:( so some of you guys know me and have talked to me about my car, 2003 wrx with big 16g, 565cc inj, ect....first i had all kinds of problems with injectors,turbo install, then utech and tuning......well i finally got through all of it and was at a point where i could finaly relax.... intel today.....after thousands of $$$ and hours of work along with a 5hr drive to axis-power raceing in st. louis and a 3hr tune, ( where i laid down 250whp), and 5 hr drive back.....i went ounce down the street, when i finally got home, and blew my tranny!!!!:mad: :mad: I just cant catch a break.....now what the hell do i do......??? should i just sell all my stuff and move on...or spend even more money on a sti tranny with some fancy gears and clutch.....$$$$$$$$$......time!!!!!!!! Im thinking about doing this along with selling the turbo just installed and tunned and getting a huge turbo with decent spool....what should i do.....im ready for some good info....basically here is my question......how much should my loan be and how should it be sent, what should i sell and what will prevent this in the future? HELP!!!

so heres the skinny, give me your car and it will never be broken again.




Fo real.



Ok, real info? Look up unabomber, he's easy to find, read all of his FAQ'S. But the short version is buy some ppg gears and relax.

ya fix your tranny ..it can still handle the power ,and it will be ok


-relax!

The driveline should've been something you upgraded considering what you have done to the engine. Common sense and all.

A six speed is now a good idea. 1-4 straight cut with 5 and 6 helical FTW!!

kinda sounds like my brother bought his rex two weeks later tranny broke and did the 6 speed swap over a year and a half later he caught his break now it lays down 405 on 25psi moral of the story is do the 6 speed swap and keep going and you will get your break too but sorry to hear about the tranny though

The driveline should've been something you upgraded considering what you have done to the engine. Common sense and all.

A six speed is now a good idea. 1-4 straight cut with 5 and 6 helical FTW!!

he only has 250whp, the tranny should be very easy with this number. maybe during the dyno session something went wrong.

You may have had a little too much fun with it "going down the street".

Go for a cheap but reliable RA gear, it can safely handle your 250whp.

....this thread is a trainwreck

hey guys, thanks for your comments so far.....the dyno session went fine, there was no grinding of gears or anything like that. Ron at power axis racing is very good at what he does and he has never had any bad reports. My car is going to go under inspection the next couple of days to make sure what the exact problem is.....When i shifted into second, at only 5500rpm, I heard and felt and extremely loud metal grinding noise and the car locked up the tires for a brief second. I was unable to get it into gear and the noise continued to grow even after holding in the clutch and coasting to the side of the road, It sounded like metal in a blender....:( The car will not go into gear and even with the car off you can hear the grinding noise when rolled. This leads me to think that there is definitly something broke inside my tranny wheather its the tranny itself or a shatered clutch & gearshaft......So if the tranny does need replaced then i think i will do the following....Sti 6-speed tranny with RA gears and high performance clutch with LW flywheel......This should do the trick..and at a pretty penny.....any ideas on what you think this setup might cost w/labor included? thanks guys, its nice to have some guys to talk to when i am having such a hard time....and ill let you know what is broke asap!!

bump!!!!, do you guys think i should go with a 2004 tranny or a set of ra gears...i heard the 04 tranny can handle up to 300whp and is basically as strong as the ra gears....my buddy has one he will sell me for 1000 w/30k on it.....will i have to worry about breaking anything if i get his instead of a set of ra's? let me know what you guys think....thanks....ps, im looking at 1500-2000 installed as far as the ra gears go.....the 04 tranny is 1000 and i can install myself.....thanks guys

get a used wrx tranny and dont drive like a ****ing dick. end of story.

it can EASILY handle 250whp if driven by a normal person.

:( so some of you guys know me and have talked to me about my car, 2003 wrx with big 16g, 565cc inj, ect....first i had all kinds of problems with injectors,turbo install, then utech and tuning......well i finally got through all of it and was at a point where i could finaly relax.... intel today.....after thousands of $$$ and hours of work along with a 5hr drive to axis-power raceing in st. louis and a 3hr tune, ( where i laid down 250whp), and 5 hr drive back.....i went ounce down the street, when i finally got home, and blew my tranny!!!!:mad: :mad: I just cant catch a break.....now what the hell do i do......??? should i just sell all my stuff and move on...or spend even more money on a sti tranny with some fancy gears and clutch.....$$$$$$$$$......time!!!!!!!! Im thinking about doing this along with selling the turbo just installed and tunned and getting a huge turbo with decent spool....what should i do.....im ready for some good info....basically here is my question......how much should my loan be and how should it be sent, what should i sell and what will prevent this in the future? HELP!!!


