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Hey people, have a 1998 wrx sti and im wondering, are there any special tools needed to take out stuff like the drive shaft from the gearbox, also other parts, i dunno what they are called, so i spose does anyone know if there are any specialised tools needed to disassemble the gearbox, if so, what might they be called?

Hey zimmer62943,

Welcome to the forum! There's no special tools needed, just some imagination and inginuity.

To get the gearbox out the drive shafts have to come off. Jack the car up and place on stands. Remove the retaining pin from the shaft nearest the gearbox, then drop the ball joint out of the strut. This will allow you to swing the hub outwards and slide the driveshaft off the spline.

From here you should see what else needs doing. It won't be too hard, just teadious the first time round.

Splitting the box, I've never done one but I think its basically remove all the bolts, the rear casing and any other parts that hold the box together. You may have to lever it apart to break the seal. If this is not the case, someone else will tell you.

Good luck with it.

Cheers

Bennie

easy enough job if youre mechanicaly minded

lift the car up

remove the top mount intercooler
disconnect the oxygen sensor from the exhaust
disconnect any plugs between the gearbox and the car
drop the exhaust out from the turbo back
remove the tailshaft cover
remove the tailshaft
tap out the roll pins in the front driveshafts (inner cup)
undo the front balljoint (the bottom nut is probably easiest if you have the alloy lower arms as they have a very wide taper on them and they just about fall out with a tap with the hammer)
slide the driveshaft out of the gearbox and tie it out of the way
remove the starter motor
undo the clutch slave cylinder from the gearbox and tie that out of the way
undo the 10mm allen key on the passenger side of the gearbox bellhousing
use a 6mm threaded bolt to screw into the thread inside the hole you just made and slide the pin out (theres a big chunky pin the clutch fork pivots on and the 10mm alen key thingy is just a cover for it and it will be very tight)
lift the clutch fork up so it disengages from the throwout bearing
undo the bolts around the bellhousing (i think the 98 only has 4 of these, but one of them holds the starter motor on)
disconnect the shifter linkages
undo the gearbox crossmember
slide the gearbox out

that should be about it from memory
good luck with it

if its the first time out i found on the 99 rexy a locking clip in the shaft the goes into the clutch....could not get the box off till i found that....evil idea

I don't know about anyone else but I wouldn't recommend splitting the box yourself unless you have some sort of experience but if your feeling confident by all means pull it out if your confident just remember their heavy and it will leak oil from where the tailshaft goes so it helps to drain it or plug it first!