Transmission Swap
 

We have a 1995 svx awd with a damaged tranny. Purchased another transmission from a 1993 Svx but when the garage mounted the 93 tranny it does not line up exactly with the 95 flex plate. It is off approx 1/2" and when I called a local Subaru dealer, I was told that the 1995 model is slightly different and only another 1995 transmission will line up correctlly. Has anyone gone thru this with a 1995 model and can shed some light on this? Also found out from seller that the torque converter is from a legacy but I don't think that has a bearing on this problem. Help and thanks in advance for any solutions.

The tranny will fit. It's the TC and flexplate that are causing the issue.

Either re-use your SVX TC, if it's good ;)

Or, get a Legacy Flexplate. I'd suggest the SVX TC :D

What year Legacy flex plate would you get? Thanks.

If you use a Legacy torque converter with stock SVX gearing it will OVERHEAT THE TRANS!!!

Yeah, that's what I meant to say :rolleyes:

Listen to Tom, he's the expert around here :cool:

Have you tried using your old SVX flexplate?:)


Thanks, Dave.:o

:confused: On the flex plate, the alignment is the problem. The 95 flex plate holes do not line up with the 93 transmission. That's why we were wondering if another year flex plate would fit. Subaru said that the Svx alignment for 1995 was different that the other years. Has any ond done a 95 swap with a different year and had similar problems? Or are we getting bad info??

All AWD and FWD SVX's used the same flex plate.

So they all use the same plate.

Is there a reason why the holes don't line up then?

You said it's a Legacy TC, they won't fit to the SVX flexplate.

I used a 97 legacy trans and torque converter, and that lined up with the stock SVX flexplate. They must have the oil change guy putting the tranny in...or they are trying to put 2 dowel pins in one hole....not like ive done that...

96 and 97 Legacy's with the 2.5 engine use the same flexplate as the SVX. Also some Forresters...

Lets clear things up, when you say that they are 1/2" away. How are they missing?

And is it the eight inner bolts or the four outer bolts?

Here's the deal. The car is at a transmission shop not with an oil change guy.
They are not experts with Svxs. I did call a Subaru dealer service manager who was somewhat familiar with parts, issues, etc. but again I didn't get the
feeling that I was talking to an expert. However, the one thing that they said was that the 1995 model and transmission are different from any other year and that a 93 transmission would not mount to a 95 flexplate which is what I was shown when I went to the tranny shop. The transmission was in and all connected except the holes do not line up at the front end of the transmission where it connects to the engine via the flex plate. I stood under the car and the guy pointed out that the new tranny didn't line up which I did see to be true. At that time we did not know that there was a Legacy torque converter on the transmission. One other twist to this story is that we already had one transmission that we bought from a place in New Jersey that imports used engines and transmissions from Japan directly and that did not fit this car either. This was at another garage and we thought that that the problem was that the Japanese version was not compatible so we returned it for a refund. Right now I am not sure what to do. No one seems to want to speak to the 1995 issue and whether this is causing the problem. The transmission repair guy feels that he need a 95 transmission to make everything fit. Help.

4 outer bolts. there are four welded small brackets that these bolts are supposed to fit to and that is where the misalignment is. thanks for the question i forgot to say that before.

OK.
I just went to
www.subaruparts.com
and looked up a 4wd, SVX, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, and 1992 flywheel.
ALL show part #12332AA052
If you are trying to use a Legacy torque converter, don't.
Please use the SVX torque converter, and an SVX flexplate/flywheel.
I tried to look this stuff up last night, but my computer was,,,,just messin with me!:mad:
I have installed alot of 1996 and 1997 Legacy Outbacl transmissions over the last four years, and my share of stock SVxi trannys, and the flexplate has never been an issue.
If you want your mechanic to call me, thats ok too.
301-707-3437
Tom

Why is nobody mentioning that whoever sold him the transmission probably sold him the wrong one. He said it was a 93 svx transmission he was putting onto his 95 svx? It sounds like it came with a legacy/impreza/not-svx torque converter. If the transmission came with a legacy/impreza/not-svx torque converter it's probably not an svx tansmission. That means the gear ratio of the transmission is likely not going to match his rear end either.



Look at the torque converter again. You will find that the tabs with the bolt holes are 1" wide tabs not 2" wide tabs like your svx converter. That will clearly identify the torque converter as not an svx torque converter. All SVX torque converters have 2" wide tabs.

Having identified the torque converter as a not-svx torque converter you can pretty much assume you have the wrong transmission. You are going to have to pull the transmission off again no matter what but once it's off you can choose to get a new svx torque converter, use the vin off the top of the trans to identify what it is off of, and have svxfiles build you a rear end.....or send it back and try once again to find the correct transmission. I'm sorry to hear you've gotten boned over twice now.


(If you have money you can also consider getting a built transmission from me which comes with the correct/new torque converter)

Thanks for the advice. I gave Tom's reply to the garage in case they had a question. And Michael you are also right on the point about the torque converter because I contacted the person who sold us the transmission and told them that the transmission was not fitting and that is when I learned that they had put a Legacy tc on the Svx transmission. When I mentioned this to the transmission repair guy he said that noticed that the torque converter looked like it was "forced on" or something to that effect. Anyway, where we stand now is that the transmission is coming out again and our original 95 tc is going on the 93 transmission. My question right now would be whether using the Legacy tc by the former owner for a couple of thousand miles could have screwed up the transmission or is it ok?

You shouldn't re-use your old torque converter. The reason you are supposed to use the torque converter that comes with a transmission is presumably the transmission you are getting as a replacement is good and therefore the torque converter shouldn't be full of metal,etc. Presumably the transmission you are replacing is bad and therefore the torque converter in it may be full of metal. You should get a rebuilt/new svx torque converter since you didn't get one with the transmission that was sent to you.

Also I would still get the vin off of that transmission and double check what car that transmission came out of to make sure you are running the right gear ratio. I find it hard to believe that someone installed an svx transmission with a legacy torque converter. It's a lot more likely they installed a legacy transmission, torque converter, and flex plate in an svx--hopefully with a matching rear end.

If you install that transmission without changing rear ends and it isn't a 3.545 what then?