Apparently it isn’t exactly a “bolt on” operation.

(long time reader, first time poster… to i-club anyway)

Hi, I’m currently in the process of swapping out an ‘old-n-busted’ 5 speed transmission (catastrophic transmission failure #4) with a fresh USDM STi 6 speed in a 2004 WRX. During the swap, I came across one small hiccup that has proven to be a bigger headache than first imagined.

When installing the clutch slave cylinder, I actually had to pre-load the clutch fork in order for the slave cylinder to fit. Not realizing exactly how much the clutch was pre-loaded, I was surprised to learn that the clutch was slipping when I took the car for her initial test drive. I Can’t imagine the Excedy Organic clutch slipping AT ALL. After all, this was the same clutch setup that destroyed both the rear driveshaft AND second gear all within two feet at the local 1320.

Question is for all the people who have successfully swapped a 6MT into a non-STi WRX. Which clutch slave cylinder was used? I looked up the part numbers at Subaru Parts and noticed there are two different cylinders listed for the 2.0L and 2.5L engines (Subaru parts doesn’t have listing for the STi yet). Has anybody successfully used the 5MT slave with a 6MT transmission?

Before everyone types in “Dude, just buy the STi parts…” and fires off the old “rapid reply”, please realize that I’m still trying to do this whole swap on a (please don’t laugh too hard) budget. I know “budget” and “6 speed swap” are two words that commonly don’t got together, but I’ve been able to keep the costs around $3000 so far ($3043 to date actually).

Any ideas or (well thought out) advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Bayley