? You might be alright with driving it around if you can get most of the shrapnel out. But taking it apart to get it all out sounds counter productive. I think an NA tranny would be a good way to go if it's in good condition and you go slow with it. It may last you a while depending on how good of condition it is in. A FWD tranny might be just as well.

rebuilding the tranny is possible. IF you can find the 2nd gear. If the 2nd gear is the same as the NA gear then it has to be ordered in from Japan. I know.

And a NA tranny can hold at least 160 hp 160 torque. Just dont crash a gear like I did!

douglas vincent wrote:rebuilding the tranny is possible. IF you can find the 2nd gear. If the 2nd gear is the same as the NA gear then it has to be ordered in from Japan. I know.

1st and 2nd gear (along with reverse) are machined onto the input shaft.

Broken 2nd, means broken input shaft.

You COULD crack the transmission, pull out all of the gear bits, and put it back together. You don't need special tools, just time. But you almost certaintly damaged other parts of the tranny, and you likely ruined reverse.

But, it wouldn't be the best thing to do. In reality, you should try to source a new tranny.

The WRX uses a 3.9 front diff, and you can swap your center diff and gears over to that transmission. Used, working, WRX boxes aren't cheap though.

A built box is expensive.

I would offer you my current transmission, but I don't know when I will be done with my new trans, it certaintly won't be within the week.

Cheapest way to get you on the road again? Use an N/A tranny. Just try to find one local or on Nasioc or something.

Poke around the Drivetrain forum at Nasioc and see if people are considering a built tranny and try to buy their stock one.

Good luck Matt. I'll let you know if I can finish my transmission any sooner, and I'll let you use mine until you find a more permanent solution.

I don't doubt it was the gear oil that did it.