[8Complex]

Yeah, you read that right. I have been thinking about it more and more lately and it just makes sense. No more breaking of tranny's, I can drift all I want (note: it's DAMN hard in an AWD car to get a good drift going with so little power). I dunno, maybe I'm going nuts, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about breaking the trans anymore... talk about a massive load off my mind, that damn turbo has already imploded one of my tranny's. :-/

Now, I wonder... where can I get that rear diff I'll need to make it locked? Gotta find a used one...

 

[Porter]

Why would you want to lock the rear diff? It makes more sense to keep an LSD. Locking the rear permanently will wear the hell out of your tires back there.

Or did you mean the center diff? I hear Cobb has a way to permanently lock up a stock Subaru center diff to make the car RWD without having to remove anything else. Apparently they were using these welded diffs to dyno the cars RWD.

 

[meebs]

or... just buy an RX7, or something like that. A car that does RWD right from the beginning would be better than chopping up an impreza.

Are you talking about drifting on tarmac? Yes it's hard, but the point of AWD is to always have traction. Especially on tarmac drifting = losing traction in the corners = losing time.

Locking the diff would make it harder to turn, but easier to drift as your rear tires would not be able to vary rotation speeds. I'm thinking back to my R/C car days when we would adjust the diff to be as loose as possible without losing acceleration. That was a fine science.

A locked diff would mean it would handle less well. Is that what you really want?

 

[8Complex]

RWD locked center diff. actually. Locking just the rear wouldn't do much.

Well... I think that a loss of traction might actually work out well for me as I don't want the traction (traction = more trans stress). Granted, I'd have to drive the car differently (and probably turn down my rear sway bar from 22mm), but it'd be fun as hell and would stay together throughout my turboing fun. The high end power would actually be even better with the lessened drivetrain loss as well.

Hmmmmmmm... guess just something to think about for a bit, huh?

 

[meebs]

If you are concerned about the tranny stress, what about getting better gears? or an STI tranny?

Something else to ponder, the center diff and the LSD are kind of a break point in the transmission. When your tires break traction and then suddenly regain it, you are stressing everything just as badly. Instead of the energy going into the center diff, it would be going into the gears, half shafts, and propshaft. Maybe your gears would actually be worse off with a locked center diff? So I think relativity comes into play big time. If you don't fix exactly what you are breaking to begin with, you will probably still snap gears as well as placing heavy stress on other components.

 

[scoobyrs25]

I also want to do this. Looking at Prodrive's exploded diagram of the Subey tranny makes me think it will be a piece of cake. Any idea what a center diff costs? I don't want to lock mine by welding it, might as well do it to a spare. The entire front diff and axles can also be removed to lighten the car some more.
Kevin

 

[FuJi K]

8complex,

are you talking about locking the center and removing the front shafts and diffs? try finding a company that carries locking center diffs then you'll be in the right direction.

Cobb used to carry the locking diff but they don't anymore.

good luck!

FuJi

 

[Guest]

You guys are silly.

Go to Cobb's garage sale section.

Billet RWD Conversion Center Diff (MY98-Older) 1 $400
Billet RWD Conversion Center Diff (MY99-Newer) 1 $400

 

[scoobyrs25]

Dope.

 

[ImprezedRS]

I have been thinking of doing this for a long time but I think it will be much harder to do it to a Auto than a manual. Since the manual is just changing out the center diff to a locked version. But the auto I would have to switch to e locked diff and aslo do something to the tranny computor too.

Or has anyone done this yet?

Maybe I should just send COBB an email about this.

 

[Graham]

Come on guys, now why did you buy a Subaru in the first place?
Don't convert o RWD, I think you will regret it later. The only reason one SHOULD do this is to be able to have their car dyno'd on a 2WD Dyno. The Impreza was not designed as a RWD drive car, and AWD is what makes it unique and gives it its great cornering and drifting ability. People, every car has a driftability factor, and personally I think the Impreza's is VERY high, you just need to learn to utiltize and make the best of its abilities.

I will explain this in another thread.

8Complex- I still am not convinced that the RWD conversion will dismiss all of your transmission snapping/drivetrain problems. Bottomline is that its still a weak tranny .



Graham

 

[scoobyrs25]

As far as breaking the tranny, wheel slippage (chirps and burnouts) will save the gears from snapping.

