baccaruda Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 OK, the front end of my wagon HAD: XT6 calipers legacy spindles Legacy spindle-to-strut bolts legacy struts (new GR2s). The XT6 calipers don't fit on the legacy spindles, so I switched and now have: XT6 calipers XT6 spindles Legacy spindle-to-strut bolts Legacy struts (new GR2s) The legacy spindle-to-strut bolts are too large for the strut mount holes in the top of the XT6 spindle. Should I: *have the holes in the top of the spindle enlarged? *use smaller XT6 bolts and use external toothed lockwashers to keep the struts from dislocating (as they're made to accept larger bolts)? *get different struts (NOT eager to explore this option as I believe others have used legacy struts on XT6 spindles so why can't I?) ARGH. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballitch Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 sounds like the problem everyone runs into when mixing oldschool with newschool for 5 lug, or upgrades. the XT6 didnt have camber adjustment as far as i know so you need to enlarge the XT6 knuckle to accept the legacy or impreza eccentric bolt on top and the normal bolt on bottom (dont know if XT6 bottom bolt will slip into legacy strut) if you are trying to keep the front e-brake you HAVE to use the XT6 front stuff. after doing my 5-lug i would reccomend using impreza stuff, i was toild this and didnt pay much mind to it. so im telling you you should use the impreza front suspension stuff if you go 5 lug. if you want to keep your front e-brake like i wanted (key word...past tense) you go XT6 front stuff. however, aparently the rear caliper for a 240sx is a direct fit (you might have a slight modification for it to fit.) for the EA rear discs. i am more than likely going this route sometime in the future. i absolutely hate the front e-brake crap.......hate. ~Josh~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted March 18, 2006 Author Share Posted March 18, 2006 I had been planning to keep the E-brake in front, because I don't care whether it's in the front or back, and I need to get the car driveable again before I do any more reengineering of it. Although it seems that's a neverending process I really don't want to drive it without an E-brake, but at this rate I might just do that and put the Legacy spindles back on and get some Legacy calipers from the parts yard. When in doubt, procrastinate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballitch Posted March 19, 2006 Share Posted March 19, 2006 if you want to do this right, and not want to do it twice, use impreza front stuff, or legacy.......how did you get the legacy knuckles into the EA lower control arm? what ball joint did you use? i might actually "redo" my 5 lug, i dont like that fact that i have 2.5 degrees of positive camber up front. if you use the impreza front stuff, i dont think you will have that problem. P.S. reason i have so much pos. camber is because thats what happens when you do 5-lug and dont lower your car.....but i think impreza stuff has a different strut bolt orientation than the XT6 front stuff. ~Josh~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted March 19, 2006 Author Share Posted March 19, 2006 Oh, I have XT6 control arms on the car. I drilled out the crossmember to receive the larger bolts. The ball joints are the same for XT6 or for 1990 Legacy (the donor). I'm going to slip the struts over the XT6 knuckles and see how things line up, and if they line up well, then I'm going to get a quote for having the holes in the XT6 knuckles milled out. I expect that to be $40 or (probably) less, but I may just put the Legacy knuckles on the front and go e-brake-less for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted March 19, 2006 Share Posted March 19, 2006 Oh, I have XT6 control arms on the car. I drilled out the crossmember to receive the larger bolts. The ball joints are the same for XT6 or for 1990 Legacy (the donor). I'm going to slip the struts over the XT6 knuckles and see how things line up, and if they line up well, then I'm going to get a quote for having the holes in the XT6 knuckles milled out. I expect that to be $40 or (probably) less, but I may just put the Legacy knuckles on the front and go e-brake-less for now. I have no ebrake right now in my RX because I do plan on upgrading to a rear ebrake. It might be easiest and cheapest solution Andy, just put the Legacy knuckles and whatnot back into it so it can be driveable. You should be fine with no ebrake unless you park on nice steep hills... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted March 23, 2006 Author Share Posted March 23, 2006 ok. after a grueling 4 minutes spent searching the USMB, I found this blast from the past. Problem solved. thanks (again) Tex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 Wow.... I'm goood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 why is the front e-brake so dreaded, can't upgrade calipers or something more? impreza bearings are better than XT6, why is that? nice info in here, great job fellers'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted March 23, 2006 Author Share Posted March 23, 2006 i don't feel that retaining the front e-brake is "better," I just don't want to have to engineer the rear e-brake and search for the parts, etc. I have too much else to do to get it running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 cool, that's what i was thinking. i don't care where the front e-brake is now unless i'm missing something. i'll keep XT6 stuff and the front ebrake when i do the conversion as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballitch Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 screw the front e-brake, i hate it. i wish i would have used the legacy/impreza front stuff for my swap. i only didnt because i was unsure if the impreza balljoint would fit into the XT6 control arm, but since they do, i might have to make a trip to the JY and swap out some items. not to mention i have 2.5 degrees of positive camber, which makes for horrible on-road cornering. and dont even get me started with the grind down the XT6 knuckle and sandwich the impreza strut onto it crap........... ~Josh~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 The reason I went the way I did (Impreza front suspension/brakes/axles) was because of the upgradable parts I can get for it. Granted I had to convert to a rear ebrake but that was no issue for me, I was just looking for bigger/better parts that wouldn't break when I started showing them abuse. Also, with the Impreza front knuckles and struts, I now have a way to adjust the camber BEFORE I touch the camber plates. The two bolts that bolt the strut to the knuckle are the camber adjustment for the stock Impreza so even if I went lifted, I could adjust the camber a little bit, granted its not much. That and rear ebraked RX's are sooooo much cooler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 So what i'm gleaning from this thread, is that it will be hard to use the Forrester struts with the XT-6 knuckles? I may drill out my top two bolt holes so i can adjust my camber, cause that would be wicked awesome. As for the front ebrake, except for power sliding, its better in every way, it actually stops the car, unlike every other ebrake on the market Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 So what i'm gleaning from this thread, is that it will be hard to use the Forrester struts with the XT-6 knuckles? I may drill out my top two bolt holes so i can adjust my camber, cause that would be wicked awesome. As for the front ebrake, except for power sliding, its better in every way, it actually stops the car, unlike every other ebrake on the market Impreza/legacy/forester struts are easy to use with the xt6 spindle... you need to do the following: Grind about an 1/8" off the thickness of the spindle part where the strut bolts to. Get 2 beefy bolts, exactly the size of the hole in the spindle. Bolt it on, use lock washers! You'll be good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 dont even get me started with the grind down the XT6 knuckle and sandwich the impreza strut onto it crap........... ~Josh~ I see it as a good excuse to get a bench vise. I can either spend the $ on that or spend more at a machine shop to have it done there. I can just spend an hour on it before work in the morning until it's done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 spread the strut mounts apart with a power puller or whatever. that's what all the XT6 guys do to convert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 if i convert my XT Turbo to 5 lug - i'll have this camber issue? i've swapped hubs, struts, axles, ball joints, control arms on my XT6's without ever getting an alignment and i've never had uneven tire wear or pulling so i'm not familiar with these kind of issues. will i get bad tire wear with this 2.5 degree camber issue you're mentioning on the XT Turbo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. RX Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Wow.... I'm goood. Hey, go ahead and suck you all the credit. How soon they forget who taught them how to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 SOUNDS GOOD TO ME! spread the strut mounts apart with a power puller or whatever. that's what all the XT6 guys do to convert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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