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WRX Wheels/Brakes on 95+ Legacy? Who has done it?


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I am interested in the possibility of a WRX brake swap to my Legacy and was wondering who (if anyone) on the board has done it with success on the 96+ body style Legacy. I found a post here where this was done but unfortunately the poster was a guest and I didn't see mention of the car. I saw some mention of this upgrade on the legacy central board but those guys are primarily dealing with earlier models and I wanted to know if there was a difference.

 

As for the wheel part of my subject line. This seems to be an area of disagreement as far as fitment and rubbing. Has anyone run these wheels with 205/50/16 on the 55mm offset stock WRX wheels mounted to a 95+?

 

Sorry for all the questions. Someday I will learn a bunch of stuff that I can share. :)

 

Thanks.

 

-Heikki

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yep the swap will work:), just need calipers/rotors/mounting brackets and it should bolt up as if stock... you shouldn't have any rubbing issues with the stock wrx rims and that tire size as long as you are at stock ride height.

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i've got wrx front brakes on my 90 legacy, so you will not have any issues with fitment.

 

The only thing that can arise is that your brake bias will be messed with a little. For the WRX guys the most common upgrade is the H6 rear rotor upgrade which shifts brake bias to the rear to help the nose dive affect. I had some pretty severe issues when i swapped the WRX front brakes on my car. I've since messed with master cylinders and proportioning valves, but am going to be getting some B4/GT-B rear brakes. They have the same diameter rotor as the H6 rear brakes, however are vented.

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Did you need the caliper brackets from the WRX brakes or just the calipers and rotors?

 

Are the stock proportioning valves on your car adjustable or did you install aftermarket adjustables?

 

Is the master cylinder that you were able to adjust aftermarket? Thanks.

 

-Heikki

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I needed the caliper brackets, caliper, rotors, & brakes from the WRX.

 

The stock proportioning valve is not adjustable, and most if not all aftermarket valves will not work because subaru uses a diagonal braking circuit for redundancy. What I did was use the prop valve for a legacy wagon. It bumped the split point about 100 psi, which gave me slightly more rear brake torque when at or above the split point. I personally wouldn't recommend you mess with the proportioning valve, since some of the other subaru valves have completely different split points and reducing ratios......which could cause some serious braking problems.

 

The MC I am using is a 1 1/16" bore 4-port MC from a non-abs SVX. The 1" bore MC had too much pedal travel due to the increase in volume needed by the larger calipers.

 

Pretty much all ABS equipped legacies have a 1 1/16" bore MC. It is however a 2-port vs. 4-port MC since the lines branch off at the abs pump.

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just figured I'd put this in the thread....so others can see and benefit from the info

 

hklaine wrote on 02-20-2004 08:16 AM:

Perhaps a stupid question, but I have not seen the WRX brakes mounted on a car so I am not familiar with the layout. Is the "bracket" just the part that wraps around the rotor and holds the caliper in place? And does it blot directly to the spindle?

 

In my SHO brake kit I have a "standoff" that lifts the "bracket" out from the spoindle to clear the rotor and then the caliper is mounted to that. Man I wish I had some pictures to make this clearer.

 

Perhaps this will clear it up. Does the image below include all required parts? That should make it easier? Sorry for all the questions, and thanks a million for all the answers.

 

-Heikki

 

 

 

The bracket is the part that actually bolts to the spindle/hub. The WRX calipers have guide pins. Both will unbolt from the caliper bracket. However to put them on, I typically just remove one of them. Slide the caliper onto the one guide pin and then down over the pads, and install the other guide pin and bolt it up to the bracket....and your good to go.

 

Image looks like it has all the parts. I don't think you need to swap brake lines though, the ones on your car should work. You may want to look into upgrading to SS braided lines.

 

As for pictures....you're in luck....I'm a camera whore when it comes to my car ;) (note: not all of the pics are of the front calipers)

 

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/brakes/paintedcalipers00.jpg

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/brakes/paintedcalipers01.jpg

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/brakes/paintedcalipers02.jpg

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/brakes/paintedcalipers03.jpg

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/brakes/paintedcalipers04.jpg

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/brakes/paintedcalipers05.jpg

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/brakes/paintedcalipers06.jpg

 

You're also in luck because I have a few more pics of the calipers when I got them and laid them all out

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/wrxbrakes/

 

and a few more random brake pics

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/caliperboot1.jpg

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/caliperboot2.jpg

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/caliperpaintedhang1.jpg

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/caliperpaintedhang2.jpg

 

if you have any more questions, let me know. The WRX brake swap is a good swap....for me it messed with the bias a little too much. I am picking up some larger diameter rotors for the rear....which should help on top of the other stuff I've done to help alleviate the bias problems.

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Josh -

 

love the paint booth! what's the rent for a place like that? LOL

 

all ragging aside, you've still got one of the cleanest cars out there! a totally awesome package you've put together...

 

i'm thinking about the Scorpion kit to lift my OB, and then maybe I'll plunge in to that new turbo Legacy :eek:

 

i'm working on your package also - been having issues with my pc's.... :mad: i'll get it to you though, no worries!

 

Brendan

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hehe....yeah I made that up on the balcony of my old apt. There were a few stray marks on the concrete when I left ;)

 

Yeah I think the scorpion kit would be pretty sweet. If I didn't have my student loans, I'd probably be going for the new turbo legacy as well.

 

No worries about the package, just send me the stuff when you get a chance. My HDD crashed on my laptop last week too....not cool.

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