I have a 97 Impreza OBS with a 5MT. The bearings are going out at 275,xxx. I got a replacement 5MT from a 2000 Impreza OBS with low miles. Subaru dealership is installing and I got a call this morning saying that it doesnt fit. Technician says that the starter only has one bolt hole and the bell housing wont line up. Says the bolt holes on the housing are of by a quarter of an inch. I did a lot of research, including advice here on this forum, and everything I found and everyone that gave advice said it would fit. So whats the deal here? Is there something Im missing? Anyone with some knoweledge want to chime in? Im now looking at having to buy another transmission through Subaru. Its expensive and I have not had my car for over a week now!!!!! Super frustrating!!!!!!!

that's an 8 bolt trans on a 4 bolt engine, so it should just fit. The patterns are the same but the 8 bolt has 4 extra. Doesn't matter. My guess is they want to sell a trans. An older trans to a newer engine requires a bolt hole drilled for starter

What Matt said.

I hate most garages for this reason. It'll fit.

You can put a threaded insert in the lower starter hole and put a bolt in.

Thanks for the input everyone!! This is what I thought as well. I did my research before buying this 5MT. Ill call them first thing in the morning.

any pics of this? Is the hole already there it just need to be tapped?

You don't even absolutely need the second bolt for the starter. I've seen this done many times. Sad that a tech at a Subaru dealer couldn't manage to figure this out.

x2. make sure that top bolt is a little extra snug and just drive it.

I was a tech for quite a while before I messed up my back in a accident a couple years ago. Either the service writer is a lying POS(which they tend to be. throw in soulless and grimey), the tech isn't skilled enough to  do so, or he's just too lazy. Anyone given a trans swap job should be competent enough to figure out the bolt holes and how to drill a hole. It literally takes seconds with a masonary bit. There might have been a miscommunication between the two as well..Service writers have this uncanny ability to not read the information given to them by techs. In fact, they spend almost twice as much time asking you questions you've already answered or trying to con you into unethical, and sometimes illegal, tasks rather than reading said information.

 

Talk to SW and tell him the procedure. If he doesn't understand, again they understand $$$ and that's about it, ask to speak to technician. Bring a photo, a step by step, or a playboy. Whatever he needs to grasp it

^don't even need a masonry bit, it's aluminum!

Update: The 5MT does fit. I had to convince them. Anyhow it is great!! Its unbelievable how much better the car drives now. For one acceleration seems to have improved. A while back it put up a post titled :Whats holding me back" Well I now believe it was the trans. Plus I replaced the old worn mounts with the Megan Racing. Driving the car is like night and day now. Thanks for all the input so I could convince Subaru it would fit.