smotocon1 Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 I looked in the archives and found little about what parts from what cars are needed to make this conversion work. I've herd that you can use XT6 parts and thats seems to be the most popular, but then I stumbled upon a thread that someone used impreza parts for the conversion minus the e-brake. So if that's the case couldn't I use parts from a 92 and newer legacy? Any help with a parts list to do this swap and what parts from what cars work best would be great. thanks. Ian in Monroe, Washington Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 We can try! I personally don't see a reason why they wouldn't. My concern would be would the ball joint work with the legacy spindle. I say lets give it a go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smotocon1 Posted March 29, 2004 Author Share Posted March 29, 2004 Hey subarutex I've been drulling over your car and its what started my need for the conversion. What parts did you use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 I used... Front: xt6 lower arms, xt6 ball joint, xt6 spindle, xt6 rotor and caliper, GC8 struts, stock springs Rear: xt6 backing backing plate, xt6 rotor Now, when I did the conversion, i test fitted some Impreza parts, unfortunately, they weren't mine, so they didn't go on the car :-/ Yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. RX Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 I'm not sure about this, but I believe that I am the first to have successfully done this conversion in the USA (see my web site), but I was probably not the first to think about it. I noticed that shortly after I had done it, there were several more people who accomplished the task. Since then I have done some more investigation. Since Tex lives close to me, and I knew he was thinking of doing the conversion, I asked him to test some of my ideas. The test was to see if Impreza and Legacy parts would work for part of this conversion. I let him borrow the complete front assembly (strut, knuckle, and axle) from an Impreza, it fit perfectly. I would suggest using the Impreza parts because I know that the Impreza axle is only 4mm longer then the EA82 axle, but I never checked the Legacy's axle length. If the Legacy's axle is the same as the Impreza, then those parts would work also. Known parts that will work and are currently on a car with a conversion. Front: XT6 struts (2WD or 4WD) XT6 knuckles XT6 axles XT6 lower arms XT6 ball joints XT6 tie rod ends XT6 front calipers XT6 front discs XT6 front hubs XT6 front backing plates Impreza struts Impreza knuckles Impreza axles Impreza ball joints Impreza tie rod ends Impreza front discs Impreza front hubs Impreza front backing plates Legacy struts So, the main parts that are needed from the XT6 to make this work are the lower arms and the front calipers (they will bolt to an Impreza assembly). Rear: Only XT6 4WD parts here XT6 rear hubs XT6 rear backing plates XT6 rear discs The rear calipers off the EA82 are the same as the rear calipers off a XT6. I'm pretty sure that if the Legacy axles are the same as the Impreza's, then all the parts that I names from an Impreza would work from a Legacy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warp3 Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 Rear: Only XT6 4WD parts here XT6 rear hubs XT6 rear backing plates XT6 rear discs Ahh...crap...the parts I've bought are all from a 2WD XT6...which parts won't work from the 2WD (front and rear) and what is different about them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. RX Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 All the front parts will work, all the rear parts won't. The rear attach to a spindle, not an axle. I've heard that the backing plate off of a 2WD will work, but you need to enlargen the hole in the center where it attached to the rear hub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByTheSea Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 On a slightly different note,,,Has anyone succesfully used the Imprezza front struts on the XT6 Knuckle? I just test fitted one the other day but the Imp has the cam bolt set-up for camber adjustment. I was going to have the spindles redrilled a bit to allow the full function of the camber adjustment. For now I'm just running the XT6 stock strut. PS. Anybody know which Strut to use in the rear of an AWD XT6 when converting from air to conventional suspension? The XT6 2WD Rears I used make it sit rump roast end high. Looks pretty mean but hard to park.LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viehmann Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 If you are doing a 5 lug conversion on a 2wd ea82 wagon with drums on the rear and you have a 2wd XT-6 parts car with the discs can you use all the XT-6 rear suspension and brake stuff and put it on the wagon? (XT-6 has lower control arms with a sway bar i'd like to use) It all looks the same except the XT-6 rear control arms don't have the pads for the rear snubbers to contact. (The XT-6 nas no snubbers) Has anyone ever bothered to convert a 2wd wagon? Can you guys help me out on this? Ive got all the parts I just need some direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. RX Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 ByTheSea, if you look at Tex's second post here, he stated that he used a GC8 strut. GC8 is a common (but mis-used) term for an Impreza. The XT6 and the EA82s don't have struts in the rear, they use coil over shock absorbers, there are several different spring rating for those shocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 do we have a good 5 lug conversion thread in the archives or USRM yet? this one would do nicely if we don't.. or maybe combine this and whatever else we have...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hondasucks Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 And for some reason or another, either I did something wrong, or my wagon is weird, because nobody else has had the problem I had. I had to re-drill my front crossmember because the XT6 uses a bigger bolt to attach the control arm to the crossmember than what my wagon had. Does anyone know if an XT6 crossmember would bolt into my wagon??? It's either that or do some grinding and hammering on either the control arm or the crossmember, and I've never been a big fan of grinding and hammering suspension components. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 I'm interested in the XT6 crossmember question as well.. I'm thinking about doing this to my wagon this summer and I'll have access to a crossmember as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. RX Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 I have seen nothing that would tell me that the XT6 crossmember would not bolt to an EA82 car, so go for it and let us know what happens. I'm more curious about an Impreza fitting, but I think it is a little too wide. But heck, maybe spread the rails, then weld that attach point for the Impreza lower arm, then you would have better adjustable front suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 my setup uses ea82 lower control arms, drilled out to accept the xt ball joint. i did this because my xt control arm had a the bolt seized in the bushing i used the xt6 knuckle, caliper, and tie-rods. i used LEGACY struts, with ea82 spring and ea82 strut cap. the legacy strut knuckle attatchment had to be widened for the xt knuckle, and the holes are bigger than the xt bolts. i used the xt bolts. i was going to use the legacy axles, but i couldnt get the nuts off. i used the legacy ball joint to replace one that was bad on the xt knuckle, it fits the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted April 30, 2004 Share Posted April 30, 2004 thanks guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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