legacycentral bbs

To have a 4eat rebuilt or to put a 5mt in and possibly have a synchro issue? Has anyone gone through this?

Ultimately, a 5MT will be cheaper.

Why? Because synchro issues are caused by people not knowing how to drive.

You could buy a relatively new un-broken WRX transmission for $900 to $1000 and toss it in for a few bucks in parts.

Use good transmission fluid and know how to drive a manual transmission and you won't have anything to wear out but clutches.

What exactly is wrong with your transmission? A 5mt swap can be pricey depending on the parts you use, tranny, pedals/cylinders, clutch/flywheel, mounts, driveshaft, etc. Depend on what the problem is rebuilding it will almost certainly be cheaper if you do it yourself. I know you're thinking that sounds hard as hell, but it's so simple it's not even funny. Find out what's wrong first, then make the descision. If it's a solenoid there's no swap that's cheaper, valve body same deal, clutch pack same deal. You can get a stage 2 level ten rebuild kit for less than 500 bucks, or a stage 3 for a little more than 500. IPT has similar prices for their rebuild package. Valve bodys run about 500 or so. But this all depends on what the problem is. A solenoid can be anywhere from 50-600 new, or you could snag a few from the jy in like 30-40 minutes and use the best one for much less money. If a seal/gasket is bad those are exceptionally cheap in comparison, like $50 max. If it's something big though you're probably going to have to swap a tranny. Anyway, diagnose and isolate the problem first, then figure out which is better.

my 184,000 mile 5MT has no synchro problems whatsoever

The 4EATS seem like a car-killing grenade that goes off sometime over 125,000 miles and there is nothing you can do about it. I would have a Touring Wagon already if they came with 5MT's.

you know where my vote lies.

The stock overhaul of the 4eat in Vancouver costs $2800 Cdn
and it would likely be vulnerable to hard driving with torque
around 220 at the crank.

The ITP and Level Ten builds cost about 3800 US and are built to handle more performance than that.

Next Spring I'll give my IPT build some track time and will
provide aome comment.

my tranny swap is costing me 1100.
includes:

99rs tranny and rear end- 75k miles
lightened rs flywheel
excedy clutch slightly used
STI shift linkage
group n tranny mount
driveshaft, pedal boxes, other misc.

oh and the goodies to completely take out my ABS

but then again i got teh hook up on some of the parts

plus when it comes down to it wouldnt just be nicer to have a 5Mt?

I've spent too many years driving modified cars with heavy and tricky
clutches--fine on the track but not in city trafffic.

Thats why I went to the built 4eat before it failed out in the
boonies (at 150k miles) or on the track.