Alright, I got a hell of a lemon, and after reading some other posts, i'm wondering.

December 14th, 2004, I flipped my 97 legacy wagon on the interstate. Kept it.

December 15th, bought a 1999 Legacy 2.5 GT wagon, got the dealer (J Koons in arlingon, VA) to knock $1000 off because the clutch was shot, the car had 66,000 miles. Shoulda known.

December 30th, replaced the clutch, had the flywheel resurfaced, resealed rear-separator plate.

sometime in april, replaced camshaft/crankshaft gaskets, timing belt.

May, head gaskets went, pulled the engine, replaced those, flywheel had all the pins broken, and the clips holding the throwout bearing on were broken, replaced flywheel with 9.5 lb aluminium fidanza, block was slightly cracked on the #2 cylinder, nothing major, but I'll never run boost on it, also looked like someone had been scraping the cylinder and gouged it a bit. Re sealed rear separator plate. replaced tranny fluid with redline.

August, Got a wierd whine from the tranny. pulled off the rear casing, 3 of the 4 bearings around the center diff were shot, diff was locked up, with the clip flopping around, one of the teeth on one of the gears was broken. Here's where I'm at now. Oh, and the tranny fluid, with about 3 k miles on it (car is now at 84k) was quite dirty.

From talking to a friend of mine who is a subaru mechanic, I think the car was probably towed at somepoint and that's what screwed everything up in the tranny, but something I'm going to check tomorrow, is that maybe someone replaced the tranny with the wrong one.

The bottom line:

I need a tranny to fit in there. I'm up for doing whatever it takes, just need to know what years/models to look for and from what country, I can always replace the rear diff too. and i wouldn't mind going for a closer gear ratio, gas milage is at about 20 anyway so doesn't really matter if it drops a bit more.

Any help would be greatly appriciated.

Your tranny with the 2.5L has a 4.111 final drive. Look for something along those lines. The '97-'99 has the SAME gear ratios in gears 1-4th but a shorter 5th gear than your stock one. Your tranny is no different from the 2.5RS.

something I posted a while back on tranny choices
You have a WIDE range of trannies to choose from.
None is better than the other aside from gear ratios and syncro wear rate. But it depends on usage.
All the manual tranny MY96+ Imprezas run the same gearing 1st - 5th (2.2L & 2.5L engine models). The only difference is that the MY96-MY01 Impreza L's run a 3.900 final drive, while the MY98-MY01 2.5RS runs a 4.111 final drive.

The manual tranny MY93-MY95 2.2L Impreza's run a 4.111 final drive, but they have a different 2nd - 4th gear ratio.

So it's your choice in final drive and gearing.

MY93 - MY95 Impreza L/LS/Brighton manual transmission with 2.2L engine:
1st - 3.545
2nd - 1.947
3rd - 1.366
4th - .972
5th - .780
Final Drive: 4.111

MY96 - MY01 Impreza L manual transmission with 2.2L engine:
1st - 3.545
2nd - 2.111
3rd - 1.448
4th - 1.088
5th - .780
Final drive: 3.900

MY98 - MY01 Impreza 2.5RS & MY98 - MY01 or MY02 Subaru Forester manual transmission with 2.5L engine:
1st - 3.545
2nd - 2.111
3rd - 1.448
4th - 1.088
5th - .780
Final Drive: 4.111

The MY96+ will have a better gearing than the older models. If you get the 2.5RS tranny, it will have a shorter final drive ratio of 4.111. The older model may have the 4.111, but the gearing makes it fall out of the powerband on the 1st-2nd shift and it isn't geared as short through gears 1-4. The MY96+ is geared better 1-4th gear but you'll have to decide if you want 4.111(2.5RS) or 3.900(Impreza L). The OTHER tranny that is nicer than all is the MY97-MY99 Legacy Outback tranny. It runs a 4.111 AND has a shorter 5th gear ratio.

MY97 - MY99 Subaru Legacy Outback manual transmission with 2.5L engine:
1st - 3.545
2nd - 2.111
3rd - 1.448
4th - 1.088
5th - .871
Final Drive: 4.111

The hard thing about turbo trannies are that they're Pull Type clutches. You have to use a pull type clutch. I'm not too sure on converting over to push type....seems it's not possible because of how the fork is mounted onto the tranny housing. But if you're willing to put a PULL TYPE then there are a wide variety of those trannies as well.

