legacycentral bbs

I tried searching but I'm trying to understand what my
options are for fixing the transmission:

I am not sure weather it makes more sense to try to rebuild, find another matching 5MT like I have or swap with something like a WRX or old Impreza transmission.

I'm not trying to go fancy, and I'm not pushing a lot of power, and I cant spend a lot of cash on fixing the transmission.

Tomorrow I may be pulling the engine and transmission with the help of a friend who is better with a wrench than I am , so I haven't seen inside the transmission case yet.


I have a few questions:

1) If I want to swap in a WRX or Impreza manual transmission,
do I need the rear diff AND center diff? I read a few threads
that had appeared to have conflicting information.

2) I read michael vincent thread that he wrote years ago about
when his 2nd gear exploded. Back then he stated that
the part was hard to get or that is had to come from Japan.
Has anyone tried to get their 5MT transmission rebuilt lately,
and was it cost effective.?

3) What other cars have the same 5MT & gearing as a 1991 Legacy
turbo that's a direct bolt in. 91-94 legacy awd??, does
it have to be turbo??

4) I may be looking for a new transmission and I live near Atlanta.
Does anyone have one to sell?

1) The center diff in integrated into the transaxle, so each transaxle needs the correct gearing in the rear diff. If your current one does not, then you need a matching one. You should have a 3.90 in there, so a 4.11 tranny would require a 4.11 diff.

My solution was to swap in a tranny from a 1.8 Impreza, with the idea that any future swaps would be cheap. I ran into a lot of other things along the way, that while are not really big deals, were frustrating to find out about AFTER starting the project.

An old L tranny (Legacy or Impreza) will be a cable-type clutch. That means getting rid of the Turbo hydraulic pedal box and cylinders and installing a cable pedal box, cable, and bracket. Best to take those off of a car in a junkyard so that you see exactly how they go.

Getting a matching diff will be needed if you don't get a tranny that is correct for your rear diff now. When getting a diff, you will have to find one with the correct input flange unless you want to disassemble it and swap your current ones.

In other words, if you were able to get ahold of a complete parts Legacy L from the same era for a couple hundred, you would save a lot over a rebuild or probably sourcing another Turbo trans.

I would look around for another Turbo trans first to keep it simple.

Thanks Scotty

I ran out of time yesterday so I only got the engine out, but next week I plan on cracking the transmission case to see what needs replacing.


If anyone has a working 91-94 legacy turbo 5MT transmission to sell send me a private message.