This isnt a WRX tranny....

I have heard of no problems with the STi 6 speed....

 

The STi 6-speed is much tougher than the WRX 5. It has a more rigid case, which helps with alignment, beffier gears, better oiling, etc. It is a vast improvement and I have heard of daily driven, 400whp cars running the factory trans for thousands of miles and counting. It is a very robust upgrade, but very expensive as well.

 

its funny you say that...cause i have a friend who just put an STI together...made like 375whp...and it just destroyed the transmission.

obviously some drivers are harder on transmissions...but i still wouldn't take any chances and keep the car around stock horsepower levels.

 

Just out of curiosity, was he drag racing or auto-xing/tracking the car? Drag racing an AWD car making that kind of power probably means a sticky clutch on the stock flywheel, which means hard launches and some nice 60' times. Not a big revelation that the trans might go under these circumstances. If he was tracking the car, I'm honestly surprised it blew up on him. People have been having some great luck with those trannies. sp far.

 

was driving it around on the streets of virginia.

i'll try to get some pics of the car...its been in some ricer magazines and has about 30k worth of aftermarket work done to it...

 

Surprising he would have it go at that power level. NASIOC has several cars running 400whp on daily drivers without issue. I guess there is no set and fast rule when it comes to mechanical components though, especially those that are stressed as much as the transmission in an AWD car. Sucks for your buddy.

 

here you go...some more information on the car.

http://www.arfabrication.com/feature/andy.shtml

i don't know the owner...just the guy who built it. (he's a friend of mine)

 

Ummm...thats not a Sti and it doesn't have the Sti Trans......

 

That's definitely a bugeye, but he could have had the 6-speed swap. As it stands, it says he is running the Kaaz synchroed, straight cut 5-speed. If that's the case, he is still running the factory 5-speed trans case, which is notorious for flexing under heavy torque loads, which leads to a lot of transmission failures. That tranny is rated to 500hp maximum, if I remember correctly. If this WRX was making 375whp, he was well over 500hp at the flywheel. All that adds up to a tranny failure 9/10 of the time. That's a hardcore WRX, but he should have saved his money and started with the STi, if he wanted to go that far. Wouldn't have had to sleeve the motor, etc and could have gone even further on power.

 

Quote of the year.