MT to AT swap? Doable or craziness?

[Irace86]

Originally Posted by JDM4E

Are you on stock power? And why it is problematic at "redline"? And did you replace the trans oil for something better?

Stock power, no trans oil change. The car could have had some gear grinding by the original owner. I purchased certified preowned from a dealership. The older lady who owned it may have shifted poorly. Fifth gear was always hard to get into. Feels like that gear was missed before, but I thought I read that this was a common issue and not necessarily mine. At redline it is particularly hard to get into some of the gears, especially fifth but even with the whiteline transmission bushing I figured the torque is causing twisting that makes it hard to get into gear. I tend to like a sharp notchy feel but I don't want to feel like im forcing poprly fitting metal parts past each other.

[Dfyfzx]

A fast shift from 1st into 2nd causes a grind and the same from 3rd to 4th. I've got the full compliment of tranny bushings AND that new fangled IRP short shifter. Can't get any more precision than what I've got. Fresh Amsoil fluid change. Been from stock fluid to Motul and now Amsoil. I'm confident I've done everything I can to help the stock tranny and it's still a bear when running it hard. No more money will spent on it. I'm done and out of ideas. Time for a hardware change/upgrade when one becomes available...

[cdrazic93]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Not sure that just swapping for a stock At would fix your concern or just postpone the inevitable anyway. Did you see the info in that link I posted? Apparently there was a beefed up MT in the works but it doesn't say if it ever actually materialized.

PAR engineering gear sets I believe, were some of the sets (of like2? Maybe?) I saw on this forum. Swapping to an AT would be a waste of time, conversion kit, along with upgraded valve body, and clutch packs would be even more expensive than just swapping a better transmission in.

Although there are still options, billet clutch fork? Velox motorsports has one, and gearsets are still a thing.

[GsxrMe]

The T5 are glass in their stock form just jump onto the mustang forums. Im still waiting for a Tremec T56 swap. Some member here have done it but no vendors wants to make money and sell us a bellhousing, mounts, drive shaft, ect.

Little fact page is below. If your going to build a t5 just goto the t56 and do it right.

http://www.moderndriveline.com/Techn.../tremec_t5.htm

[Drakiv]

There are actually several upgrade options for the MT now. All you have to do is

[stevesnj]

Just find a transmission guy to either beef up the manual or swap and adapt a stronger manual. You want the these transmission to handle power (torque) they were NOT engineered to encounter. Do some research and get back to us as you may be able to help others who have the same issue.

[Dfyfzx]

Originally Posted by Drakiv

There are actually several upgrade options for the MT now. All you have to do is

PAR gear set, Velox gear set, jackstransmission rebuilds, FullBlown v160 swap, SpencerFab T5 swap... I've done my research. Any more I'm missing? No options I'm aware of thrill me.

Well aware of what's out there and I'm well aware each options is NOT cheap. SpencerFab will probably get my money if they release relatively soon. A properly built T5 will survive just fine and be pretty low cost. Assuming their swap kit isn't crazy expensive, probably the route I'll go.

Would love it if a shop came out with a cd009 bolt in kit. Those things are plenty strong bone stock and readily available for cheap.

[Silver Cervy]

Remind me again why people boost this car? There are plenty of (more reliable) ways to get extra whp and torque, and the amount of money you'll spend on the kit itself and fixing all the inevitable problems the car will have will be so much that you would've been better off buying a more powerful car in the first place. This car does not need even close to 400 hp to be enjoyable.

[-Phil]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

Remind me again why people boost this car? There are plenty of (more reliable) ways to get extra whp and torque, and the amount of money you'll spend on the kit itself and fixing all the inevitable problems the car will have will be so much that you would've been better off buying a more powerful car in the first place. This car does not need even close to 400 hp to be enjoyable.

That's not how any of this works!

[GsxrMe]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

Remind me again why people boost this car? There are plenty of (more reliable) ways to get extra whp and torque, and the amount of money you'll spend on the kit itself and fixing all the inevitable problems the car will have will be so much that you would've been better off buying a more powerful car in the first place. This car does not need even close to 400 hp to be enjoyable.

The feels like a slug without pushing 300whp+, If I wanted something small and fun I would of picked the Miata. At least that has a convertible.

But... I thought I was buying a project car to void warranty's and give corvettes a run for their money sounds more fun. Being different and not driving the same damn car everyone else does around town is nice. Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes are everywhere around my house and boy is that boring! 99.9% stock, leased driven BORING! Being that one person that doesn't just blend in and has something very different gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. I only have 2 window decals on my car and everything else looks stock. I also get those cocky Mustangs, Camaros & Vetts that pull up next to me wanting to do a rolling 30 and When I rip past them *Psht, Psht, Psht....* boy does their jaw drop at the next stop sign.