You blew your tranny in 5 hours with 250WHP and now you want a huge turbo?
I think you need to learn how to drive first. Sorry.

Jeeeeeeez do they not teach proper grammar and punctuation anymore? I'm getting a headache trying to read all the jibborish in this thread.

ok, thanks a lot to you guys who keep downing my driving and your smart ass comments, as if its not enough that i just blew out my tranny, you have to put your .02 cents in instead of a little help....Its not like your the only people out there i can talk to about my car, i just consider you guys proffesionals and i like the info you guys can give me.........if your not going to help or give some informative advice than just find somebody else to give a hard time!!!:mad: First of all, I have spent a ton of money on the whole setup as well as time and hard work.....its sure as hell not a crime to test out the new turbo that i drove over 10hrs to get tunned....i did everything step by step to avoid this problem including babying the thing for over 1000 miles for the new turbo, only running 16 psi, and not going above 6k, ( I was a 5900rpm when i shifted into second and the gears broke), when shifting even thought im only putting down 250whp ........but the facts are that the 02-03 trannys are absolute ****! Ron, from power axis, told me that they are barley built to handle stock HP! He also told me that this problem is the most common that he has heard of as far as breaking.....he has fixed over 9 of these trannys in the last 3 months alone! all of which had the same problem as mine.....broken gears, he told me that a rebuild with the ra gears would keep this from happening again, even if i decide to up my hp to around 295hp. And my question to the guys who are actually helping is........Should i buy a 04 tranny from a friend for 1000 bucks that is supposed to be good up to 300hp or just do a rebuild with mine w/ ra gears that will cost me 1200 for the gears and 300 for the install as well as a 5hr drive there, 5hr drive back, leave the car there for 3 days, then drive back up there to pick it up, all in all about 2k....? Please give some good honest advice here...there is a lot to learn from the guru's and specialist on here that truely help, and i understand that, but to the guys making the negative comments,dont make the other guys who do help look bad.... thanks

I've seen 04/05 trannies go for around $600 used. I wouldn't buy from your friend for $1000.

I would either get a upgrade RA, PPG gears or STI tranny at this point. Why pay $1000 for used 04 tranny? Who know how your buddy was driving it? And I think the improvement for the newer model wrx tranny over the old one is for certain gear only, maybe the 3rd one, not all of them. Good Luck.

You might get some more help if you learn to use sentances. It makes these run on paragraphs you are writing that makes your post barely read-able. Regardless of what you think, a 02/03 tranny can handle more power than you are making. My best friend runs a 16g at 280whp and has been fine for 30k+ miles, which is why people are blaming your driving

I didnt even read half of what you wrote because it was nearly nonsense....

For Example "Should i buy a 04 tranny from a friend for 1000 bucks that is supposed to be good up to 300hp or just do a rebuild with mine w/ ra gears that will cost me 1200 for the gears and 300 for the install as well as a 5hr drive there, 5hr drive back, leave the car there for 3 days, then drive back up there to pick it up, all in all about 2k....?"

Regardless of what you think, a 02/03 tranny can handle more power than you are making. My best friend runs a 16g at 280whp and has been fine for 30k+ miles, which is why people are blaming your driving


This is the bottom line.

I don't think people are intending to just insult you but the reality is that there are a LOT of people making more power then you on stock trannies who've been running for a long time.

So IMO either..

a.) you beat the crap out of the tranny before all this happened and the extra power was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

or.

b.) you're not being honest about how it was driven after the tune and you busted it.

If it was me I'd put an STi tranny in there, if only to upgrade to the 6 speed, but if money is a concern a non-abused WRX tranny should be able to handle this power level just fine.

Oh and if your tuner said that he's replaced 9 of these trannys in the past 3 months I'd definately find a new tuner.

Best of luck with the car!

An STI tranny with ra gears would be a nice upgrade for you, even just a regular STI tranny would do just as good. There are many choices for you and at this point including the 5speed with upgraded ra/ppg gears, it is honestly your decision with what path you choose to take with your car. If I was in your position I would go for just the regular STI tranny and it's stock gears since your not making anything passed 350whp, make sure if you buy used you get the clutch, flywheel, drive shaft, shifter w/ knob and boot. Good luck to yah man!

If you do not have the money to purchase a new transmission, you can always sell your setup and go back to stock for now until you can get a realiable drivetrain. I suggest a 6speed swap instead of going RAs. RAs are really not all that great. And what you pay for RA's, you can save up a little more for a 6speed swap. After you do that, you can purchase a better setup than what you have now. Good luck with everything.

