gonna get the RA gears and do the 4.444 final drive. wanted to make sure that i get everything needed for the conv.

so far i'm gonna get the front and rear diffs and 1:1 transfer gear

How about a JDM engine. Low reving USDM engines dont work well with 4.44 FD. Keep your stock 3.90 with RA gears.

Low reving USDM engines dont work well with 4.44 FD.
I understand how a particular road course may not be well suited to 4.44, or a rally with lots of high speed straights, but I don't see how the above blanket statement works at all. Especially when it appears to be for a street car.

well maybe some more info would help.

i'm getting the 257 and plan to get the fp green soon. have about a stg 4 setup and the car is a street car. if any of that helps

I understand how a particular road course may not be well suited to 4.44, or a rally with lots of high speed straights, but I don't see how the above blanket statement works at all. Especially when it appears to be for a street car.

Exactly. Having 4.44 gears in a street car will make the car a lot quicker. The mileage will suffer some but the car will feel great.

I'll let you know when I get my car back with 4.44s in another week.

Between that and my STI 12lb flywheel I'm pretty anxious to see how it drives now.

You bet the mileage won't be great, but that's not what it's all about.



<------ 4.44 spins 3500 at 120kph (75mph)

I understand how a particular road course may not be well suited to 4.44, or a rally with lots of high speed straights, but I don't see how the above blanket statement works at all. Especially when it appears to be for a street car.

I was a little vague. As linsavy pointed out high cruising rpms are not exactly what you want for a street car, also three shifts before 60 and a top speed of around 120. Not that you would want to go faster;) The EJ257 has alot of low to mid power not suited for the high reving RA with 4.44FD setup. I honestly think the 4.44FD is suited very well for a tight autox track.. it will keep your rpms higher and you will have less lag coming out of the corners.

Here's some thoughts
JDM & USDM STi 6spd and RA 5spd gears 1-4th are very close. Only when you shift into 5th gear are when you're going to see the JDM STi 6spd equipped car start creeping ahead. The USDM STi 6spd 1-5th gear are very close in comparision in shift points and overall speed carried through the gear, EVEN with a difference in their final drives when compared to the Type RA 5spd tranny. The only difference is the weight.

You can simply pick up an automatic rear diff from Impreza, Forester, or Legacy that runs a 4.444. Stick in your viscous LSD or LSD of your choice and you'll be fine. You'll need the front 4.444 ring and pinion gears from rallispec.com

...I plan to do a RA tranny rebuild for my tranny since it's stuck in 5th gear.
Plans for it:
RA gears
NEW bulk rings (syncros)
Cusco RS 1 way front LSD
Cusco Tarmac center diff
4.444 Final drive w/ 4.444 rear diff from auto tranny Impreza, Forestor, or Leggy

I'll have to replace the main bearing in there as well since I'm in there. IF you don't mind the weight of the STi 6spd, that would be a better way to go. It DOES run a 3.9 final drive and 1:1 transfer gear opposed to the WRX's 1.1:1, but it has the same acceleration due to it's gearing.

thanks for all the info guys. that is a lot for me to chew on. i don't race it often but i do occasionally take it to the strip for a drag race or two. i was looking at the gearing comparison at Rallispec's site and it looks like the RA gears with the 4.44 fd would rev the engine a little too high. not sure the top speed with that setup would be of course, but it looks like the engine would be revving past 7000 rpm before the finish. i might be wrong but it looked to me that as i hit about 100 the 7000 redline would hit.

another question is when i get the 257 swap done w/o upgrading the heads would it be safe to raise the redline to 7500. i don't think the heads could handle it efficiently. again i could be wrong.

here is a current mod list
UTEC
vf22
TXS fmic
STi injectors
walbro fuel pump
headers, uppipe, full turbo back
perrin short ram
HKS ssqv BOV
perrin fuel rails
ACT clutch
Exedy l/w flywheel
Oil catch can
Blitz sbc-id
Blitz turbo timer

...You can simply pick up an automatic rear diff from Impreza, Forester, or Legacy that runs a 4.444. Stick in your viscous LSD or LSD of your choice and you'll be fine. You'll need the front 4.444 ring and pinion gears from rallispec.com. ...


What he said... :banana:

You bet the mileage won't be great, but that's not what it's all about.



