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I'm about ready to remove a transmission separately from an engine for the first time, and I had a couple of questions:

1) The FSM says to install an "engine support assembly" after removing the pitch stop mount:



Is this just so that when you remove the transmission the engine won't swing forwards? Because that stresses the motor mounts out too much? Or because it makes it hard to reinstall the transmission? I imagine few or none of us actually have this tool; did you guys improvise something instead, or just not worry about it?

2) Does the driveshaft have to be disconnected from the rear differential, or is unbolting the center bearing enough to pull it out of the transmission? If the driveshaft has to be unbolted, I guess that means all four wheels need to be off the ground so that the shaft can be rotated to access all four bolts, right?

3) Does the downpipe need to be removed, or can I just unbolt the brackets that hold the downpipe to the tranny? I remember being able to swap my tranny mount without removing the downpipe, but I also remember it being a little awkward.

4) How is the speedometer cable attached to the transmission exactly?

Thanks.

When I bought my SS the transmission was already removed by a reputable Subaru dealer, so I'll tell you what they did, along with what I think based on my experience of re-installing a new tranny.

1. Didn't worry about it. You may want to keep an eye on your radiator, in case something lines up differently or something.

2. The driveshaft was completely removed. However, I don't think I jacked up the rear at all, I just remember it was a bitch to tighten the bolts. I would probably recomend lifting all four to make it easier.

3. Downpipe was removed. I can't imagine it being very easy to manouver the tranny around with it still in place.

4. If I remember correctly, it just screws on like all other speedo cable I've seen. Just unscrew the nut(may be like a thumbwheel type nut, can't remember) that the cable goes through. I'm sure if you look at it, you'll figure it out right away.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the help, Binford. I don't think there's much to worry about; I just want to be as informed as possible.

No problemo.

Removing the pitch stop mount means you might (probably will) have to use your jacj to jack the engine back slightly. Just use a piece of wood and jack the oil pan.

Remove the whole driveshaft. Just undo it from the rear diff, it's not bad at all.

You will need to remove the DP.

The speedometer cable is held in by a little plastic nut. BE CAREFUL, mine shattered but I was still able to get it out and back in with what was left of the nut.

Good luck V! I wish I was there to help.

Thanks, Matt! Doesn't sound like too much of a problem. It'd be cool if we were all together for this stuff, but such is life...

Did you and Phil get Subarina's new transmission in?

Follow the speedo cable, there is a coupler with a metal clip in it. Undo this, and the speedo cable is 2 parts. I did this, didn't break anything.

My car sits in the driveway without a tranny, and the motor just sitting there no problem. Group N mounts though.

Good luck!

Cool. Maybe I'll try to figure out some way to warm up that plastic coupler before trying to remove the clip, since it's pretty cold here.

I've got old WRX mounts under my motor. But I don't wrenching them and making them all old and sloppy if it means I'm driving my car again.

Thanks, Phil.

Yes, we got it in. We got the tranny in really fast. Then the 'ol girl fought us the rest of the way. Phil had to head home early for a function he had that night. I kept working and finally got it all back together at 1:30 am last night. The tranny feels good, new shifter bushings are awesome.

Something's not right with the car though. It won't idle right and I can't go on boost without the car bucking, backfiring and shaking. I think my VSS might be the problem but don't know for sure. Fuel delivery is defintely having issues though. It's really bad. Hopefully I can figure out the problem soon. I'll be running wastegate boost for a while though for sure.

Wow! I'm so glad it's running again, even if not perfectly!

Hmm... the car's not in test mode (green connectors), is it? That can make it cut fuel on boost.

And I assume you've checked all the obvious stuff already (plug wires, intake leaks, oxygen sensor)...

Yeah, I think many of us (at least you and I for sure) are going to be running wastegate boost for some time.

1.no need for the support tool. getting the trans back in requires you to jack up the front of the engine as previously mentioned. I used a piece of 2x4 a little longer than the distancebetween the engine and the ground and wedged it up in front of the oil pan.
2.I was swapping driveshafts, but I imagine you could just undo the center bearing. if not, well, youve got to pull it anyway.
4. speedo cable has a little nut that sits on a flange on the cable housing. the nut threads into the trans case, tightening the flange down. agreed with the previous advice of be careful. its old ass plastic that is exposed to the elements.

never swapped a legacy transmission, but I can tell you that as far as I remember, on my xt6 all I had to do was unhook driveshaft from rear of transmission and unhook center carrier bearing so the driveshaft could drop down a bit

Arg, I'd rather be helping you than laying out circuit boards (right now) and writing grad school apps (tomorrow).

206er - Yeah, I had been thinking I could use a big wooden board as a lever to make things line up. And thanks for the explanation about the speedometer cable.

0perose - Hm. Well, I'll give it a try and let everyone know. If I remember right, the driveshaft is bolted to the differential but simply slides into the transmission. Thanks.

