I had my doubts as to whether or not I’d be able to swap out the bad automatic transmission in my ’87 Subaru for the manual transmission from my ’88 Subaru, but those doubts turned out to be all for nothing. I just finished it up today (here are some pictures), and though I’ve got a few small things left to do, it’s at least drivable. After installing the manual transmission and driveshaft yesterday, I reconnected the front suspension and did a few other things today. When I was finished with all that, I dropped the car back to the ground and started the battery charging while I messed with the wiring in order to bypass the starter safety switch (basically fooling the car into thinking the transmission is in Park). Once I got done with that I started it up (damn, it’s loud without any exhaust), then mashed on the gas and dropped the clutch. I forgot that I’d left the 4WD lever up to get to the wiring under the center console, so I left four skidmarks in my garage. I also damned near hit my ’88 Subaru, since the brakes need to be bled on the ’87.
Tomorrow I’m taking my exhaust down to the shop that repaired it a few months ago to get fixed again, since the welds are really shitty. After that I can install the exhaust, then bleed the brakes. I think I’ll also replace the front brake pads while I’ve got the wheels off again, then I’m gonna get the car inspected. If it passes, I’ll get started on fixing the oil leaks on the engine within the next week or so, then I’ll get it registered. I think I’m going to apply for personalized license plates for this car as well, so we’ll see how that goes. =)