Alright, You know it's bad when your 19 year old nephew beats you in his Honda "****vic" . He has a 5 spd and my Legacy is an Automatic. I have no low end torque what so ever. So I want to do a tranny swap. I want to put a WRX tranny in my car. It's an auto now and I want a 5 spd. Now is this hard to do? And also, what is the difference in a turbo or non turbo tranny? I never heard this before. Does it just mean that one can handle a turbo better than the non turbo?

the autos do have low end grunt.....I'd suspect some sort of problem...

 

but to answer your question, read this on the tranny swap

http://www.legacycentral.org/library/transmission/convert.htm

 

you didn't mention what year/model legacy you have, but without knowing too much about your legacy, I'd say there's 99.9% chance the WRX tranny will not have the same final drive ratio as your legacy. So....you would need a new rear diff as well.

 

Other solution would be to find a tranny that has the same gearing so you don't have to swap rear diffs.

It's a 1997 Legacy GT Sedan, I just had my head gaskets replaced for a second time, this time i went to Subaru. But there was nothing else wrong with my car, so they say. What do u think it could be?

just curious, have you reset the ECU recently?

 

You may want to try that....you may be experiencing subaru's famed hesitation. If you reset the ECU and it gets better, then that would probably tell you if it's a hesitation issue or some other mechanical issue independant of the ECU maps.

Keep in mind, the Legacy is a battleship compared to a Civic. The power to weight ratios are vastly different. Switching to a manual is not going to make the drastic difference you think it will .

How do I reset the ECU?, and if its not the ECU, what else could it be? Second I dont think it will make a drastic change, but I will be able to use the power i have where i need it.

For your car,

 

Disconnect the battery for 1 hour, reconnect, start car, make sure accessories are off, let it idle for one full warm up cylce, shut off car, and then go drive.

 

I've done it without the warm up cylce, and it seems fine with it....so I'll leave that option up to you.

Hmm.. this tranny swap doesn't look to be much harder that it is on an old school soob. That makes all those Auto Turbo Legacies out there a little more attractive..

 

My 87 used to be an auto.. I like it much better as a manual.. Time to try it with a legacy now:D

I really want to do this tranny swap. Sometime next year (hopefully) I want to do an engine swap. with an EJ20T. I was going have it done both at the same time, but I cant wait. I know it will be more money at different times. I'm waiting for Teagues Auto in North Carolina to get back at me to give me an estimate.

Originally posted by North Ursalia

Keep in mind, the Legacy is a battleship compared to a Civic. The power to weight ratios are vastly different. Switching to a manual is not going to make the drastic difference you think it will .

 

Yea... the Legacy is 3200lbs vs 2500 for the Civic, it's going to be tough taking them on pavement. Next time get him in the snow or on a dirt road... thats when my Legacy GT starts getting fun (although the fact that it pushes like a pig makes it challenging). With around 300hp the legacy would be a total blast to drive, might even give my Z28 a run for its money to 60 (can you say AWD LAUNCH!). I saw a page when I was wandering around the net for a guy who was getting something like 260hp just off idle out of a turbo 2.5... that might be the way to go, looked like a VERY well set up engine (probably pretty expensive though).

I am in the middle of a swap right now...it is a very labor intensive job and you need a bunch of diffrent parts...but if you know what your doing and have the right tools it is a satisfying experience....see legacy777's page above...or go to www.legacycentral.com and check out the 5MT swap there. Now if you want a better power to weight ratio go with the impreza....2.2 liter about 2800 pounds...and i would tend to disagree that a manual wont make a big diffrence because it does...anyway good luck to you if ya do....