hp limit for 02 wrx transmission

how much horsepower can the wrx's transmission take? my brothers wrx is running around 320whp, and he saids he needs to get a new transmission, cause his stock ones starting to make make this noise.

There isn't really a "limit." You don't hit a certain point and the tranny just explodes. So, nobody's going to be able to give you a universal number. That said, putting more than 300hp to the wheels tends to send the tranny home in a box pretty quickly. It obviously depends on how lucky you got with your transmission, etc. There are a million variables.

How many miles is on your brother's tranny? How many miles was it run at what power levels that led up to "this" sound?

well duh, about that limit thing, i know that. i guess i should ask, at what hp is it recommended that the tranny be replaced, or how much power should the stock transmission hold, assuming it was in average condition. my bros car has like 30k on it so far.

I wasn't talking down on you, I was just stating it. As I said in my post, 300awhp seems to be a tough point.

And, I repeat my question, how many miles has it been run at what power levels? Is it 30,000 at 320awhp with a lot of launches, or is it 5,000 at 320awhp, 10,000 at 250awhp, and the previous 15,000 at stock? etc.

well i think hes running a little lower boost, so more like 300whp, and hes been running it like that for about aprrox 5k. he launched it a couple times to test it out, but not a lot. he drove it easy, like he drove it normal most of the time, he only went fast when necessary. he bought it with about 20k on it, and then a week or two later, he put a boost controller on it, set at about 14-16psi. i dont know how much hp that would be though, since he never dynoed it at the time, but i know he raced it more than he does now.

Is he making 320awhp or bhp?

he got it up to 320 horsepower at the wheels when dynoed, not bhp, and ill say it again, its at the wheels. lowers boost at normal driving, and keeps it at lower boost most of the time.

Ok, sounds about right. The WRX has always been known for having a pretty weak tranny. Putting 300+ to the wheels is going to kill it pretty fast. I'm not surprised it's only lasted 5,000 miles.

That said, I guess the WRX tranny can handle 300+ awhp for about 5,000 miles... ;-)

so what kind of new transmission would he need to get??? an aftermarket one that? and if so what brand would you guys reccoemend???

lol im thinking about buying a wrx and slaping a vishu stage 2 in the bad boy. so im curious too

It should last fine with Vishnu stage 2. Should.

so what kind of new transmission would he need to get??? an aftermarket one that? and if so what brand would you guys reccoemend???

well i heard that getting the sti 6 speed transmission would work.

Driving style is the single most important item that will determine longevity of the transmission. A totaly stock WRX will _DESTROY_ 2nd gear in twenty four wheel burn-outs. 2nd gear is the weakest link as far as I've seen, with third being a close second. We (my shop) have put in MRT and STi gear sets with much success. Improper aftermarket clutches have lead to failures too (i.e. six-puck clutches designed for dirt track use). It stands to reason that slipping the clutch would be preferable to transmission damage. I have seen a WRX with a only minor mods (above mentioned six-puck clutch, manual boost controller, and "tuned" with a Super AFC) destroy two transmissions in less than 16,000 miles - this was caused by driver abuse/improper shifting. If you want to beat the piss out of your car without a hiccup, buy a Corvette Z06, Mustang Cobra, or the like. Small displacement hopped-up four-bangers will never be able to touch a properly packaged (built by the factory with millions in R&D) sports car. A recent Car and Driver article (I beleive it was in Sep. '03) discussed this. They had a Cobb Tuning WRX with over $80,000 invested that was spanked on a SCCA course by a totaly stock Z06 for $55,000 (the 'vette spanked a hopped up Lancer EVO, S2000, Acura, etc. too). Don't get me wrong, the WRX and Lancer EVO are awesome cars, they just aren't up to par with sport cars in the higher price brackets. You have to pay to play (STi MSRP $31,545 vs. WRX MSRP $25,568 vs. Corvette Z06 MSRP $52,385).

Just my $.02 - Don't mean to offend anybody.
-Ben

dude, that wrx was not even modified right, that thing had huge ass, heavy wheels, not performance oriented. it even had that wing and that big body kit, i didnt like the way it looked. im not saying it will beat the zo6 with that much money, nor am i saying it wont, it might take a lot less money, it might not, i have yet to see a complete, accurate test. they just need to do it right, without all that stuff. like a well tuned rx-7, i dont know which mag, but it beat a c5 corvette all around, cause the corvette had huge ass heavy wheels, along with other stuff, even if it the vette had that big turbo running over 600hp. z06 on the other hand, is tuned right, without oversized wheels, big body kits, and all that other unnecassary stuff. im sick of seeing these mags, or people who work for them, showing cars that have high horsepower, not having good power curve, or power delivery, with big body kits, and then saying, oh look its got over 600hp but yet it cant beat that car for some reason hmmm, pretty dumb. these things only slow the car down, they need to do it right, with performance in mind, not show, and go, or just getting high numbers, but tuning it right. if you modify these cars the right way, then it would be able to perform much better.

