RX Turbo drive shafts

RX Rally · Post by **RX Rally** » Sun May 25, 2008 10:07 pm

Hi, I'm a newbie here so if this has been asked before than i'm sorry.
I have a RX Leonie rally car and last weekend the LH ball joint snapped and allowed the wheel to go back into the inner guard.This also pulled the drive shaft out of the inner CV joint.I assume the shaft is bent as i was competing at the time.My question is, Are all 1985 on Leonie drive shafts,lower control arms and stub axels the same whether it be a front wheel drive auto or manual, or are these a different shaft to cope with the turbo. I believe it has a Forester gear box fitted,i don't know. But it does'nt have high/low range.Also when the EA82 let's go i may fit a WRX engine if it fits easy enough, is this a major under taking.
Thanks in advance for any help that is offered.
Shane

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sun May 25, 2008 11:14 pm

Ouch sorry to hear bout the drama, hope it didn't cause an accident.
Yeah there are different drive shafts, but the only difference that really matters is some of the non-turbo carby based shafts have a 23 spline inner cup rather than a 25 spline.
The turbo ones are slightly thicker but hardly any different at all.
You just need to grab any that have a 25 spline inner CV cup.

Are you sure you have a Forester gearbox? Most Foresters actually do have dual range, unless it's from a turbo GT Forester. If it is a Forester gearbox and you are still running an EA82 engine then you would have to have an adaptor plate between the gearbox and engine...

RX Rally · Post by **RX Rally** » Mon May 26, 2008 9:39 pm

AndrewT wrote:Ouch sorry to hear bout the drama, hope it didn't cause an accident.
Yeah there are different drive shafts, but the only difference that really matters is some of the non-turbo carby based shafts have a 23 spline inner cup rather than a 25 spline.
The turbo ones are slightly thicker but hardly any different at all.
You just need to grab any that have a 25 spline inner CV cup.

Are you sure you have a Forester gearbox? Most Foresters actually do have dual range, unless it's from a turbo GT Forester. If it is a Forester gearbox and you are still running an EA82 engine then you would have to have an adaptor plate between the gearbox and engine...

Mate i'm only going on what i'm being told by the previous owner.There is no adaptor plate and it definatly has no duel range, and it is a 5 speed.any ideas what it could be??
Another question, how hard is it to change these to kater model 5 stud rims,only because i've already smashed one rim and they're not that easy to come by,where as the Liberty wheels are dime a dozen,also 15inch rally tyres are easier to get than 13's.
Thanks for the other info
Shane

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Tue May 27, 2008 11:35 am

You could have later model Forester internals in you L series gearbox, I have heard of this being done but dont know the details.

Five stud conversion is covered widely on this forum, just do a search. I have just done the conversion on my RX Rally car and used custom 40mm Bilstein front struts and std Legacy hubs, just need to taper drill out the ball joint on the LCA. For the rear you cant go past the Crossbred Kit, look it up here on the forum.
If you want to see how i have done things on my car take a look at the thread in the conversions and modifications section of the forum.

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Wed May 28, 2008 9:27 am

Yep , Liberty/Impreza type front strut/knuckle/CV system much better than the MY/L series front struts .

ANY size increase you can easily get with front drive shafts and CV's is a must do for rally/race .
Luckily early front wheel drive Liberty (1st Gen) outer CV joints fit the RX turbo drive shafts . Being front drive only they need to be beefy to drag the whole car around . Often cars that have front and AWD options actually use smaller front shafts and joints (or guts) because the rear drive is sharing the drive loads and they don't need to be as big/heavy/bulky/expensive for the manufacturer to supply .
I would definitely be counting the splines on the front diff's side shafts (where the inner or double offset joints go over) to see if you have the 25 spline stubs . If your box came out of a base level 2 liter non turbo Forrester it may just have the smaller stubs/joints/shaft splines .

If this is the case then the box will need to be changed or another one found/built . You will also need the larger DOJ's and RX Turbo L/Turbo Vortex three ring drive shafts .

As for the box itself , it's quite straightforward to fit EA82 front cases to an early EJ box especially the single range ones . These SR cases are virtually interchangeable so all good there .

Cheers A .

RX Rally · Post by **RX Rally** » Fri May 30, 2008 10:29 pm

discopotato03 wrote:Yep , Liberty/Impreza type front strut/knuckle/CV system much better than the MY/L series front struts .

ANY size increase you can easily get with front drive shafts and CV's is a must do for rally/race .
Luckily early front wheel drive Liberty (1st Gen) outer CV joints fit the RX turbo drive shafts . Being front drive only they need to be beefy to drag the whole car around . Often cars that have front and AWD options actually use smaller front shafts and joints (or guts) because the rear drive is sharing the drive loads and they don't need to be as big/heavy/bulky/expensive for the manufacturer to supply .
I would definitely be counting the splines on the front diff's side shafts (where the inner or double offset joints go over) to see if you have the 25 spline stubs . If your box came out of a base level 2 liter non turbo Forrester it may just have the smaller stubs/joints/shaft splines .

If this is the case then the box will need to be changed or another one found/built . You will also need the larger DOJ's and RX Turbo L/Turbo Vortex three ring drive shafts .

As for the box itself , it's quite straightforward to fit EA82 front cases to an early EJ box especially the single range ones . These SR cases are virtually interchangeable so all good there .

Cheers A .

Thanks for this info.
Will do an autopsey on it this weekend.
Shane

damo666 · Post by **damo666** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:11 am

Shane, did you buy Dave F's RX turbo rallycar? (A yellow/blue one from Canberra?). Sounds like it, with that box....

I believe its a GT Forester box, and they modified the mounts on the block for the stock box to mount up. Its a 4.44 ratio one, so I'd be doing all I can to keep the box, rather than replacing it. There's absolutley no need to be replacing the box if its just a stuffed driveshaft!

I cant remember what shafts they used, but can probably track down the guy that built it if you are having trouble finding a replacement. pM me if you like.

Cheers
Damo

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:14 pm

It may pay you to look at some of the 90's era Rex GC8 gearboxes as well , some of them were supposed to have had 4.44 diff gears and better ratio's than the L and early Liberty gearboxes .

If it's a straight competition gearbox I'd forget about the dual range business because doing so get's rid of a whole lot of complexity and expense that you can do without - and a bit of weight too .
Single range main shafts are a lot more common and stronger as well , you can get stuck into the Impreza WRX gearbox bits because all the GC8 ones were single range and can be built in EA or EJ cases to suit the relevant engine .

It always comes back to the budget , cheers A .