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front wheel to awd

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:28 am
by the_watts10
i recently bought a front wheel drive legacy and was wondering what is necessary to switch it to awd i have a automatic awd tranny dont know if these parts will help?

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:34 am
by Murphy
the AWD tranny is a start, but you need a lot more.
auto drivshaft, rear end, axles, complete rear suspension, AWD gas tank, rear crossmember.

i think that is it. all of the parts should be bolt in, i dont think any real modification is needed.
does you AWD transmission have the TCU with it? is your FWD auto?

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 3:41 am
by Arctic Assassian
parts don't bolt in.

The FWD cars did not star life out as AWD cars, the AWD cars start life out as FWD cars.
You have to drill and tap some stuff.

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:02 am
by PhyrraM
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=18370

I would only reccomend an AWD swap if your going 5 speed. The AWD autos have more wiring and a different TCU than FWD.

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:06 am
by 555BCTurbo
Arctic Assassian wrote:parts don't bolt in.

The FWD cars did not star life out as AWD cars, the AWD cars start life out as FWD cars.
You have to drill and tap some stuff.

You do?


Like what?

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:43 pm
by Legacy777
Arctic Assassian wrote:parts don't bolt in.

The FWD cars did not star life out as AWD cars, the AWD cars start life out as FWD cars.
You have to drill and tap some stuff.
No you don't!

Every single bolt hole is there to do the swap.

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:02 pm
by the_watts10
lets see i have one awd auto thats in my car right now
and i have one fwd manual thats in my other car
so i have awd rear end and crossmembers but whats the problem with the starter location?

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:59 pm
by PhyrraM
Later cars (not sure of exact year) use 6 bolts between the engine and transmission. Early cars use only 4.

If you use a 6 bolt trans on a 4 bolt engine you are missing the second (lower) bolt that holds the starter. There are a few ways around this, but I have never done it. So I'll leave it to others to comment.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 4:39 pm
by Arctic Assassian
Legacy777 wrote:
Arctic Assassian wrote:parts don't bolt in.

The FWD cars did not star life out as AWD cars, the AWD cars start life out as FWD cars.
You have to drill and tap some stuff.
No you don't!

Every single bolt hole is there to do the swap.
I only say this from limited experience. I once had a 93 impreza FWD. I wanted to make it awd, but when I put it in the air, I didn't find holes for the carrier bearing. After seeing that, I said forget about it.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:19 pm
by Legacy777
the_watts10 wrote:lets see i have one awd auto thats in my car right now
and i have one fwd manual thats in my other car
so i have awd rear end and crossmembers but whats the problem with the starter location?
If you have a vehicle from the mid 90's you shouldn't have to worry about the starter bolt location.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:21 pm
by Legacy777
Arctic Assassian wrote:I only say this from limited experience. I once had a 93 impreza FWD. I wanted to make it awd, but when I put it in the air, I didn't find holes for the carrier bearing. After seeing that, I said forget about it.
They should be there. There's covers that go in the bolt holes, and over time they blend in, plus undercoating tends to hide things.

I'd be rather surprised if they weren't there.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:29 pm
by the_watts10
so as long as i have mid 90's cars then nothing besides the starter will interfere cause i have two 94's and what is the gearing on a wrx tranny?

Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:56 pm
by Arctic Assassian
It must have been the undercoating.

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:05 pm
by Legacy777
the_watts10 wrote:so as long as i have mid 90's cars then nothing besides the starter will interfere cause i have two 94's and what is the gearing on a wrx tranny?
Final drive is 3.90, however there is a 1.1:1 stepper in the rear gear reduction.

I'd have to check on the individual ratios if that's what you wanted.