So, I have a 1996 Legacy Postal Wagon in my possession. I would like to make it a five speed versus the standard 4EAT that, to the best of my knowledge, ALL of these cars were. The body is a little rough on this car, so the current plan is to lift it and use an EA D/R 5 speed transmission, unless I happen to fall into a smoking deal on an AWD D/R box.

 

However, my biggest hurdle at this point in time is that the pedal sets for RHD five speeds are incredibly difficult to come by, and are rather cost prohibitive when/if I could get my hands on one.

 

Soooo, with that being said I think I might be able to craft a hand operated clutch lever, similar to that used on motorcycles, but with much more leverage required, as well as a longer throw, that could be mounted on the shifter, and allow me to use a 5 speed transmission in my AT equipped car.

 

I haven't yet started designing or sketching yet, but the idea popped into my head this afternoon, and i thought I'd propose it here. What do you guys think?

Shouldn't be tooooooo hard to adapt a LHD pedal set to the RHD car

Pedals all curve wrong direction, less space to work with, brackets are dissimilar. I've been able to compare photos of each and I just don't think it's worth doing. 

 

Plus, I like making one off stuff AND I'd be able to drive two footed in the woods

I know a guy that did this swap with no hang ups. Let me ask him and see what he did.

I'd love to hear the story! want a manual in this thing baaaaaad

Pedals all curve wrong direction, less space to work with, brackets are dissimilar. I've been able to compare photos of each and I just don't think it's worth doing. 

 

Plus, I like making one off stuff AND I'd be able to drive two footed in the woods

 

When you are really wheeling you want 2 hands on the wheel.  Not sure when there would ever be advantage to left foot braking while wheeling w/a manual trans......just my thoughts.

 

And as for pedals curving wrong direction?  I mean.....wouldn't a bit of cutting welding fix that?   probably easier than COMPLETELY designing a new system from scratch and scabbing in a lever and mounting it somewhere? It would have to be hydraulic, you'd never get enough leverage and pull to make the cable clutch work.  So you'd be converting a D/R trans to hydraulic, which has been talked about in theory but nobody ahs done to my knowledge.

 

THAT doesn't seem "worth doing" to me.

Just found out he got a set of JDM Legacy pedals to just bolt in.

Bratman18- Does your friend have the information for his source on them still? It'd be worth looking into at least.

 

Gloyale- First off, this wagon won't be much of a "wheeling" rig, just a mild logging road bomber and stuff like that. As far as two hands on the wheel goes, that's never been a requirement while wheeling my SA'd 4runner on 37" tires and locked F/R. Maybe our "wheeling" styles are different, I'm not sure. I've wished for a third foot more than once while running manuals in the woods though.

 

More on topic though. I'm convinced that, with the right design the existing cable clutch systems on either an EA D/R manual OR an EJ AWD manual could be adapted to a motorcycle type hand lever operation. It WILL have to be a custom one off part, but I have access to that sort of tooling.

More on topic though. I'm convinced that, with the right design the existing cable clutch systems on either an EA D/R manual OR an EJ AWD manual could be adapted to a motorcycle type hand lever operation. It WILL have to be a custom one off part, but I have access to that sort of tooling.

 

Okay.  Sounds like you don't need any help then.

 

Good luck.

 

Make sure you post some pics of your "logging road bomber"

The clutch pressure of a subaru is much higher than a motorcycle. So you will need a long handle to get the leverage needed. That will also require you to frequently adjust the clutch cable because the range of motion will be small at the clutch end. You could avoid the adjustment by going hydraulic.

 

Easiest and most straight forward would be getting the right pedal box. Call around to JDM engine importers. They will often import a "front clip", sell the powertrain and the front fenders/hood/bumper and then scrap the firewall with the pedals still attached.

 

Or you could mod the auto trans to be a sequential paddle shifted setup. It's been done by one of the members here.