Brake and Suspension swap final prelim questions

[simbey1982]

Hello all,

 

Another freekin swap o mine I know I know...anyhow I have collected the parts i need for a brake swap on my L impreza. It has normal disc brakes up front and drums in the back.

 

I have gotten front disc setup from a Turbo Legacy and the rear setup from a Legacy L and am going to swap those.

 

Research i have done so far says its a pretty straight forward swap as long as i have the brake lines in the rear to swap which i do.

 

Any other special considerations anyone has before i go and do this???

 

Cory

[gbhrps]

simbey1982,

 

This may be a dumb question on my behalf, but did you get the emergency brake cable from front to rear from the Legacy L? I'm thinking that the cable ends at the rear wheels may be very different where they attach to the actuators for the shoes that are inside the rear rotors. As well, have a chat with a brake specialist to see if there will be a different bias between the two systems, rear rotors as opposed to rear drums. There may be a porportionaling valve (correct word?) that puts less or more pressure on rear discs than it would on rear drum brakes on the same car.

[jamal]

From what I've read from people who have done the swap, the rear discs increase the rearward bias slightly. A little more rear bias can be good provided it's not to the point where the rears lock up first. Putting on the turbo fronts will move the bias forward. So, without doing any real math or research, I'd guess the bias would be similar if not better. Legacy777 did a neat brake math spreadsheet, but I don't think it has anything about drums in it. It does compare turbo with non-turbo and wrx fronts and rears and h6 brakes and wagon prop valves. It's on his website.

 

And, for all I know, the prop valve is the same on disk and drum imprezas. In that case, the front bias will be slightly higher. Legacy turbos and wagons have slightly bigger pistons that L's. More piston area means higher braking force.

 

As far as the parking brake cable goes, I believe it's a different length, but I read on nasioc that a spacer and washers can be used to adjust it to a proper length.

[simbey1982]

sweet guys, thanks for the info

 

and Who1981 says he "loves you all"

 

Cory

[gbhrps]

jamal,

 

You are the man! Thanks for your input. You even answered the questions that I had, and it wasn't even my thread starter. Maybe you young whippersnappers can teach some of us oldsters a thing or two... or three or four!