gwilson87

It's times like this that make me hate not living up in washington...

wouldn't anything that "lifts" the vehicles clearance be considered a lift? Some are more elaborate than others with blocks and steering extensions, and whatnot, but a lift is what it is... a lift.

Outback or forester struts do a pretty good job also. I have outback struts on my 98 obs with 215/75r15 tires with rolled fenders and it only rubs when turning really sharp. The outback struts will lift it about 1.5" and the camber isn't too bad. The rears look fine and I adjusted the front in as much as possible and they look pretty good also. Gonna get some other camber bolts for it and get an alignment done. But yeah, swapped the rear top hats, and I was good to go. Check out my build thread for all the dirty details.

That exact one won't do much good. i thought it would be much beafier in person and when I met up with garrett at a rallyx and looked at it, it is just a tube with a little metal under it, not super sturdy either. Looks sweet and if it was like an integrated skid-plate/bar i would totally want one. might have to start designing something like that...

Like this for my 1998 OBS

Yeah brandons trans is the trans you need for your swap. If you had the gumpsion you could get a 5 speed DR at a junkyard for cheaper (on mondays or wednesdays only) but it is nice that his is all pulled and ready for you. Let me know if you need help, I just did the dual range swap on my obs within the last 60 miles haha.

I dunno about specs but you can just drill holes in your stock cross member to accept the dual range trans mounts. I think the driveshaft has to be 55.5" to 57"? ish. I got mine from a legacy, made some brackets for the carrier bearing, and it fit alright. I would have liked a little longer but it has worked just fine so far. As far as I know your gear ratio is 3.9 so the rear end will be fine. Have you decided what you want to do with axles? The dual range front diff has 23 spline stubs, and your impreza has 25 splines. I swapped out diffs, some people have made custom axles.

Looks like good times for sure. I need to get my car out wheelin sometime...

Before..... AFTER!!!!!

yes you can put a dual range in your obs. I have one in mine Its almost exactly like an EJ swap in older subies but without the wiring since you are putting in an old trans instead of putting in a newer motor. I liked doing the trans swap in my OBS a lot more than the ej swap in my brat. but yes, with adapters these things can happen. and by looking at some of the cars on here... you can do whatever you could possibly want to a subaru with enough time and money

I will post up some pics and more info about the skidplate. I was lucky enough to find this hunk of aluminum in my parents backyard and my dad said he didn't need it so... YANK! Basically I drilled two holes through the front frame, and then bolted two 2" blocks to the cross member and it spaced it away from the headers perfectly. The only thing I am slightly worried about is heat build-up over longer drives due to air not flowing across the exhaust headers... Any input from people who have skidplates? The gauge cover things i found on ebay almost 4 years ago. I haven't been able to find anything like them since.

Yeah since I don't know anything about building transmissions I didn't check endplay. I didn't check backlash with putting paint on the ring and spinning it (as I was told about doing so 2 days later...) but I did spin it back and forth feeling for give and it felt very solid. I am definately going to be taking it easy for the first 1000 and change out oil every 200 or so. Found another 5 speed trans on the cheap around here so I might go buy it just to take the front diff and scrap the rest. Either way, for the moment its driving good and shifts well so that makes me happy.

Nicely done I can't wait to get my obs out in the dirt.

isn't this how people with out use of their legs drive cars? I swear I have seen cars retrofitted to be driven with only use of hands. auto transmission only I think.

IT DRIVES!!!! took a quick trip to discount tires Test fit some 215/75r15's to see how they fit Very little rubbing in the back, probably take the mudflap off I will be fine. Might get some paranoid fabrications strut tops just to give a little extra clearance for the tires. Ordered these in the 215-75-15 Should be here thursday!!!! So stoked!

Been tossing the idea of quick disconnects for awhile now in my head. I liked the pictures to help show the difference it makes as far as your articulation. Post some pics of your quick connects as well if you get a chance. p.s. nice tires, I'm ordering a set of those for my obs tomorrow. what size are those out of curiosity?

My 2 inch lift destroyed my axles on the brat within 100 miles of varied driving. Older axles don't like to be stressed. If you do a strut top lift and cross member blocks so it lowers everything equally and lifts the body equally the axle angles will remain the same and should work better. If it was just a boot problem, re-boot and see how it does I guess.

It is back together and moves through all the gears!

My parents do not own arborwear. The scout camp my dad is a chaplain at in the summer sells them and so for my birthday every year they send me a new pair for me to wear as work pants. They do last forever unless you rub up against some leaky batteries. Now I am heading to the garage to finish assembling the transmission, and hanging a new pegboard to try and keep the garage a bit cleaner.

Arborwear FTW! I'm not an an actual Arbor, but my parents get me a new pair of their pants every year for work and they are the bomb! I am hoping I can get this full time job at the college and they will pay for my training to get tree climbing/pruning cert. Along with benefits and insurance and blah blah, I just want to climb trees!! If it is done enough on time, the wife and I might take a trip to moab and arches on our anniversary in august if I can talk her into it. The harder part would be talking her into driving that long in a car with no AC, and not as comfortable seats. That AT WRX with cruise control and cold AC has spoiled her....

I got some stuff done. Here are pictures to prove it. Whats this here... Make sure the flange is looking like this, if not then rotate it because the other set of gears won't go back in if its opposite, trust me. Front Diff from my stock OBS 5 speed. 3.9 gearing with 25 spline stubs so I can use my stock axles. DO NOT FIDDLE WITH THIS!!! I did, things slid around, little pieces of metal fell out, spent forever getting it back together and I am hoping everything went back together right. This is the 4wd gear stuff (I don't know technical mumbo jumbo) One day my wife might get to park her wrx here again... This little stub here... Lines up with this little hole here... Looks like everything is there.... :-\ Yay!!!! Main case together, gonna let the sealant dry then torque up, then get the rear case on tomorrow. 25 spline obs axle on 5 speed dual range trans. Makes me a bit giddy

I hate that you have those toyota wheels only because I wanted those on my brat sooooooooo bad. I had the wheels but didn;t have the funds to do a 6 lug swap or get tires for them.

Oh geez... What have I gotten myself into? This should be quite the experience.

got my flywheel and clutch all mounted up Now is the debate of what to do for axles. I could do as austin did and put EA82 DOJ cups on the end of my impreza axles, or I could try and replace the stubs in the front diff to have 25 spline and then I could just use newer axles. Any thoughts as to the difficulty level to doing such a thing? Im scurred i would open the trans and gears would just come falling out all over the place haha.