Other sources for the 915

pirin911 · 11-05-2014, 01:36 PM

Hi to all:
As many of you and me enjoy the different engine swaps for the 911, how about a different source of tranny (not a G50) for our cars that can be reliable, lower cost for parts and can be installed without to much hassle? I have been looking a Subaru tranny going into a VW bus (in YouTube) and the guys that sell the kits are subarugears.com.
These trannys look very Porsche like. What do you think, is there anyone that have done such a swap?

Elombard · 11-05-2014, 02:02 PM

man I would love to be able to get a modern bolt in tranny swap for $1K?? Can you re-gear and LSD Subaru trannys for reasonable money? For me it would need to be reversible. I guess they are running them back wards in the 818 from Factory Five so it can be done. I think the time has passed though. Our cars are getting too valuable to fool around with like that. I would think the market would be too small to justify the engineering costs.

pirin911 · 11-05-2014, 02:47 PM

At least in their site (subarugears.com) they say that any LSD can be used with their reverse pinion and shaft. It says also that we can replace our trannys with subi trannys since it appears they are going to make an adapter to match engine to tranny. I asked this because our trannys are getting older and probably parts will become harder to find and more costly. I think they sell different gears for those trannys. There is very interesting data in the site referring to gear ratios.

Elombard · 11-05-2014, 04:42 PM

Interesting. So for $3000 US I could get a fresh trans and for another $900 or so an adaptor plate (at least thats for the VW which would be similar). You can still do a lot of 915 for $4K. I can save a little if I source my own trans and convert it.

I read a while back that Matt Monson (porsche trans guru) was saying that the Subaru transmissions were not that strong especially when converted to 2wd and he was predicting that the FFR 818 kit cars would have a lot of failures. Of course they are running high boost turbo motors so maybe no problem on my little 3.2.

Maybe they will do tons of them and the price will come down. I would love to try it but not at those $$

wayner · 11-05-2014, 04:49 PM

If I recall, FF re-engineered one of their kits when the recommended G50 transmissions became scarce?

Elombard · 11-05-2014, 04:59 PM

yeah I cant imagine building a kit car and trying to use a Porsche transmission. I would feel bad about it.

wayner · 11-05-2014, 05:04 PM

They had a modern corvette motor hooked up to it mid engine

Elombard · 11-05-2014, 05:37 PM

Right isnt that the GTM?

pirin911 · 11-07-2014, 09:56 AM

Probably one can source a good unit at a junkyard cheap and as you said for our cars that are not abused so often this trannys should last and of course we can have a good feel shifting transmission.

Elombard · 11-07-2014, 10:10 AM

Right but the adaptor and the 2wd conversion is still over $3K

Matt Monson · 11-07-2014, 01:12 PM

I guess I'm a sinner. I helped FF prototype the GTM Mulsanne and sold about 50 G50 boxes the first year the car was on the market. We never saw the market run in values coming back then. That was almost 10 years ago now.

I am not a fan of the Subaru 5MT as a 2wd. They designed a 2wd gearbox. It was rated for 180bhp. When they went awd they upped it to 280. Once over that they started blowing up and the 6mt was made.

In addition to the cost of the reverse r/p, if you want aftermarket synchro gear ratios they are $4500. An LSD is +/-$2000.

You can do 2-5 in a 915 with my gears for under $3000. LSD is $2500. And let's not forget these cars are spiking. A numbers matching 915 car is worth way more than a car molested with a Suby swap.
Spend you $6-8k rebuilding and hot ridding your 915 unless your engine is also fragged and you are doing an EJ engine swap to save costs.