Hello all, trying to research some parts swapping possibilities. From other topics regarding 5-lug swaps, etc. I think I've got it nailed down, but I need someone with a little more experience to check my work!
Assume, for whatever reason (I'll explain later), that I wanted to put a parking brake on the front of a 1st-gen Legacy.
Could I retrofit the EA82 era parking brake assembly onto the Legacy upright? Or would I need to swap to an XT6 hub to be able to fit these parts? (Need to keep the 5-lug arrangement).
Is the XT6 the only source for a Legacy-suspension-compatible arrangement that will support a front parking brake? Other cars I can also take from?
Thanks!
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OK, that's the question, here's the Background, if you care:
Trying to figure out if its practical to build a "Locost" style Seven, except with a Subaru lump mounted mid-engined in the rear.
My primary choice, based on power, availability, cost, etc. would be a 2.2L engine from a Legacy, with either a Legacy tranny converted to FWD (weld the center diff) or by fitting a FWD Impreza tranny (which I believe uses the same spline-count halfshafts)
One of the hangups for moving a front suspension system to the back is needing a parking brake somewhere. If I can figure out how to parts-swap to get a pre-Legacy front parking brake onto a Legacy hub (or at least at the end of Legacy axles), then that solves that problem.
There are lots of other issues, of course, like shift linkage, and "non-steering" tie rods, but these aren't very much different from the things OEM's do when they move FWD transverse systems rearward (MR2, Fiero, etc.)
The track width looks pretty much correct for a "Book + 4" chassis (meaning a 4" wider version of the chassis from Ron Champion's "Build Your Own Sportscar" book). I'd want a 4" wider chassis anyways (need the elbow room!).
The chassis mods would be fairly simple, I think. The original design put the "top plate" for the coilover spring for the 4-link live axle setup right about the same place you'd want to anchor the top of the struts if you were mounting a transaxle back there. The rear body work would have to change a bit, and obviously the passenger section gets moved forward some, but overall I think its doable.
I was also sweating the somewhat semi-unorthodox Subaru 5x100 bolt pattern (wanting to keep same wheels F/R) but I realized one of the common uprights for Locosters is the '84-'87 Fiero setup, which is already 5x100...
Still in the "What if" stage, since starting a project like this would mean selling one of my other cars to make room, etc., but the "What if" is definitely looking more plausible.