The NEW '05 Legacy turbo tranny is the same as the 1st generation Standard STi 5spd. Same gearing but different final drive. The gearing is fine, not too bad at all. The STi's FDS is 4.444 while the '05 Legacy Turbo has a 4.111.
Gearing as follows:
3.166
1.882
1.296
0.972
0.738

Are you willing to go with JDM trannies? Type RA w/ 4.444? Standard STi 4.444? JDM 6spd? USDM 6spd?

Yeah, I'm certainly willing to go with a JDM tranny, I don't want to spend TOO much money, like if possible i'd like to keep this particular operation under $1000. so whatever is the *best* tranny for the money. If I can put a 6 speed in there, that would be totally awesome. So, if I put a 4.444 in, will I have to replace the rear diff too? also, any suggestions on where to look for a tranny/who to talk to?

I really appriciate your knowledge and time.

I think that JDMimporters.com are sitting on a version 3 STI tranny, call them up and see how much they will give it to you for. i know this because i bought the motor from the car, my tranny already has sti 1st and 2nd because i shattered my second gear back in december so the tranny from that car was not needed.

hope that helps

ace

Yeah, I'm certainly willing to go with a JDM tranny, I don't want to spend TOO much money, like if possible i'd like to keep this particular operation under $1000. so whatever is the *best* tranny for the money. If I can put a 6 speed in there, that would be totally awesome. So, if I put a 4.444 in, will I have to replace the rear diff too? also, any suggestions on where to look for a tranny/who to talk to?

I really appriciate your knowledge and time.

I'll check with them, thanks

u can convert to pull style easily, u need the slave cylinder and all the little bits inside the trans with an entire clutch and flywheel setup. might cost you more tha 1K though. id sugggest just getting a good 2.5RS gearboxs with the 4.11. alot of people have them for sale here from doing turbo motor conversion- lachlan has one, subastar2.5 has one, others etc..

Thanks, Supermoose, any more advise anyone?

Anybody have a 4.11 tranny/ any tranny+rear diff for sale?

Anybody have a 4.11 tranny/ any tranny+rear diff for sale?
I do, I mean I will in a week or two its being shipped back to me from CA
Its from 98 RS, and I should have all diffs with it too(I did full STI swap)

lachlan and subastar2.5

use the search.

Are you sure about this? As far as I can tell, the first 2.2 liter awd Impreza was the 1995 Impreza LX that was only available in an automatic, with the 4.11 ratio. In 96, you could get the Impreza L with the 2.2L and the 5speed with a 3.90 ratio, or the automatic 2.2 with a 4.11

I believe all of the 93-94 Imprezas were 1.8s. Can anyone confirm?

FujiK writes:

MY93 - MY95 Impreza L/LS/Brighton manual transmission with 2.2L engine:
1st - 3.545
2nd - 1.947
3rd - 1.366
4th - .972
5th - .780
Final Drive: 4.111

Are you sure about this? As far as I can tell, the first 2.2 liter awd Impreza was the 1995 Impreza LX that was only available in an automatic, with the 4.11 ratio. In 96, you could get the Impreza L with the 2.2L and the 5speed with a 3.90 ratio, or the automatic 2.2 with a 4.11

I believe all of the 93-94 Imprezas were 1.8s. Can anyone confirm?

FujiK writes:

MY93 - MY95 Impreza L/LS/Brighton manual transmission with 2.2L engine:
1st - 3.545
2nd - 1.947
3rd - 1.366
4th - .972
5th - .780
Final Drive: 4.111

Correct, the first 2.2 Impreza in the US was 95, and only available with an automatic transmission. Maybe he copied the chart from somewhere overseas where a MY93-MY95 2.2 5MT was offered?

He could also be referring to a Legacy...those were mt 2.2s, with the 4.11

Per

Well, I'll find out soon enough, gonna get an engine/tranny/rear diff out of a 99 2.5 RS and we'll see what I use.... driving 700 mile round trip in a ford F-150 on saturday to pick it all up... yay! gas guzzling pig tuned to guzzle more!

He could also be referring to a Legacy...those were mt 2.2s, with the 4.11

Per
hehe yea, that's what I was referring to ..... the tranny isn't much different at all really...... the Forester 07-01, Legacy GT 97-99 and 2.5RS 98-01 uses the same tranny and gearing w/ 4.111.

Alright, bought an engine tranny and rear diff out of a 99 2.5 RS, and just used the center differential and all the other components I needed, got a new bearing pressed on for free, and I'm back to driving it. Thanks everyone for all your help.