r180 RWD reliability

[Gamesy]

my friend still has the welded center diff from when he made his wrx RWD. i'm just wondering how the stock svx r180 diff will be able to hold up against all the power to the rear end?

[huck369]

Originally Posted by Gamesy

my friend still has the welded center diff from when he made his wrx RWD. i'm just wondering how the stock svx r180 diff will be able to hold up against all the power to the rear end?

I've been running a stock rear diff in my RWD 5-Speed for about 3 years now...but I am a pretty calm driver...and don't drive it often...but so far no troubles.....

[Green1995SVX]

Are you sure your car has a R180 stock? The last time I checked, my car had an R160.

[huck369]

I didn't say it had a R180, just that I'd been running RWD on the stock unit for a few years for comparison, the R180 should hold up better...and running in RWD means you can run a stock 3.54 rear diff, if you so choose, and throw in a 4.44 for the drag strip in just a couple hours.

[Gamesy]

i remember there being debates and i cant remember where but someone found out its an R180. makes sense for doing 6spd swaps all that needed to be done was just put in the other r180 with the proper final drive.

svx r180 3.45454...
sti r180 3.90

[icingdeath88]

Uhh, I think you're confused about something. The SVX rear makes sense for WRX 5-speed swaps because it has the same ratio as the WRX front diff. I do remember a thread about some 6-speeds having a 3.5454 rear even though they had a 3.90 front. I remember reading somewhere that the housings on R160s and R180s are the same, it's the insides that are different. So they are interchangeable, and they do look the same externally.

[Hocrest]

The 160 and 180 signify the diameter of the ring gear. ALL SVX's (and most other Subaru's back into the early 1980's) come with a stock R160. The case of the R180 is physically larger to accommodate the larger ring gear, however the external mounting allows it to be mounted in place of our R160 with some minor mods.

Here you can see the difference in size beteen the rear cover of an r-160 and r-180

[Gamesy]

hmm i'll have to double check, btw has anyone attempted the r200 from the 280z? apparently they are way smaller than the ones on the 240z, they are about the size of an r180

[Hocrest]

Here is the difference between an R180 and R200

[icingdeath88]

well, shows what I know...