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5mt swapped!
Drove home my '97 SVX today with it's 5mt. Some might recall a pair of WRX 5 speeds (from Saab 9-2, which is just a WRX in Saab clothing) on Craigslist back then. I contacted the guy, who happened to be in Bozeman, MT, which is 3.5 hours from me. I was very surprised. We talked and I told him I 'd been thinking about a swap for my SVX and he said he'd done one on his. I asked if he wanted to do mine. I drove up, we worked out a great deal, which included the 22k mile tranny. I took a bunch of pics of the dozen or so SVX they have parked there, mostly parts cars, pics of some of the swap. Swap looks factory. He used some of the swap kit and improved on it, IMO. He put in the Saab shifter, boot and pedals as I asked temporarily, till I can get some made I like. CEL is on. He tried a few mods to fool the ECU but stopped for now as it was going to take a bit more figuring. May or may not get to that.
This is not the SVX I dropped off in January. It feels faster and I love the control I have. It shifts sure and solid and I've got a little ways to go before I'm good at it. This is more than enough to get me in trouble but it feels like the tranny can take a lot more power if I had it. (Maybe some day.) Pedals are a little tricky to get used to, they're close together and I wouldn't want to drive with big winter boots on.
I'm not saying a 5mt is better than a 4.44 but, for me, this is how I want to drive my SVX . Fun, fun, fun.
Tim, the guy who did the work, took a bunch of pics and I'll put them up when I can but it may be a while. I'll post what few I have here over a few posts.
So, pics, if I uploaded right, are of the donor Saab, the Suby shop, the pedals that I'll change, the shifter/boot that'll change, a few of the local SVXs. The red one has a 5mt and is for sale.
My RPMs: (anything over the speed limit, is purely conjecture, of course)
55 mph, 2000 rpm
65 mph, 2500 rpm
70 mph, 2700 rpm
75 mph, 2900 rpm
80 mph, 3050 rpm
90 mph, 3400 rpm
100 mph, 3750 rpm
(all within a couple mph and 50 rpm reader error)
So, more pics and info to come...
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