people talk about gear box up-grades 6 speed and ppg, well ppg is easy to locate but how the hell do you find a good 6 speed

 

dude i have just had a six speed fitted and i love it it i was going to go 5 speed ppg then though i need a gear box which you fit and forget about and the six speed is the one you can get from form loads of breakers but i would recomend japperformance as they are a good bunch they come of stock cars with as little as 30000 miles on the clock and you get a garuntee with them

 

6 speed gets my vote, had one put in my p1 and it was a joy to drive with, i went for a uk box as the longer ratio in 6th for motor way driving.

was looking at ppg but i heard / read and was told that they can need rebuilding where the 6 speed seems to run high figures with no issues that i have come across anyway.

speak to david at api he did mine along with the clutch and flywheel and never had a problem. sold the p1 to a guy on here from the netherlands and he drove it all the way home without an issue and now is fitting a 2.35 and rotated setup (which i look forward to see) and i think that will be on the 6 speed too.

speak to a few tuners as they will advise you on what best suits your needs but its a +1 for the 6 speed for me, also looking to pick up a tidy sti 5 on saturday with a 6 speed already fitted be it a jdm box so i will let you know how i find the jdm to uk box over the weekend.

if you get the chance go and drive a classic with both fitted and see what you prefer

best of luck

 

cheers guys

 

I went for a 5 speed ppg as I hated the way you go through the box, In my view it depends on how much power you have , mine's got over 450bhp and you get a nice long pull between gear changes, when I drove a 6 speed with the same power it felt like I was changing up all the time, with less power it may not as much of an issue.

Ps plus its one more gear change down the drag strip


Cheers Dougie

 

the problem with the PPG is they are now only rated at 400bhp with the same ft and they do nered to be serviceed every year I spent about two weeks researching this talking to all diferent companys api rogerclakre and so on fit and forgert six speed or fit and maintanin 500 quid to service the box every year then go PPG oh and mine is a jap spec box and i love it just steam through the gears great fun

 

£500 quid to service the box per year...!!!!!

Surely that can,t be right.....

 

PPG don't need to be serviced every year, a DOG BOX which is something that PPG manufacture would possibly need a yearly service. But the road oriented 5 speed synco PPG boxes certainly do not need servicing every year.

 

Were did you read 400, I cant see that myself as mine has been fine I even did 50 full bore drag runs at 2008 Scooby shootout with 450/450 and its still running fine infact I drove it home on the day and its never been serviced


Douge

 

i had the same choice to make a while back, i went downt he 5 speed ppg kit to keep ratio's the same. They both have advantages and disadvantages and the info i found was,

6 speed = cheaper, shorter ratio gears, quiet, also think you have to change diffs and therefore shafts as well.
5 speed straight cut ppg = more expensive, noisey but alot of folks say stronger than even a 6 speed gear for gearbox (this one rages on because thre is no conclusive prrof either way as far as im aware, although most real high power race cars seem to go ppg)
6 speed straight cut ppg = prob strongest box out there, has the advantages of the 6 speed box and the ppg gearset, but uber expensive.

ppg is just a gear kit which gets put into either a 5 or 6 speed casing.

im sure theres plenty out there but only ppg gearset i know that def gave in was andy harveys at shootout last year, stripped 2nd gear, but he is running high 500's and done a fair few race events on it before it let go.

as far as rebuilding often mines 2 and a half years old and as smooth as the day i got it. but it uses uprated standard fitment synco's not dog engagement. Dog engagement is the bit that needs rebuilding often

 

Plenty of PPG's breaking at moderate power, not many 6 speeds breaking at same levels.
The only six speeds I've seen break have been on cars with well over 600bhp.

The early six speeds do have synchro problems if not looked after but they are easily sorted.

I also think for the money PPG are incredibly expensive given that they are known to break. PPG lowered the rating of their boxes for a reason, people were breaking them.

The best box of the bunch is a Hawkeye six speed. Long ratios and pretty much bullet proof and easily good for 500-600bhp.

 

this is getting very interesting keep it coming guys

 

Keith, you should have just bought an sti lol. To make the mods you want to do is going to cost you serious coin, now are you doing this for bragging rights or to use the power on the road? Why not tune the car to 400 and see how the box copes if it breaks fix it.

