IaM-Ray posted:Todd M posted:I got curious and looked up the transaxle weight; 89 lbs. for the VW and 150 lbs. for the Subaru. 60 lbs. for more gear? I would say, "Heck Ya!" But the cost? Low mileage Subaru 5 speed 2 WD used; $1300 not including the reverse ring and pinion, SubaruGears rebuilt $4,000 including the reverse ring and pinion. The reverse ring and pinion cost a grand if you wanna install them yourself. VW 4 speed rebuilt by Rancho Transmission; $775. On the plus side, the 5 speed is a straight bolt on to a Subaru match engine, so you save on the adapter plate. Also, I am fairly sure that the Subaru ECU is expecting sensor info from the transaxle, so the Subaru 5 speed would be a cleaner install. Is it worth it?
I saw a wide body at Vintage the other day that had the Subaru 5 speed. The body mod was not extensive, and it was handled well, so well that the modification looked like it belonged there. My guess is that the body mod for a 6 speed would be about 4 inches longer and from what I could tell, it would not be a problem, but according to SubaruGears, they don't make a reverse ring and pinion for a 6 speed Subaru.
Todd, the subie tranny is cut down in size to fit into a vw. Is that taken into account in your weight estimate or is that the weight of a standard tranny?
Cut down to size to fit in a VW? Other than taking off a few inches when converting a 4 WD to a 2 WD, how in the world would anybody cut down the size of a transaxle? The reverse R&P for a Subaru 5 speed from SubaruGears is for a 2 WD transmission, and I have no idea if it fits a 4 WD which is longer. The 150 lbs. is for a 2 WD Subaru transaxle.