<------ 4.44 spins 3500 at 120kph (75mph)
you must have the .738 fifth gear...most of the 4.44's dont...most are even shorter gearing

one thing I have noticed calculating the different final drive ratios with the gear ratios is the final drive really doesn't matter that much...it is the fifth gear ratio is what makes you high revving on the highway or not

yup .738 fifth. I think I am going to run slightly oversize tires to give me a little better cruising, of course the speedo will be off.

sucks so much that the computer that I was replying with died and the WHOLE paragraph of things that I wrote was all lost...

but anyway....I'll write it again for crying out loud, darnnet!

Here's an example of gears from the JDM STi 6spd, USDM STi 6spd, and Type RA:
JDM STi 6spd
3.636 - 2.375 - 1.761 - 1.346 - 1.062 - 0.842
USDM STi 6spd
3.636 - 2.375 - 1.761 - 1.346 - 0.971 - 0.756
STi Type RA
3.083 - 2.062 - 1.545 - 1.151 - 0.825

You can see that the gear ratio of 1st gear is different. The Type RA's longer 1st and STi 6spd's shorter 1st gear. If they were running the same final drive ratio, the Type RA's 1st gear would put out a faster speed at the same RPM compared to the STi 6spd's 1st gear.

Both USDM STi and Type RA geared w/ 4.444 has VERY comparable acceleration. Reason being is that the Type RA has the same acceleration is it's gearing and the 4.444 final drive. The STi's 6spd may be a 3.900 final drive, but being that it's geared short throughout the gears make it accelerate at about the same rate.

The Type RA's gears with 4.444 is VERY comparable with the USDM STi 6spd in gear 1-5. Just think of the USDM STi's 6spd as a Type RA tranny with an extra gear for cruising on the highway. The JDM STi's 6spd has the shorter 5th and 6th gear making it outrun BOTH Type RA and USDM/Euro STi geared Imprezas. It'll be pretty even in gears 1-4th, but when you hit 5th gear, this is where the JDM STi 6spd geared tranny will start to pull away, if the cars where equal in power & weight.

The advantage to the Type RA gears w/ 4.444 is that it's a 5-speed. You'll be saving weight. If you don't mind the weight, the USDM 6spd would be pretty much the same in 1-5th gear BUT will have a 6th gear for cruising or depending on what it is you're going to use 6th gear for.

IMO, this is a run down of best to good tranny setups with OEM trannies:
JDM STi 6spd = VERY Good
USDM STi 6spd = Very good but feels like Type RA gears with an overdrive gear
Type RA w/ 4.444 = Very good but no extra gear to save gas on the highway
Type RA geared w/ OEM 3.900 = Good gearing but a little higher rpm at 60mph compared to stock
WRX geared with 4.444 = better acceleration but gearing isn't so well and higher rpm at 60mph

There we have it, finally I wrote it, AGAIN... :lol:

Well I can see from those ratios that a 6mt with 4.44 is not a good idea. I would say few people have ever driven a car with RA ratios and 4.44FD.... Well 1st gear is a good stump pulling gear, seriously its low and if the JDM engine didnt rev to 8200rpm it would be too low. 4.44FD with a 3.6 first gear is just stupid. 1st-4th are way too low in the 6mt for a 4.44FD. That setup would be more suited for a car with a 9krpm red line not 7k

funny, you never mentioned any of the JDM 4.11FD...

The 4.11FD trans wasnt made in ver 5/6, the gear set is older and not as strong as the ver 5/6. The 4.11 would be a better choice then the 4.44 for most people although I would swap out the gear set for ver 5/6 if you are making more then 300whp

funny, you never mentioned any of the JDM 4.11FD...
I just didn't mention it because it the topic wasn't about the 4.111. IMO, with the 4.111 and the RA gears, that'll be like in-between VERY good acceleration and good city driving. The 4.111 FD isn't too far off from the 3.900. It does well for all around though, but just that you can't have both.

WOW, thanks for all the info. I think that i will stick with the 3.9 fd until i get my engine built next year. just going with the RA gears for now.

thanks

Has anyone tried just putting the 5th and 6th gear from the jdm sti into a usdm sti? I was thinking about doing this since the stretch to 5th gear sucks and I have had the grinding for awhile. I know the gas mileage would be worse on the highway but I am thinking I would be willing to make that sacrifice. Also the jdm 5/6 gears are tripled coned instead of single coned unlike the usdm so maybe they would hold up better. idk anyone have any suggestions.

how about doing the RA+4.11FD with a Stregthend stock 5th wrx gear as an overdrive? can i get a simluation of that?