Splinter's 6 Speed Swap

[Splinter]

Bleh ok.

Pedal box is in, after much damage to my knuckles and the firewall. Need to do a little more grinding before the master will fit.

Trans is most of the way out, but unlike the imprezas and legacys I'm used to, turns out you can't drop the trans with the cv axles still attached and have them pop out, so now I have to do some wiggle work to get the axles back out.

I'm probably around 6 hours into the swap so far, I figure tomorrow I should get in another 6 hours, hopefully finish dropping the 4eat and get the 6mt shimmied into place.

[Splinter]

Auto trans is out, speed sensor is swapped over, new seals in the 6MT (you don't need to remove the backlash plates for this) axle stubs are swapped over, just about ready to put the 6 speed into its new home!

[Splinter]

6MT is in, pedals are done, axles are in, driveshaft is on, new trans crossmember is 50% done

basically all tahts left is welding up the crossmember and the shifter extension

[Splinter]

So after roughly 20 hours I'm pretty much done. Just some wiring to take care of, should be driving it tonight with any luck.

I strongly advise anyone who tackles this to just buy the damn kit from Tom, fabricating the extended shifter turned out to be a major hassle.

[Splinter]

Been driving it all day, needs some fine tuning but wow, a manual trans totally transforms the car. It's like night and day.

Anyone know what wires to jump to disable the ignition lock? I see lots of threads where it mentioned but no one says what colour wires

[Splinter]

[Cynic]

What a great day you had for your test drive. I'm just a wee bit jealous... I seem to be burning thru gas these days, so I'll have to bite the bullet and get the plugs changed during spring tune up this week. I'm going up island mid week, so getting the oil changed, tires rotated etc before I leave.
Make sure she's ready for the open road.

[TomsSVX]

just unplug the shift lock control module under the center console to get the ignition lock to work properly.

Tom

[Splinter]

I did and its not working :|

UPDATE:

So I just plugged the auto shifter back in, hooked the interlock system back up, put it into park and pulled the key out.

You might want to add a note to your 5 speed swap instructions to make sure the auto is in park when you remove it... The funniest thing about this is that I did the same exact thing 3 years ago when I did my 5 speed swap in my turbo legacy, lol. I was searching for an answer and I came across my own post from back then, lol.

[RoughSilver92]

He he, the first time I put the key in the SVX after removing the auto shifter I unplugged the shift lock unit and tried to take the key out and it wouldn't come out. I played with it for a while, gave up and went inside. About 20 minutes later I went back out and figured it out, I forgot to push in on the key to turn it all the way back!

[Splinter]

haha thats awesome

When I was trying to install the brake booster I tried to put my hand through the windshield to tighten up the nuts on the other side.

[Gamesy]

Nice job I was wondering. using the 6MT, are you using the stock rear diff and axel?

Your just changing the transmission and everything else is stock right?

[1986nate]

Originally Posted by Gamesy

Nice job I was wondering. using the 6MT, are you using the stock rear diff and axel?

Your just changing the transmission and everything else is stock right?

It only works to use the stock rear differential if you get a WRX 6 speed that has the step down center differential, otherwise you need to change out the rear differential as well to match whatever transmission you get.

[aust92pearl]

which model wrx 6 speed has the step down centre diff?
i might start hunting for one

[TomsSVX]

US 07+

Tom