Sam - Aw, come on, PCBs are fun! Thanks for the thought.

vrg3 wrote:Wow! I'm so glad it's running again, even if not perfectly!

Yeah, me too. It's a little anti-climatic though to do all that work and then have the car barely run. And I mean barely.

Hmm... the car's not in test mode (green connectors), is it? That can make it cut fuel on boost.

No, it's not in test mode for sure.

And I assume you've checked all the obvious stuff already (plug wires, intake leaks, oxygen sensor)...

I did check the plug wires, listened and wiggled for intake leaks (haven't used starting fluid though) and the O2 sensor is plugged in and not throwing a code, haven't checked the signal yet though.

It's acting really wierd. It's barely running and misses very bad off boost now too. It's acting similar to when my VSS wasn't working at all, only much, much worse.

I might take my i/c back out tomorrow and give everything another once over. Hopefully I'll find something.

Maybe try unhooking the oxygen sensor... it's helped us before.

Your speedometer works?

Yeah, speedometer works and I checked it real quick before bed last night and the VSS is working! That's good but now I have no idea why the car is running so bad.

I'll try unhooking the O2 sensor but I can't see it causing this much trouble.

I'm going to go out and take i/c out and see what's up. Maybe it's just an extreme vacuum leak or something.

Sorry to highjack your thread.

Another recommendation to not touch the plastic nut on the transmission. You can see the metal clip in this pic
http://www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/ima ... P_3337.JPG

No prob, Matt. I just figure disconnecting the oxygen sensor is always worth a shot... And, yeah, we can hope it's just a big intake leak.

Thanks, Josh. That is what I ended up doing.

So I got the transmission half out today... It's basically sitting on the two lower bellhousing studs and on a jack. It was cold and dark and lonely so I gave up for the evening. My roommate's boyfriend offered to give me a hand with it tomorrow so hopefully it'll be quick, since all we have to do is pull it aft and then down.

So, yeah, I ended up just undoing the clip a couple inches up the speedometer cable. A little spring fell out; hopefully there wasn't anything else that fell out -- I didn't see anything. That was easy enough.

As for the driveshaft, my car has a 2-part driveshaft so I just undid the four 12mm-head nut-and-bolts holding the front half to the back half. This was just aft of the center bearing, so it worked well. Hopefully this isn't going to make it harder to reinstall; I was thankful not to have to raise the rear of the car, since I only have two jackstands.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

Right on V. Man, I wish i was there to help.

What are your plans? Are you just dropping it now to get it out of the way or do you have something lined up?


I didn't get a chance to work on my car at all today, busy morning and then worked all day. I found out that the VSS is still not working, which is strange. It worked last night when I was just going slow but today to and from work it didn't work at all. Strange!

Here's the thing, the more I drive the car, the better it seems to be running. On the way to work today it was still sputtering and missing, then at lunch it was a bit better and I could actually roll on mild boost (about 4 psi) without missing. Then after work I could go WOT @ 9 psi without trouble! Woohoo. Hopefully the ECU was just taking it own sweet ass time learning. I took out the underdriven LW pulley and put the OEM crank pulley back in during the swap.

Anyways, car seems to be running better so I'm very happy.

Matt, I'm really glad your back on the road!

I'm also in the Wastegate Boost club for a little while. Now for fear of the engine moreso than the transmission.

Yay, hopefullyit was jut flearning ttuff, Matt. I;m so glad Subarnns'a working again.

i ahve a tran msionn on its wayfromn a hunkyuard fcalled Eur-Asian AUto parts anbd hopefuly itw ill be her this weeklj sometme., i zajhust want to have mnyb s0tkc bprken trsasmiosson out beforoe the new one gets herel., I"mg oging to run cheap GL5 for one gas tank and then swch aot Redline Lightweight shopckporrf (even though Superlight is the one wit te correct viscocity specoficantion). I'll duouble curlutch everywhere i go and drive ver gently on waystlyegate bost, thatsa ny plan..

vrg3 wrote:Yay, hopefullyit was jut flearning ttuff, Matt. I;m so glad Subarnns'a working again.

i ahve a tran msionn on its wayfromn a hunkyuard fcalled Eur-Asian AUto parts anbd hopefuly itw ill be her this weeklj sometme., i zajhust want to have mnyb s0tkc bprken trsasmiosson out beforoe the new one gets herel., I"mg oging to run cheap GL5 for one gas tank and then swch aot Redline Lightweight shopckporrf (even though Superlight is the one wit te correct viscocity specoficantion). I'll duouble curlutch everywhere i go and drive ver gently on waystlyegate bost, thatsa ny plan..

Drunk Post?

Yeah, no kidding. What was that?


I almost went through Eur-Asian Auto too.

Heh, yeah...

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... 760#154010

The dude at Eur-Asian seemed pretty cool... He included non-residential freight in their quote, gave me the VIN, and was quick about everything, even replying to my emails from home in the night and in the morning.