I think I have enough parts to start the swap thread now. I went and picked up the donor 98 5spd, t-case, front drive shaft, flywheel, master cyl, clutch pedal, new in box ECU, cross member and center console. Guy also threw in a starter and a few coil packs. Got all that for $400 and spent about $100 in gas. The wife's 04 Forester 2.5XT was gettin it, cruise maxed out at 90 and managed 18MPG. Still need STi turbo, intercooler, intake, exhaust and a COBB tune but that's for another forum.

Still need to get a clutch, slave cyl and build a clutch line. My auto is almost ready to pull just got the 6 bell housing bolts, cooler lines and the cross member. Wish I had a trans jack for this! It's gonna be fun I'll get pics up later today.

Nice man best of luck!

You might as well drop in a crawl box at the same time. Do the driveshafts once. I love my 5 speed, just wish I could crawl more.

First limited five speed, I like it.

One thing that might be an issue, is whether the crankshaft of your 5VZ-FE is machined to accept a pilot bearing for the input shaft of the trans.

Just please keep this thread updated, your information and tips will provide other people invaluable information for many years! Keep pics and information coming our way!

Jan 3rd Progress update- All that's left is 2 cooler lines, 6 bell housing bolts and drop the cross member. Taking my sweet time. The torque converter bolts were the worst part so far. Just hard to get at. So far so good. I know it's dirty! Shes been collecting dust for 4 months and burped up a few qts of trans fluid after I purposely overfilled it. Can't wait to get some fresh mud on her!

Got a little bit done tonight, all the hard stuff is done. Cooler lines removed, trans is held to the motor with the two lowest bolts only and the cross member just has the outer bolts keeping it in. Ready to drop it tomorrow. Probably gonna lower it with my big floor jack with the assistance of a few ratchet straps hung between the frame. It's worked in the past.

If Toyota had put half the effort in designing the radiator as they did routing and securing the cooler lines then I wouldn't have this problem! Lines are bomb proof!

Still in no rush really. Have yet to order any parts. I am going with the F1 Racing clutch kit over Marlin Crawler. Marlin is out of stock on flywheels (F1 kit comes with one) and they can't put together a comp clutch for the 3.4 only their stage 1 HD 1200lb. I really like a 6 puck clutch and have had good results in the past from Ebay clutches in street/strip cars. I'll be getting with Marlin for the other little stuff like HD flywheel bolts, clutch fork boot and slave cyl. Gonna try to use off the shelf line from Advance Auto for the clutch line.

Should I replace some seals before I install the trans? It should have a front main seal or something around the input shaft right? Thant's all for now hope to have more tomorrow.

I hope so! Would they really have different cranks for auto's and manuals? That would suck!

Got the trans down last night. Went pretty smooth with my makeshift trans jack (plywood bolted to my jack) and only one set of hands.


Two plugs that I didn't see until the trans dropped a bit, no harm done.




Just removed the jack pad and bolted a piece of 1/2 ply to it, worked out perfect

Obviously the valve cover gaskets need to be replaced, but I didn't know it had gotten that bad! Looks like the crank is good and has the place for the pilot bearing. Gonna do the rear main while it's out too.

jon you are one BAMF!!! i might do this when my tranny goes

Yeah buddy, you know it!Beast! JK, when your short on cash and/or don't trust people with maintaining your vehicles, house.... you'll end up doing it yourself. Practice makes perfect. Not that I'm perfect at all, but practice, got plenty of that. I remember smoking my first trans when I was 16 in my 96 Dodge 1500. Dad says "You know where the tools are and you got a Hanes Manual, have fun."

Swap is postponed till I get the $ from the deployment.

Jon, which site are you referring to in terms of the Fozzy? SubaruForester.org or Nasioc?

Awesome thread, I'm like you I always end up doing big tasks by myself lol...

no they will be the same, dont worry, i could not see toyota doing this, infact i do not now of a auto manufacture that does this.

my only concern is with the clutch you have chosen. it sounds to me like a competition clutch no? if so then you will hate it on the road and trails. they tend to be either in or out and no slippage is allowed -sometimes you want to slip the clutch especially off road. also im willing to bet the peddle feel with be much stiffer and you left knee will want to slap you after a day of driving it. if i was you id look into a centerforce dual force clutch. they are amazing, i have them in both of my toyota pick ups and man they feel like a stock clutch but have over twice the holding power, -i think they are rated at like 340hp(for a 22re clutch) and there is no way a NA 22r is gonna make that kinda power. plus you can slip them all day long(im running 33s on stock 4.10s and have never smoked that clutch once. and ive worked it hard, doing everthing from wheeling to hauling 2.5yrds of 3/4- in city/town traffic. the centerforce clutch is hard to beat.