No More trans Adapters for Subaru!
Introducing the first Subaru bellhousing for Mendeola MD4-2D, MD-4E, S4 and S5 transaxles. Yes, Outfront has designed a bellhousing for Mendeola transaxles that will bolt directly to a Subaru motor. Life is good!
Available from your local Mendeola dealer or Outfront Motorsports.
If you take a close look at a Mendeola racing transaxle you'll notice it has a "bolt-on" bellhousing. This bellhousing was originally designed to emulate a VW transaxle bolt pattern. The traditional way to adapt this VW pattern is to use adapter plates with a custom flywheel setup for the adaptor. But when using an adapter kit this increases the weight of the flywheel and pushes the motor away from transaxle (not ideal, but it works). Although you may think the weight and positioning isn't a big deal, it really does have an effect on car handling. In rear engine cars a traditional adapter kit will place your motor farther to the rear of the car, impacting handling. What Outfront has done, with permission from Mendeola, is redesign their bellhousing to be shorter and bolt directly to a Subaru engine. How cool is that? No adapter needed!
This new bellhousing allows a Subaru motor to bolt up directly to Mendeola transaxles without the adapter plate. Compared to using the traditional adapter setup, this new bellhousing will place your motor 1 1/4" closer to the axles, a good thing in rear engine cars. It will also shave 3lbs off the flywheel,. not to mention you can buy a 9" flywheel that's $200 less than the 9" flywheel offered in a traditional adapter kit. And if you don't want the traditional external clutch slave cylinder, this new bellhousing has an optional hidden internal slave cylinder for clutch actuation. This is perfect if you want to utilize inboard disc brakes.
PBS in Orange County developed this new bellhousing exclusively for Outfront . The bellhousing with 9" flywheel will cost about $200 more than an adapter kit with 9" flywheel. That's a small price considering the trans will cost over $6000. So if you're building a new car with a Subaru engine this is definitely the setup you want to get, but plan this early because it will move the motor forward, affecting the motor mounts.
If you're going to use the new PBS sequential transmission, this adapter can work with a little machining.
It's ideas like this that sets Outfront apart from other shops that just resell what they buy from others. Outfront is always innovating new products to get the most out of Subaru motors.