yeah a whole new assembly, mat would be needed but alteast he wont have the thought inthe back of his mind that the 5-speed may shear a gear of somesort..

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I'm a jockey kunts...

Yep a 6 speed conversion is undisputably a good upgrade, just expensive and a lot of work (tailshaft/drive shafts etc) by comparison, and you have to keep a fair bit of stuff in case you want/need to change back.

You don't need to use straight cut and dog engagement to get a strong gearset unless you intend to flatshift etc. so noise/shifting doesn't have to be an issue.

The difference in cost can be quite significant if your talking a 1st 2nd upgrade as is most common breakage in these boxes for all other than some pretty serious track/rally work.

It's again horses for courses depending on what you will use it for and your driving style. Anyone can break any box if you really try.

If you gonna do something do it right, don't just upgrade 1-2 cause if it came down to u repacing 1-2 with ppg strait cut, then paying for labour to get it taken out, replaced, installed, drove round for a bit and blew 3rd and the metal wrecked 1st and 2nd gear too, how much of an idiot would u look like? Its simple, either do it all or do nothing at all.

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- White 'Bug Eye' STi -

RA gearset is quite strong. 3rd gear is more prone to breakage in this gearset.

My old car put out a few ponies and has had a decent life geating beat up on. Gearbox has never missed a beat. Outlived a couple of clutch and PLENTY of abuse. Just don't put a silly clutch in.

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[DBR]

Madmax,
as Joey said the 4.444 FD ratio i going to be a pain in the ass for a lot of highway driving. 3200 RPM ish at 100 KMPH.
I would definately look at changing 5th if your keeping the box for sanity on the highway and importantly fuel consumption.

The width on the 1st to 3rd gearteeth on the MY97+ R/RA boxes are similar if not identical to the MY02+ WRX 4.444 boxes. I have not heard of a lot of those breaking since 02, with quite a few modded high torque output cars out there. Again this comes down to the driver.

Another option is the Ivan Albins strengthened gearsets.
Maddog is the bloke to PM about that.

Weigh up the cost of changing out 1-2nd etc vs the risk of breakages at the drags.
All depends on how you launch I suppose.

I'm sticking with my DCCD 98RA box with its Helical front, but then I don't abuse boxes or throw in stupidly high clamp pressure clutches either.

J

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"You can turn your back on a person, but, never turn your back on a drug. Especially when it's waving a razor-sharp hunting knife in your eye." - Raoul Duke

Also it should be pointed out that you should go to a plated/mechanical rear diff if you put a DCCD on the 97 RA box otherwise you will cook the rear LSD with the extra torque at the rear!!

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"You can turn your back on a person, but, never turn your back on a drug. Especially when it's waving a razor-sharp hunting knife in your eye." - Raoul Duke

Seems a shame if your looking to butcher a genuine RA (I had a sticky beak at it the other day).

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[DBR]

Its already dccd and an R180 plated in it.

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[DBR]

JDM Nice

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"You can turn your back on a person, but, never turn your back on a drug. Especially when it's waving a razor-sharp hunting knife in your eye." - Raoul Duke

Its a real licensed 97 V3 STI RA. Not a GX shell swap.

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[DBR]