Only 1 draw back about the platform is it really doesn't have a back seat and my wife refuses to take the car because I have a 7 year old that needs to sit in the back all crushed and cramped. The cars paid off and I'm fighting not buying another vehicle for a daily driver. The non STI 2018 WRX Sport is killing me. has the FA20 engine and when I flex fuel kit the car does wonders like our twins. But excluding my wife's car, my Garage already houses my Jeep TJ my BRZ and I have no room for another Project. I want to build a 12.5:1 turbo engine so bad... Now that will give me a peace of mind. But it'll never end, some new upgrade will come out and one of our vendors will take my money. That's how it works :<

[SUB-FT86]

I like the fact that I have saved up a whole new 86 worth of money yet I want to wait until my warranty expires(I'm at 38k) to go 300whp in 20k more miles. I guess you can say I love the car in stock form that It made me become very patient.

[Scrappydoo]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Yea, I particularly like the tag line. Plan, simple says it all.

Sort of like the old Bell helmet ad in back in the day that said "If you have a $10 head, wear a $10 helmet". I saw that when I was 10 and its stuck with me for over 40 years.

The helmet? Seriously replace it.

[Silver Cervy]

Originally Posted by GsxrMe

The feels like a slug without pushing 300whp+, If I wanted something small and fun I would of picked the Miata. At least that has a convertible.

But... I thought I was buying a project car to void warranty's and give corvettes a run for their money sounds more fun. Being different and not driving the same damn car everyone else does around town is nice. Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes are everywhere around my house and boy is that boring! 99.9% stock, leased driven BORING! Being that one person that doesn't just blend in and has something very different gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. I only have 2 window decals on my car and everything else looks stock. I also get those cocky Mustangs, Camaros & Vetts that pull up next to me wanting to do a rolling 30 and When I rip past them *Psht, Psht, Psht....* boy does their jaw drop at the next stop sign.

Only 1 draw back about the platform is it really doesn't have a back seat and my wife refuses to take the car because I have a 7 year old that needs to sit in the back all crushed and cramped. The cars paid off and I'm fighting not buying another vehicle for a daily driver. The non STI 2018 WRX Sport is killing me. has the FA20 engine and when I flex fuel kit the car does wonders like our twins. But excluding my wife's car, my Garage already houses my Jeep TJ my BRZ and I have no room for another Project. I want to build a 12.5:1 turbo engine so bad... Now that will give me a peace of mind. But it'll never end, some new upgrade will come out and one of our vendors will take my money. That's how it works :<

Look bro, you do what you want. We all have different tastes. But it annoys me when people say that this car is terrible stock or without a turbo kit, and it especially peeves me when someone (like OP) jumps into FI without considering the amount of changes he'll have to make to his car and then complains when something goes wrong. This was meant to be a small, affordable sports car, just like the Miata, so in my opinion, if you want to be able to compete with vettes and mustangs then you should've just bought a GTR or a Lotus.

I get the appeal of driving something unique (although it confuses me that you left your car bone-stock exterior despite that), and if you have the money to boost then by all means do it, but if you're gonna say that this car is boring without more power then you're no better than the mustang drivers that you see everyday.

[Irace86]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

Look bro, you do what you want. We all have different tastes. But it annoys me when people say that this car is terrible stock or without a turbo kit, and it especially peeves me when someone (like OP) jumps into FI without considering the amount of changes he'll have to make to his car and then complains when something goes wrong. This was meant to be a small, affordable sports car, just like the Miata, so in my opinion, if you want to be able to compete with vettes and mustangs then you should've just bought a GTR or a Lotus.

I get the appeal of driving something unique (although it confuses me that you left your car bone-stock exterior despite that), and if you have the money to boost then by all means do it, but if you're gonna say that this car is boring without more power then you're no better than the mustang drivers that you see everyday.

The tranny kinda sucks even stock. It is kinda notchy and short which is nice but the box definitely is rough on gear engagement. This might just be a Subaru thing. I dont know, but it sucks. Considering the improvements I've made (Perrin shift bushing, MTEC springs, Whiteline transmission bushing and shorter height with a sweet knob), the stock tranny is bitter sweet.

Honestly, I am biased in my evaluation. I drive less than five miles to work or to the gym which is most of my daily driving, so the car including tranny barely gets warm. It's definitely better once the car gets good n hot from a decent drive and some mildly aggressive driving. But it could be better all the time.

And the car can be fun without forced induction. I certainly enjoy it as is but the Harrop SC I'll get in the future will be well appreciated. This car has Porsche handling with Miata and Civic SI power levels. Add a supercharger and the car is a Cayman killer--possibly Carrera 911 killer for a fraction of the price. You can't blame people for saving money they don't have by boosting an 86 instead of dropping coin on a Porsche.