If I was in your position I would go for just the regular STI tranny and it's stock gears since your not making anything passed 350whp

Exactly, we've seen STi trans. hold up to GT35s - GT42s with more torque output. I dont think you'll ever want to go for those turbo with a 2.0L. A mere 18g or 20g is cake for the 6speed.

ok, thanks a lot to you guys who keep downing my driving and your smart ass comments, as if its not enough that i just blew out my tranny, you have to put your .02 cents in instead of a little help....Its not like your the only people out there i can talk to about my car, i just consider you guys proffesionals and i like the info you guys can give me.........if your not going to help or give some informative advice than just find somebody else to give a hard time!!!:mad: First of all, I have spent a ton of money on the whole setup as well as time and hard work.....its sure as hell not a crime to test out the new turbo that i drove over 10hrs to get tunned....i did everything step by step to avoid this problem including babying the thing for over 1000 miles for the new turbo, only running 16 psi, and not going above 6k, ( I was a 5900rpm when i shifted into second and the gears broke), when shifting even thought im only putting down 250whp ........but the facts are that the 02-03 trannys are absolute ****! Ron, from power axis, told me that they are barley built to handle stock HP! He also told me that this problem is the most common that he has heard of as far as breaking.....he has fixed over 9 of these trannys in the last 3 months alone! all of which had the same problem as mine.....broken gears, he told me that a rebuild with the ra gears would keep this from happening again, even if i decide to up my hp to around 295hp. And my question to the guys who are actually helping is........Should i buy a 04 tranny from a friend for 1000 bucks that is supposed to be good up to 300hp or just do a rebuild with mine w/ ra gears that will cost me 1200 for the gears and 300 for the install as well as a 5hr drive there, 5hr drive back, leave the car there for 3 days, then drive back up there to pick it up, all in all about 2k....? Please give some good honest advice here...there is a lot to learn from the guru's and specialist on here that truely help, and i understand that, but to the guys making the negative comments,dont make the other guys who do help look bad.... thanks



you're shifting a NEW setup @ 5900rpm?

you probably popped the clutch out too fast one too many times, and the shock load from 1st to 2nd gear is insane. hence it being the most commonly broken gear


i DO believe you drive the car WAY too hard. you're either banging gears or you have an uprated clutch in the car. if your on a stock tranny, use a stock clutch. it'll (normally) slip before the drivetrain has to absorb that shock, and you're far less likely to break stuff.




RA gears are NO STRONGER than any 03+ transmission. dont waste your money.


punctuation > you.

Well thanks for the good info guys. I will try to use better sentences for the slow guys. This is a forum, not grammer class! But hey, i'll work on it. Anywaz, my tunner is Ron from power axis raceing. He is one of the best and uses a dyno dynamics dyno that is very nicely setup. I dont need a differn't tunner, but thanks anyways. And he said he fixed the gears in 9 other trannys in the last 3 months. Takes him 3 days per tranny. Maybe I confused some of you guys though. It is the gears in my tranny that were broke, as well as the teeth on the gearshaft. I am basically at a fork in the road here. I can either A) Replace the gears with stock ones for fairly cheap. B) Install RA gears, or C) buy and install a STI 6-speed tranny. I know that the 6-speed is the best choice performance wise hands down. And replacing the gears with stock ones would be pointless because they would most likely break again. The RA's seem like the best choice because they will easily support my 250whp and they dont cost 4-6k.

My over all goal is to hit 300whp with this setup. I dont know if i need more than the RA's to support this. You say my tranny is fine, but will it hold the 300whp even with RA's? Which is the best choice? Thanks guys

The setup is not that new! As said above, I waited 1000 miles before i even boosted. Then when i finally did boost, it wouldnt pull hard at all cause i was on a stock 9psi and hadn't been tunned yet. I then drove 300miles there and 300 miles back. SO there was at least 1600 break in miles on the setup. It should have been more than fine and ready! And It does have a stock clutch! With the redline being 7k and me going into 2nd at 5900,I should not have broken the gears and I would not have broken a stronger set of gears! Its not the tranny i'm worried about, its the gears breaking! When i get over 300whp, then i'll worry about the tranny!

