| Here's a link to my first post comparing everything close up to the stock parts (gears, shift forks, interlock barrel): PAR gears, Part 1 Here's your basic, 98+ transmission, brand-spanking-new:
 Let's open it up to see what it looks like. One item to note is the yellow plastic speedo drive gear - more on this later.
 
These next four pics show what's so special about 98+ transmissions vs what the cars originally came with. Notice the cut angles on the brass synchro rings and on the gear synchro lugs? The 98+ 2nd and 3rd gear has a much heavier angle cut biased to one side on the brass rings and opposite on the gears' synchro lugs. 1st 4th and 5th all have synchro angles that are evenly split and not biased to one side or the other. This is how the synchros are on all gears of the early model transmissions that the cars originally shipped with.
 
Ok, eff that stock crap... Bring on the cool stuff :) 
These next two shots show a good view of the dog-engagement lugs on the slider and gears.
 
Burrs-o-plenty all over the stock transmission cases. I hate sharp burrs, these could have gutted a pig...
 
... so I spent the next three hours deburring all the aluminum cases, both on their cast surfaces and on all the machined edges.
 
I had to destroy the yellow plastic speedo drive gear to get hold of a surface to pull off the bushing it rides upon, so I replaced it with an old steel one from a junk transmission (the old steel ones easily pull off because you can pull directly against the gear).
The transmission is in the car now and I've driven it roughly 300 miles so far. In fact I drove it all this week to work in rush-hour, stop-and-go traffic. It takes some getting used to but it is streetable (IMO). The gear noise is extremely loud in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, with 4th being dead-silent and 5th having a bit due to the semi-helical angle on the input shaft. Shifting sounds like a good, hard whack on an anvil with a hammer, but since the OE 5th gear is retained, it's still synchronized and therefore shifts without noise. I'm currently clutching during shifts, but really all that's needed is a slight interuption of power to pull it out of gear and then it will go into the next gear under full throttle without the clutch. Obviously full-throttle is not necessary when tooling around town, so I keep it civil and just sit back and enjoy all the looks from the oncoming WRX, EVO etc. drivers as I pass by them. Between the gear noise and the shifting noise, these gears are definitely not for anyone who has a problem with any sort of mechanical noise. I personally find the noise bearable and "cool" in an extreme performance sort of way... my wife thinks it sounds obnoxious though - to each their own.
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PAR Engineering straight-cut, dog-engagement gearset: Part 2 - 