Drifting an Impreza? I can do it at will, but to say the Impreza is good at it? Well, I think it is excellent at drifting to safely get around a corner at a higher speed than you could by grip style driving. Drifting for style and freaking out the passengers? No contest, rear wheel drive is the shiznez. Drifting an awd Impreza requires massive momentum or massive power.

If I was to develop the piece for less than Cobb sells their piece ($600), who would buy one? If I can get enough people, I will have it made. What price do you guys think is reasonable?
Kevin

 

[Graham]

Please read my post in the "Suspension, Brakes, Rims, and Tires" section.

I agree that RWD is a good alternative, but its for the weak to follow. I bid you turn your car into RWD, but please don't forget the ENORMOUS amunt of control you will will be losing doing so. I think that by building up an AWD car capable of drifting successfully, you will look (if "looks" is what you care about) much better than those guys who went the easy way and converted to RWD.

And again, I still have no reason to believe RWD will "solve" all of your tranny troubles. It all comes down to how you shift and how much you abuse the transmission.


Graham

 

[scoobyrs25]

With over 300 horsepower, no style of shifting will save the tranny.

Only the weak require awd to drive well. Drifting, for the most part, is a stylish past time, not a fast way to drive. If you don't believe me, you have been watching too much Initial D. Initial D describes driving an awd vehicle totally wrong by the way.

This sounds like a pissing match, let's not do that. I'm all for a good debate though.
Kevin:nuetron:

 

[wop]

you can drift an impreza... but without uber power... you will not be able to sustain a constant drift... like the JDM guys...

I like the AWD... but I feel in the dry... with better driver skill... a RWD would perform better...

-*** :flame:

 

[wop]

If you are concerned about the tranny stress, what about getting better gears? or an STI tranny?

go price a STi tranny... then hope it will hold over 300 ft-lbs of torque...

-***

 

[RS25.com]

This sounds like a pissing match

Kevin:nuetron:

Oooh, ooooh, go ahead and do that so we can have a real fight - I'll move this over to the "Fight Club" if you want? :devil:

 

[scoobyrs25]

No, just want to make sure nobody starts taking offense. Sti trannies are great for 2 liter turbos that don't have much torque. The rally teams all broke the STI gears, hardened or not. They are all running very expensive dog boxes now. On dirt, awd is the way to go. On the street, especially in Southern California, it may not be the greatist. With the RWD, I will be putting more power to the ground efficiantly, and drifting at lower speeds.

ps, I love the idea of moving nasty threads to an area called fight club. It's way cooler than deleting them!

Kevin

 

[wop]

Don't convert o RWD, I think you will regret it later. The only reason one SHOULD do this is to be able to have their car dyno'd on a 2WD Dyno.

if you were not planning to keep it RWD why dyno it as a RWD car? that makes no sense... like shiv on the dyno with a FWD set up... LAME!!!

The Impreza was not designed as a RWD drive car,

it was not designed for drag racing either... but it can do the job (for those who choose that route)

and AWD is what makes it unique

unique! how many RWD impreza do you see? that would be unique!!!

and gives it its great cornering and drifting ability. People, every car has a driftability factor, and personally I think the Impreza's is VERY high, you just need to learn to utiltize and make the best of its abilities.

I will explain this in another thread.

explain all you want... but exteneded JDM style drifts will not be attained... with out UBER power... and even then I still think the RWD would be better for drifting...

I still am not convinced that the RWD conversion will dismiss all of your transmission snapping/drivetrain problems. Bottomline is that its still a weak tranny .

Graham

true... but for $400 ($600.00 new) cobbs RWD conversion is worth a try, right?

-***

pros of RWD:

drifting, faster in the dry (I live in socal), to be different, possible longer tranny life etc...

and ponder this... why is the cusco impreza that is used in the JGTC RWD!?!?!?! (HINT... the rules state that AWD is allowed but not used by anyone IIRC)

just my .02

 

[wop]

Sti trannies are great for 2 liter turbos that don't have much torque. The rally teams all broke the STI gears, hardened or not. They are all running very expensive dog boxes now. On dirt, awd is the way to go. On the street, especially in Southern California, it may not be the greatist.

Kevin

so true...

-***