Neil has a PPG box for sale in a 754 casing, its close to home! With your car being a push clutch it may be extra beans to go 6 speed. Something else to find out.

Anybody know? Car is a 07 WRX

 

stu, when i first got the car i never had any intentions of going down the mod route, but as people do you get the(bug). lol.
as for bragging rights, i could sell the car and go for somthing way beond
400 ish. but i like my wee wrx.
so around the 400 mark will do me fine for POWER ON THE ROAD.
i`v no intention of rushing out and buying a 6 speed or ppg.
but if and when the time comes i will have a better idea on which box to go for, cheers keith

 

i currently have a PPG was at zens the other day they put in redline shock proof gear box oil and it drives even smoother im running over 500 with about 480 torque had to rebuild 3rd gear synchro on 420/380 bhp. if i started again i think i would of went 6 speed dont get me wrong i love my PPG the ratios are great and makes for a very fast road car. the 6 speed is great i drove mates one and struggeled to get in to 3rd from 2nd i kept on going in to 5th gear. the 6 speeds do need a bit of getting used to though. it all depends on how far you looking to take the car and what you using it for.

mus

 

What you need to consider when buying a secondhand 6 speeder are the following;

They suffer from poor synchro on 4th,5th, 6th. There are modified [ carbon coated ] synchro rings available, Cost about 30 quid + VAT each.

Damaged gears because of poor synchro, cost about 120.00 each.

Damaged synchro hubs because of poor synchro cost about 140.00 each

AND we have found that the viscous centre diffs on early Bug eye type UK Sti's are failing. They cost about 400 quid each to replace.

Theer is no way to tell any of this until you have fitted it. By which time any possible warranty may have expired.

If you are unlucky and get a ' good used one ' with all of those faults, you could potentially spend a further 800 quid or so making it useable......

However, once done they are virtually unbreakable.

David APi

 

As it has been said, the 6speed is the best choice for strength but it certainly depends on your style of driving.... My STI7 obviously has the 6speed box in it and for town driving etc I find it to be a complete pig, always changing gear the ratios are odd so the revs are either to high or to low for the 30/40 speed limits... constant gear work going on

On the motorway it cruises beautifully, they defo got 6th gear right and if you are accelerating hard it's fun going through the gears, bit fast and furious but fun never the less

Horses for courses really mate!

 

[IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r97/keithb_06/100_0262.jpg

the car in question.

[/IMG]

 

 

 

 

mods so far as added
full exhaust system
vf34
turbo intake pipe
dump valve
hyperflow top mount
hyperflow air induction
3 port boost
god speed brake kit
18in rota p1 wheels
lowering springs
api uprated clutch thanks david
remap by jgm 346 bhp 358Lbs thanks simon
uprated fuel pump
7h spark plugs
3 pro sport gauges

this why i don`t want to sell for an sti hence the start of this thread
thanks guys

 

Personally I would keep your WRX(looks like a lot of time and money spent), unless you where going to replace it with a JDM twin scroll STi(totally different kettle of fish). Driven plenty of modified UK STi's and modified WRX's and to be honest a WRX with same mods always felt the better car to drive with the 5 speed box. I wouldnt spoil your WRX by putting a STi 6 speed gearbox in, Pretty sure there are quite a few newage WRX's running over 400lb/ft on standard 5 speed boxes!!!!


You could run well over 400lb ft on your exsisting gearbox, If it breaks im sure you could pick up a second hand one cheap enough. Would cost a lot less then a PPG or a 6 speed which are not gauranteed to not break!!!!

 

just what i wanted to hear cheer bud

 

You will have a 754 box in that which is the stronger one, and what Im thinking about.

Nice car BTW

 

You might have cleaned it before taking the pics

David APi

 

nice one david

 

Elite Racing Transmissions : Homepage

These guys will build you a box to exactly what you want, and when i was talking to the guy just out of interest a 5sp came in about a grand cheaper then ppg, and theyre UK based unlike ppg.

Perhaps worth a look, not an overlook.

 

cheers wrighty i`ll note that

 

I had my Zen built PPG for a year and dragged it 50+ times at 450bhp/411lbs/ft with out fault

Martyn at Engine tuner was getting in the 10's on a standard STI5 box and it survived the whole PDS season