The Cobb WRX was modified for SCCA. The Z06 was stock. Z06 won outright. Please define "modded right"

solutions:
http://www.turboxs.com/turboxs_dog_box.htm

http://www.gimmiegears.com/gears.html

http://www.gruppe-s.com/Subaru/subtrn.htm

The Cobb WRX was modified for SCCA. The Z06 was stock. Z06 won outright. Please define "modded right"

i dont even care if that thing was modified for scca, just cause its made for it doesnt mean it was tuned the right way, or to its best potential. even if you just look at that cobb wrx, the wheels are too big, doesnt need to be that big, two z06 wheels are probably as heavy as one cobb wrx wheel(im not being completely serious), and it has that bodykit, which are all unnecessary, the guy probably did it for looks. i dont care if the z06 was able to beat it, cause did you also know that thing was slower than the stock sti on the straights? even if the cobb had 450hp, it was slower, cause it wasnt running right, and those things i mention probably slowed it down more. just in case you dont remember the numbers, the z06 beat the cobb wrx by only .4 sec on the race track, and the cobb wasnt running to its full potential, they stated that fact. zo6 beat the quickest evo by .2 sec, and the evo had 341hp/352tq, now id say that evo was tuned well. even if the s2000 got 1st place overall, it didnt have the fastest track time, the s2000 was 1.3 sec slower than the z06.

Your missing my point. Look at the cost of all the tuner cars. Look at the warranty (or lack there of). The hopped up S2000, EVO, and WRX all cost considerably more than a Z06 with out the benefits of a warranty, being a normal production car (not a one off tuner) for parts availibity, and guaranteed resale value. And if you think you can tune a WRX better than Cobb, perhaps you should contact the editors of Car and Driver so that us lay people can take in your plethora of technical knowledge and tuning ability (email them at editors@caranddriver.com). By the way, the "Cone Basher" (the above mentioned WRX) has a widebody kit to accommodate ten inch wide, 18-inch diameter wheels with 285/30 tires (the 18's accommodate 330mm brake rotors and 6-piston AP Racing calipers front and 4-Piston Wilwood calipers rear) so yes, the tires/wheels do need to be that big. Power is nothing without control. Stopping is important.

So howabout those transmission limits, eh?

Your missing my point. Look at the cost of all the tuner cars. Look at the warranty (or lack there of). The hopped up S2000, EVO, and WRX all cost considerably more than a Z06 with out the benefits of a warranty, being a normal production car (not a one off tuner) for parts availibity, and guaranteed resale value. And if you think you can tune a WRX better than Cobb, perhaps you should contact the editors of Car and Driver so that us lay people can take in your plethora of technical knowledge and tuning ability (email them at editors@caranddriver.com). By the way, the "Cone Basher" (the above mentioned WRX) has a widebody kit to accommodate ten inch wide, 18-inch diameter wheels with 285/30 tires (the 18's accommodate 330mm brake rotors and 6-piston AP Racing calipers front and 4-Piston Wilwood calipers rear) so yes, the tires/wheels do need to be that big. Power is nothing without control. Stopping is important.


Small displacement hopped-up four-bangers will never be able to touch a properly packaged (built by the factory with millions in R&D) sports car. A recent Car and Driver article (I beleive it was in Sep. '03) discussed this. They had a Cobb Tuning WRX with over $80,000 invested that was spanked on a SCCA course by a totaly stock Z06 for $55,000 (the 'vette spanked a hopped up Lancer EVO, S2000, Acura, etc. too).

i was agreeing with everything you said untill i came across you saying hopped up small displacement fours will never be able to touch a properly packaged sports car, which is untrue, cause the cars in Car and Driver came really close, within tenths of a sec, and some fours are able to destroy the z06. some of the cars in there werent running right either, like the cobb wrx, which could have gotten a lot better times, so i had to say something.

if they only added up the performance parts, minus labor, it would be a lot less, some might be more, some might be less, so i dont really care about that part anyways. you know every tuning companies gonna be different, therefore some are gonna be faster than others, although the way the cobb wrx is alright, i prefer how other companies tune their cars, like jun. the cobb wasnt running right either, it was slower than a stock sti in the straights, even with 150 more hp, but still managed to be only .4 sec slower than the z06, think of how it will do if it was running right? im not trying to talk down on the z06, i really like the car, its basically a racecar right out of the box, so it would be a good example for other cars to test against. on that wide body cobb wrx, of course the wheels have to be that big for the rotors, but you dont need the rotors that big either, and you dont need the wheels to be so wide. you dont need all that tire, you say power is nothing withou control, trust me theres plenty of control with awd, you dont need the wheels to be so big/wide, just look at how jun does their wrx, they dont do that.

My moms boyfriend owns a WRX and is running about 300whp and has had no tranny problems so far besides the clutch. He's got about 35,000 miles on it and has never done any AWD burnouts or revving the motor and letting the clutch out, none of that. Although he does run the piss out of it frequently when racing on the highway. Like I said no problems exept the clutch which has been pretty much done for for the past 7,000 miles and slips like a bitch.

I run 300hp out of my WRX right now with no tranny problems. Most problems with tranny/clutches/flywheels come from people that don't know how to race. Most people that i've watched race with WRX's tend to drop the clutch at 5 or 6 grand. That = bad news. However, the WRX will need new gears in the tranny around 350hp if you want the tranny to last. Good luck installing a STi tranny on a wrx especially of an 02 or 03 model, you'll spend more than its worth. www.gimmegears.com has a nice set of gears for up $3,000 that will last you forever. As for clucthes and flywheels, go for ACT or JUN. Reliable parts for little damage to the checkbook if you find the right site or store.