Ok I have a 91 Legacy 5 speed and am looking at a 97/98 Outback 5 speed with a bad transmission. Will the transmission from the 91 work in the 97? I may be able to get it cheap. I did a search and could not dig anything up relevant.

It will work, you will need to check and see if they use the same final drive ratio. If not, it's not a big deal, just swap the rear diff also.

in general yes, they'll swap easily. a few things to be aware of:

 

make sure the rear diff ratio matches the transmission diff ratio (trans and front diff are one unit on these). they will not be the same - so you can just swap the rear diff too.

 

is the outback a hydraulic clutch or cable? the Legacy GT sedans are always hydraulic clutches, so you'll have to work around that since the 91 will be a cable clutch.

 

in either 98 or 99 the bellhousing bolt pattern changed, still doable but it's 4 vereses 8 bolt pattern - though the 4 still line up and "work". so you'll need to verify that and whether this is a 97 or 98 if it even matters.

From the ones I've seen the outbacks went to hyd clutch with the change to the 8 bolt pattern in 99.

 

But if you have both complete cars, you'd have everything you need to do the swap either way, just a little more work if you had to swap pedal assemblies.

From the ones I've seen the outbacks went to hyd clutch with the change to the 8 bolt pattern in 99.

 

But if you have both complete cars, you'd have everything you need to do the swap either way, just a little more work if you had to swap pedal assemblies.

 

My 1997 OB has hyd. clutch so it's ealier than 99.

You should be able to keep the hyd. clutch setup. To my knowledge the pivot ball is just moved to the other "boss" (you may have to tap it) and you can swap over the hyd clutch fork & slave cylinder.

You should be able to keep the hyd. clutch setup. To my knowledge the pivot ball is just moved to the other "boss" (you may have to tap it) and you can swap over the hyd clutch fork & slave cylinder.

 

unfortunately you can't go this way with trannys, you can go newer into older but not older into newer not unless you swap over to a cable clutch.

 

two problems, no bolt holes for the clutch slave cylinder and no second hole for clutch fork.

 

here are some pictures one from a 03 rs tranny and one from a 91 legacy.

 

03 rs, you can see the extra bolt holes

 

91 legacy, no bolt holes

Ok I have a 91 Legacy 5 speed and am looking at a 97/98 Outback 5 speed with a bad transmission. Will the transmission from the 91 work in the 97? I may be able to get it cheap. I did a search and could not dig anything up relevant.

 

If you end up not being able to use the 97 OB I need the front of the propeller shaft for my 97 OB.

Edited September 21, 200817 yr by screwbaru2