i'm looking to upgrade the tranny in the wagon and was wondering what ya'll thought of a set of RA gears? is there anything else out there that would be a stronger upgrade than my crappy 02 gears? i just hate the fact that i can't get into 1st gear without going 2mph. so a little help on the tranny/gear subject with your thoughts on clutches as well. i don't won't anything too hard as this is still my daily driver.
Changing gears is not going to change the engagement going back to 1st. RA gears are really short. You should do the legacy gt 1-2 and 06 WRX 3-4 and stock 5th.
I was going to say what will did. If you keep the legacy 1-2 there will be no modifications needed, if you want more legacy gears then there will be conflicts. Also the legacy gears are better spaced, and I believe stronger. So 1st is a bit longer and 2nd a bit shorter. Supposedly this helps keep the car in the power band better, although I have yet to experience it. edit: and they have more synchros on the legacy gears so engagement should be easier.
I'm very interested in this too. what synchros would you use? also what is the advantage of the legacy 1&2 gears?
They drop in. Use the stock syncros. However, you will have to buy the double cone syncro set. If you have an 05MY WRX transmission, you already have the double cone set. Andrewtech has said that the LGT 1-2 is stronger and has better ratios to keep the engine in the power band. If wifey breaks 2nd again...LGT's will be going in.
Sounds like an alternative to dropping big bucks on a 6 speed. I have an 03 and im looking to make atleast 300 whp in the future. Would this combo suffice?
ok, stupid question... what's a double cone syncro set? and what does it do? do i need to change out all the gears or only first and second? and what clutch should i run with that?
RA gears are good, but will they break? Yea they will....depends how you drive. I went through this for about one month...back and forth....calls, threads, searching...the whole shabang. Gave up and got a 6spd...no more worrying about chewing gears. I say...sell your 5spd while you can still get 1g or more for it then put that money toward a 6spd. If you won't be beating on your car and want something u want to have fun with every once a while on hwy or mountains then RA or cocktail gearset will be good.
it just means you have two sycros instead of one. your 2nd and 3rd is double. 1, 4, 5, and R are single. If you had an 05+ trans, you'd need to convert to single for 1st gear for most of the RA and STi gearsets.
Just wondering but where do people come across RA gears? I assumed they would be hyper jdm rare and expensive.
long waiting lists from grouppe-s...or from RalliSpec...or other places. 11ty billion places can get you RA or STi gear sets. You gotta wait about 3~6 months on average tho. They cost anywhere from $1300 to $1500 for the set with setup kit. Thats pretty reasonable considering you cant get them from a US dealer... they go: 1. FHI JAPAN. 2. SUBARU of JAPAN distribution warehouse. 3. Local JDM SUBARU dealer. 4a. Middle man...JDM dealer to USA source. 4b. USA source to USA distributor. 4c. USA distributor to USA retailer. 5. USA retailer to USA consumer. the 4th step could be more parts, or it could be as simple as JDM dealer to US retailer. Thats what makes them expensive. I've calculated the average cost from FHI for the STi block. It would in theory cost $686 if you purchased it directly from FHI JAPAN. IN THEORY.
Seems quite a good alternative but I think if your driving style leads to trouble with the strength of regular wrx gears you're going to need to the extra strength of a 6 speed. So save up a bit longer and get the full on big boy.