Yeah, that is the other thing to look for. If it has it, you're golden.

ah, i'm good then! I have the trans in the trunk of my car right now.

is there any parts i will need for this swap that i should get on order right now?

Engine rear main seal
Engine oil separator plate should be replaced if it's plastic (they are made of metal now)
Transmission front oil seal
About 8 feet of 3/8" ATF line (replace both sections going from the trans to the tubes connected to the engine and also the low pressure steering line at the back of the engine)
6 ea Subaru hose clamps for the 3/8" line

I'm looking on subaru parts.com too see if these are in budget...

you don't happen to have part numbers, I cant seem to find the seals.

my current SVX trans was rebuilt in 2003 @ 80k

Call up Liberty Subaru in Oradel, NJ (they are one of the few good things in NJ :p) Tell them what you're doing and they should be able to help you out. You need to request pricing for "subaru-svx.net" and their prices will probably beat subaruparts.com

For the seals and clamps, you should be under $20???

The tubing will be bought at any local parts store. The seals and clamps, they should be able to order without the part numbers. If your trans was rebuilt in '03, the Sep Plate was probably done?????

Hey, thanks for all the input here. In a perverse way, getting the 4.44 gears has made fragging my transmission an overall positive experience :D

My local trans guy claims to have worked on SVX's and says this legacy/outback/impreza swap is fairly common. He shouldn't run into any problems out of the ordinary, right?

No, I've swapped on SVX's and Legacy's. Other than the different exhaust that needs to be removed, they are almost the same. It is actually easier to get to the torque converter bolts on a SVX than it is on the Legacy...

Will he be doing the rear diff?

if thats the same tranny Eric got, it is a 4.11... I informed them already of their listing errors but obviously... no good. There is really only one good way to tell.... Pop the front diff off and count the teeth

Tom

Yea, I think I'm going to print the how-to for the rear diff ring&pinion off of this site (unless you think it would insult his intelligence) and have him take care of everything in one shot over next week.

Just one last clarification; because I haven't gone to the salvage yard yet - I need to find the rear differential from an Automatic EJ25 engine - that is the only one that will work, correct?

Okay, before I spend good money on a rear diff, I want to be sure as to whether or not I have a 4.11 or a 4.44 on my hands.

How do I 'pop the front diff off', and when I'm counting teeth, how many should there be to indicate ratio?

As for getting at the diff....I dunno.
Once you get in there count the teeth on the ring, then divide by the number of teeth on the pinion.

Take the numbers off the tranny (sticker by the starter hole) and a good dealer should be able to tell you what gears it has....of post the #s on heree, and someone might be able to tell you.

Just FYI, the Forester S, has a rear LSD, but I don't know the ratio. If you find one, and it's the correct ratio (Should be a tag on the rear cover) you won't have to muck with swapping the diff guts. Some Outbacks had LSD but I don't know which ones...

I am a firm believer that no other USDM subaru uses the :tard: axles that we do in the rear. So keeping the LSD would require the diff swap

Tom

I thought the VLSD cars had different axles than the non-VLSD cars, although I've never taken a real good look at my axles and compared them with any other Subaru axles...