I would get a set of cryo treated RA gears or ppg gearset. It would be alot cheaper then a 6 speed swap given the axles and hubs that you need. What kind of clutch did you have in it to blow your tranny with only 250 whp? I put down 309 awhp on a stock 04 tranny but I never went over a stage 1 street clutch from exedy. I always said I would rather replace a clutch then a tranny. I also drove the living hell out of my wrx with that kind of power and neevr had a tranny issue besides the clutches

stock clutch man. you think i could put down and support 300whp on my stock tranny with ppg or RA gears and a stage 1 clutch? What turbo and setup do you have?

stock clutch man. you think i could put down and support 300whp on my stock tranny with ppg or RA gears and a stage 1 clutch? What turbo and setup do you have?

If you can't, you are doing something wrong. Many people are running 300whp on the stock trans and stock clutch. All an upgraded clutch is going to do is make things harder on your gears because of the increase in grab. Your cheapest option is obviously going to be buying a used tranny and dropping it in. But investing in RA gears or a 6speed is going to last a lot longer

What kind of dyno was your 250whp on? Seems awful low for a big 16g...

It was a Dyno Dynamics dyno. He said i would have been at around 285hp but when i went up there i forgot the restricter pill that i took off when i installed my MBC. So He had to make one that only let my boost go up to 16psi. And there was also some problems with boost creap in higher rpm becase my wastegate is internal. He told me that with a bigger top mount, real restricter pill, and an external wastegate i could eaisly see 310whp. but right now im more worried about making sure that my gears wont break. If i do get a bigger clutch it will just be the stage 1, but its a lot of money for not really doing a whole lot. what do you think?

My setup was a DB Super 16G, 650 cc injectors, tbe, up, intake and a new tmic on race gas I put down over 309, 269 on pump. I abused my clutch instead of the tranny. I do all the labor on the car so I can afford to replace a 300 dollar clutch over a new tranny or gears. I was protuned by doug at topspeed also. I bought both of my clutches off an ebay retailor brand new for less then 200 both times

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1162954

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1159802

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1159380

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1159278

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1155586

So I'll be the jerk and say it. You asked about it as an option, so I will suggest selling your car. You haven't taken advice when it was given before and these are the wrong type of car to learn on when you are learning by error.

o, ok, i'l do that.......piss off, all thoselinks show is the importance of this site! There are tons of questions that pop into my head every day. And im not scared to ask. And in most cases, after dealing with guys like you, i eventually find a solution to the problem at hand. So go waste your time somewhere else and stay off the thread. I joined this site in November of last year and in that short 2 and 1/2 months i have accomplished, with the help of guys on this site, more than i could have ever done without. I will continue to ask questions and upgrade my car. And no matter how many guys like you with your negative comments and know it all additude give me a hard time along the way, there is always sombody who is nice and helpful enough to give me the information i need. Taking advice from only one person is a rookie mistake and suicide. And thanks to those who have helped so far so far!!!!!!

And in most cases, after dealing with guys like you, i eventually find a solution to the problem at hand.

Thanks for making my point.

You can learn lessons the easy way, by reading the FAQ's and the 100000's of threads about the same thing. WRX has been in the US for 5+ years, the info is out there in volumes.

Or you can act first, ask questions last, and post thousands of silly threads trying to fix your bork'd car. In every single thread you posted, you were trying to FIX a problem - my MBC won't work, "do i need my utech tunned now that my new parts are installed", etc.

Good luck.

you have to put your .02 cents inso that's $0.0002 ? :pI will try to use better sentences for the slow guys. This is a forum, not grammer class! . . .my tunnerAnd since forums are strictly type-written, it helps to type in complete sentences and use correct grammar.Its not the tranny i'm worried about, its the gears breaking! When i get over 300whp, then i'll worry about the tranny!Uncle Scotty, you called it...

For the OP, just get an 05+ WRX tranny. It will handle a lot more power than your 02 did and won't cost too much if you find it used.

Cry baby. You gotta pay to play... :lol:

put your .02 cents

you must work at verizon.

that's 2¢ damn it!!!!!!!

you must work at verizon.

:lol: that is one of the funniest things ever.. For thoese unfamiliar click below.

http://media.putfile.com/Verizon-Bad-Math

<- Has been running on the stock 2002 tranny for about 15-20k miles with a stage4 setup and it shifts perfectly fine.
I think the trick is not banging gears, shifting moderately during WOT sessions letting the shifter slip in by itself...and most importantly IMHO, use a good transmission fluid that is NOT oem.
I have run GM Syncromesh and it has performed wonders. Others swear up and down by Uncle Scotty's Cocktail as well.
Anyways, I would recommened the sti 6speed if you are going to be on a quest for more power in your future. If not...just go with an 04+ tranny and be a little easier on it.

300whp on Ra gears. still running fine, but i drive it like 3 times a month. lol

you must work at verizon.


FTW :banana: