Started my 5-speed today (and suspension)

[svxhunter]

OK, 5 speeders. I'm counting on you to walk me through some of this.

Started the 5-speed project today. I'm using a 2001 Impreza RS with the 4:11 gears. Unfortunately, I never saw the entire car, so I'm scrounging for many of the other parts. I've got most- still looking for a couple.

At this point my game plan is to do most of the difficult and fussy fitting, fab work, and wiring. I've got a good local mechanic who I think I will let do the heavy work- most of the underside. He can do it on a lift, and if I set up things for him it should go fairly smoothly.

Day one- I thought I'd start with the tough part- the interior. My recent experience with the SVreX racer left me pretty familiar with the dash, wiring, etc.

I decided to free up some space to work and hopefully make it a little easier. I went ahead and pulled the seat and the lower dash trim piece (that one is a pain!). I was so far along, and the space so tight that I decided to go ahead and pull the entire steering column. I know that sounds a little radical, but I had done it to the racer and knew it wasn't all that bad. There are only 3 bolts holding the column in place, and 1 connecting it to the steering linkage under the hood. There are quite a few wires, but they all have unique plug-in connectors and should go back easily. A little persuasion, a tug, and the entire column came free. I also pulled the ECU and the TCU for just a little extra space.

The pedal assembly is from a 1998 Outback. My clutch mechanism will be hydraulic, so I knew I'd have a little more work. Some careful measuring revealed that the mounting to the brake booster is identical, the pedal angle is identical, but I need to shorten the brake booster push rod shaft to bolt up to the new brake pedal.

So I also attacked under the hood. Pulled the entire air intake assembly, master cylinder, cruise control actuator, A/C and fuel lines so I could pull the brake booster and do the shortening of the push rod right. This was a bit of a pain.

I got as far as dry fitting the pedal assembly (of course I'll have to re-route the main engine wiring harness to allow for my clutch master cylinder).

Next I'll do a little welding and merge the SVX gas pedal bracket with the Outback's clutch/ brake assembly so it will bolt in just like stock and then re-route the wiring harness.

3.5 hours flat. In just a few more hours I'll have the interior complete. In spite of the several aggravations, I got further than I expected. Putting the effort into pulling the entire column, etc. was definitely the way to go.

BTW- my 16 year old son started a suspension swap-out at the same time. He got the rear interior out of the way, all 4 struts pulled, springs removed, cores cut out, and the cores prepped for a trip to the welding shop. We decided to put a little extra effort into these cores and cut off the OEM perches and weld on new ones. We'll like the look a little better, and the adjustability on the Ground Controls will be significantly easier.

It will probably be a few days till I can get back to it. I'll keep you posted.

-Paul

Geez there are a lot of people doing 5-speed swaps lately... I'm jealous! Keep us posted on the progress, please.

[immortal_suby]

Ok, so when are you and the homeschoolers going to turn 5-speed conversions into a business?
Come on, the east coast needs you.

[svxhunter]

With the cost of a replacement slushbox nearing the value of the darned car, it made little sense to install a known problem. We figured the extra fun was worth the effort, and we could save a few dollars as well.

The boys would love it. They've already said they would like to do the suspension swap-outs. They get big smiles on when they're all greasy. They're ready to tear out the prfectly good A/T from the racer just to see what it could really do!!

I kind of doubt you could build a business on it!

BTW- anyone thinking of doing a 5-speed- try to get a complete donor car for all the parts. Finding the parts one at a time is a pain.

-Paul

[immortal_suby]

If you could do it cheaper than the cost of an auto rebuild you'd have customers.

[Noir]

hey paul, if you guys can fit one in over a weekend period, i'd be interested in driving down to get one fitted for my svx .

5 speed that is .

if it saves me time, i'm more than happy to pay for time and effort .

[svxhunter]

Hmmm...What's the going rate for an auto rebuild?

Harry- a weekend might be a stretch. But I could probably loan you mine or something like that...


...Oh my gosh! What am I talking about?




!

[immortal_suby]

Local shops about 2k up to $3500 at a dealership. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

Think about it.

[svxhunter]

Well...

A few family crises have sadly left this project sitting for an extended period.

My son and I finally got back to it today.

Finished up the suspension (which looks incredible!!) then got back to the pedals.

The merging of SVX and Outback pedal assemblies is a bit tricky. It's not hard, but there is a lot to consider. We had to R&R the pedal assembly from the car multiple times to get all the details ironed out. This is a portion of the job which works best with 2 (patient) people!

Here's what we ended up with:

-We threaded 2" more on the brake booster pushrod so we could cut it shorter. The Outback brake pedal mounts to the rod about 2" closer to the booster.

-We cut up the SVX pedal assembly for parts. We welded the end of it which bolts above the steering column onto our new set so the pedals would have support from above, instead of just being bolted to the firewall.

- We welded the SVX throttle support bracket to the assembly so we can use the SVX gas pedal. This worked nicely, except the throttle rod runs into the clutch activating mechanism. We shortened the throttle rod to clear, and modified the throttle cable bracket (tolerances here were very tight).

- We left the throttle cable location in the firewall the same, but notched the clutch master cylinder bracket to clear it and snuck it past the clutch activating mechanism to the shortened throttle rod.

- We used the SVX brake light switch on the Outback brake pedal so it would match the SVX wiring harness.

The finished product looks superb, and fits perfectly with extra strong mounting points.

We only had about an hour and a half to work on this today, so the final mounting and wiring will have to be later.

I really miss my SVX

Hopefully, we can get back to this very soon.

[svxhunter]

Should this thread have been in the Mod Mania section??

[Earthworm]

Wow, I thought I was reading my notes on what I did with my WRX pedals before putting them in my SVX!