RA gearset
 

Hey mike K, this is ryan, i just got an RA gearset put into my wrx today, along with a new clutch and flywheel. so far it has definitly been one of the best mods ive done. at least im not afraid of shearing all the teeth off of one of my gears. but the longer first gear and shorter 2nd, 3rd and 4th is definitly better than stock. and 5th gear is actually usefull now. the car is definitly more fun to drive and uses the power a whole lot better. also....I CAN GO INTO 1ST GEAR WHENEVER I WANT!!!!. the new gearset dosnt have that stupid first gear block. if you are seriously thinking about getting a new tranny, you should keep your tranny mounts and get this set up.

ryan

Sounds Great. What did that run you?

trannsmission, act flywheel(13lbs) and exedy stage 2 clutch was 3300 installed. oh core exchange included. after doing all the crap ive done to my car i would definitly suggest this mod as one of the first. the new gearing really keeps the car in the powerban more, and even without doing power mods a stock wrx would be much quicker. the new clutch and flywheel are awesome, along with the fact that your not worried about loosing a gear is great too.

ryan

Did you change the gears because the old ones broke?

I was looking at this for a while, if my transmission breaks these gears are going in. Unless it breaks though I probably won't spend the money. I have just moved into STX class for autocross and so far it is treating me well :) I think I am going to try and stay there as long as I can.

Also, not being able to go into first gear doesn't bother me as much anymore, I am slowly learning the art of heel-toe downshifting. I even managed to get it into first at about 15-20 mph on the autocross track over the weekend.

How is 5th gear on the highway? One of the biggest reservations I had about this gearset is that 5th gear seemed too short. What rpms are you at for 80 mph? Is there any way to get the RA 1st - 4th gears but keep the stock 5th gear ratio? Do they just repace the gears, or is it everything, gears, synchros, bearings etc?

Did you end up going to MPJ performance? I remember you mentioned them when we were talking about this. What did they charge to install everything, and how long did it take?

I think that if my transmission holds up I will sell my car next year and look for an STi. If it breaks and I am forced to spend the money to fix it then I will probably keep my car for another year to get my money's worth out of it.

Next time you are out here I will have to check out the car!

all of the internals of the tranny were replaced, gears syncros etc. what they do is order RA gears, syncros etc from japan and then they have a transmission shop put the new internals into a usdm wrx transmisison case. the internals are all cryotreated to increase strength and the transmission is also torque tested at the shop. so pretty much i get a new transmission, but i have to give up my old one for the next person. they charged me 3300 for the transmission, clutch and flywheel installed....i showed up at the shop at 10am and drove off at about 4, so it took about 6 hours to install.....at 80 im probably doing 3500rpms which is pretty high. i guess the car is wasting gas, but oh well i wont complain considering the rest of the gearing is great. my transmission wasnt broken, i just wanted the ra gearing instead of the usdm wrx gearing. i dont know if you can get a gear set with the usdm wrx 5th gear. yup i went to mpj performance to get it installed. they have installed pretty much all of the parts in my car. im going to be heading off for home on wednesday so if you want to give it a rip let me know and i can meet you somewhere.

ryan

3500rpms doesnt sound that bad, thats about what my car does... (the L)

Im curious how the rpms are for autox and track use with that tranny, should be alot better, with a more useful 3rd gear.

On a closed course somewhere, I observed my car turning approximately 3100 RPM at 80 MPH, thus this gearset isn't that far off from stock in this respect. I don't think you're wasting "that" much gas.

:lol:

NO way :!: :lol: :lol:

Must be nice. My RS turns 3100 RPM at 70.