What I love about the old Subarus I have driven (Loyale, GL, Brat) is the e-Brake that was integrated into the front calipers. Sometimes I needed to get out of the car on very steep grades and that e-brake would clamp down and hold the car no matter what.

 

Now that I have an Impreza OBS that is being lifted and otherwise modified for off road use, I would love for it to have the front e-brake setup from an old Subaru. Does anyone know if there is there a way to do this and be able to keep a 5-lug hub?

 

Thanks for any input you may have.

I was able to retain my front ebrake when i did the five lug swap on my loyale.

I used 94 impreza àwd front spindles etc. The loyale calipers swapped over to the impreza brackets using the ea hardware. I think the trick is using it from a impreza that came with 13" wheels.

 

Ben

If you compare the Impreza (93-96) and any EA82 front caliper, they look identical (minus the e-brake provisions and piston style) so yes, they will swap.

 

However, your OBS e-brake is a rear-pull setup and the EA82 is a front pull... You'd have to swap handles, which I have no idea if they will, cut holes for the cables in the floor, and route them to the fronts while avoiding the control arms... Possible, but REALLY difficult...

If you compare the Impreza (93-96) and any EA82 front caliper, they look identical (minus the e-brake provisions and piston style) so yes, they will swap.

 

However, your OBS e-brake is a rear-pull setup and the EA82 is a front pull... You'd have to swap handles, which I have no idea if they will, cut holes for the cables in the floor, and route them to the fronts while avoiding the control arms... Possible, but REALLY difficult...

 

it has been done the opposite way OBS style handle in an EA car (popular when you do the rear e-brake 200sx caliper swap), probably would not be too hard to swap them. the real trick would be to get both front and rear to work together with one handle, definitely not a bolt in but that would give you the ultimate in holding power.

 

Ben

a more involved option would be to install XT6 front hubs and axles.

 

strut mount holes are smaller so they need to be drilled out, or use the XT6 strut bolts but then you loose camber adjustment.

 

other than that it's a bolt in swap.

Nice. Thanks everyone for sharing the valuable information. Now the mounting and routing of the e-brake cables could be more of a job than the actual swapping of hubs.

 

Going to take a closer look at my e-brake set-ups soon and see what can be done to make it work.