camroncamera

On 8/15/2022 at 12:05 PM, broknindarkagain said:

Holy cow....people are still using these?!?!?!

By "these", do you mean these upgrade guides, or 2nd Gen Legacy cars in general?

I'm interested in building a high compression "hybrid" engine:

EJ251 Block / EJ25D DOHC Heads / STi Head Gaskets / EJ20D Cams / 1996 2.5 Intake & Throttle Body

I'm looking for a plug-and-play direct swap with a bump in NA power over the factory EJ25D.

EJEDIT to add:

The more I read and research, the more rabbit holes I fall into. But by ultimate goal is a bulletproof NA build of a Phase 2 block and Phase 1 DOHC heads that will play nice with my stock ECU. The build should be "turbo ready", though I realistically do not see myself ever going to forced induction.

Nice to see you still have the Gt-B wheels from me! They'd surely have been ruined if I kept them.

Sorry I missed your comment over one year ago Brighton96! But OMG I still love these GT-B wheels.

In other news, I recently experienced a puzzling overheating event, though not severe. I got the car home safely and then went ahead and changed the thermostat & radiator cap the following week, followed by endless coolant system burping. However, few nights ago the car temp gauge went up again during a test drive with the coolant overflow bottle going nearly full and all foamy on top of the coolant. I'm pretty certain at this point I'm looking at a head gasket problem again after 11 years of ownership.

This week marks ten years of ownership for my Legacy GT.

Pictured here a little while after its December 2010 rescue:

And the same angle a few minutes ago:

I thought I'd post a quick 1-year update:

I'm really glad I did this brake work, and the calipers still look pretty nice. Though there has been a bit of yellowing of the clearcoat on the brackets due to heat, it seems the main body on the calipers has not yellowed much at all. The car stops wonderfully. I do have a faint squeaking/metallic grinding sound that I believe is coming from the front right brake that I'll need to investigate. Also I feel that the brake lines need to be re-bled because of the brake pedal dropping more on the first pump than on successive pumps. I ran into the problem last year as soon as I installed everything. I re-bled the brakes last fall for some improvement but still the symptom persists, so I believe there is still air in the lines.

I think I'm about to do the powerstop route for my Outback. It appears that they come with powdercoated brackets although i cant find anything in the description stating that they do. Guess I'll order them and find out.

2002 WRX front- https://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-Stop-KC2373-26/401642819247

2004 LGT rears- https://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-Stop-KC3124-26/312330290958

Yes I considered Powerstop remanufactured calipers for their powdercoating, but I wasn't crazy about the bright red finish. Plain-Jane remans will begin to rust within weeks. Ultimately I went with used OEM calipers and brackets in good condition because they are a great starting point for my clearcoat approach, and because I was mixing/matching several donor cars with differing brackets (front/rear calipers from 2007 Impreza wagon, front brackets from 2008 Forester to match newer style 2-piston caliper (same size as WRX) and rear H6 brackets from a 2002 Outback). I seem to remember NAPA sells remans with a black epoxy coating but I never looked into that.

A quick clarification... the shiny "new" calipers were a spare OEM factory original set from a 2007 Impreza, and I put in a ton of work to shine them up. The old rusty calipers that came off of my car were cheap remanufactured units that superficially appeared new and "painted", but the metallic grey coating turned to a rusty appearance within weeks of installation. Three out of four calipers had been on the car since February 2011, and one of the rear units had been replaced under warranty about two years later.

A few pics to enjoy before the detailed writeup.

EDIT: For some reason I haven't posted a closeup of the rear Impreza-style calipers. I chose these over Gen 3 Legacy calipers because the locating notch for the brake line is positioned to hold the fitting in place correctly. With the Gen 3 Legacy caliper, the angle of the Gen 2 brake line cannot fit in the notch and there is the risk of the banjo bolt coming loose over time. Here is a link to post #64 that shows this issue in close-up:

https://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3271307&postcount=64

I was having troubles like that on a forum. Turned out to be my script blocker needed a new whitelist entry.

Seems that the editor does not like the "degrees" symbol! °°°°

Well. The brake caliper rebuild on the Legacy GT wagon has finally been completed. I installed the calipers a couple weeks ago, I re-bled each corner yesterday, and just today I installed the Grimmspeed Master Cylinder Brace.

This project was months in the making. TL;DR:

FIND all the desired components, tools, and supplies.

GRIND all of the calipers & brackets, then wire wheeled to a smooth finish.

SHINED the calipers with a caliper clearcoat over bare brushed steel.

BIND the clearcoat to the caliper steel at 200°F for 1 hour.

COMBINED the calipers, brackets, pistons, seals, & pads with existing EBC rotors and then fastened everything to the car.

LINED the calipers to the existing polymer-sleeved stainless brake lines, and then vacuum bled thoroughly.

SIGNED - as in STOP, which the car now does very well.

MASTERMIND is Jamal, so study his Compiled brake information thread at NASIOC because it is full of vital Subaru brake information.

**********

EDIT: Having difficulty editing post (all text gets deleted from edit window) and adding images (uploads failing) :/

EDIT #2: Seems that the editor does not like the "degrees" symbol! °°°°

Jamal wins the internet today:

Without removing the pistons and measuring the outside diameter you can't really tell for sure that they are a different size. The centric catalog for example does list the same diameter for both.

One cannot judge a book by its cover:

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=265052&stc=1&d=1526075592

I had to open up the book and read:

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=265053&stc=1&d=1526075592

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=265054&stc=1&d=1526075592

The older- and newer-style pistons do indeed have the same bore diameter. The older pistons simply have a narrower rim. The newer pistons have a rim that matches the diameter of the bore.

Still for me to learn: was this design change put into place at the 2003 caliper redesign? Or later? I was talking to the local Subaru parts dealer on the phone to get quotes on seal kits. The guy was saying there was a change in MY2007, and the correct kit was dependent on the VIN of the donor vehicle.

You need to get the brackets for the calipers you intend to put on. Rock auto has them pretty cheap.

Correct, I did separately get a set of 2007 Forester brackets to match the Impreza calipers... they simply aren't in this photo. The Forester went to WRX-sized brakes in 2003, according to https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18085854&postcount=1

It's what appears to be much larger pistons that concerns me. However, Jamal says I'll need to disassemble them and measure the bore to be sure.

Well, silly me.

I thought I had done my research. I assumed there were "pre-2003" dual-piston front calipers, and "post-2003" dual piston front calipers... same size pistons, just a different shape housing, bracket, and pad. The brackets, like the calipers, are also divided this way, so they must change in sets with the proper calipers. It seemed to me that the 03+ caliper was the way to go... I figured I'd make my car essentially have the exact same brake setup as a 2004 Legacy GT.

I found someone parting out a 2007 Impreza Wagon. Perfect! Right? So I bought all four calipers for $100, to clean, paint and rebuild with all new seals. I've had the calipers for a week, and I finally realized that these pistons are not 1.685"/42.8mm. They are obviously larger:

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=265010&stc=1&d=1525999463

Not sure what to make of this as I kept reading that "You can put any Subaru brakes on any other Subaru". I was not expecting a change in piston size and I think this has something to do with a change beginning with Model Year 2007 Subaru vehicles. I don't think this particular caliper swap is a good idea because the change in piston size will almost certainly change my brake bias in an undesirable fashion. The rear caliper pistons appear to be the same size as earlier versions.

I also have a '98 Legacy L with single piston calipers all around. Were there any modifications to fitting the dual piston front calipers (do the dual piston brackets bolt up the same way)? I assume you replaced the rotors with ones made for the dual piston calipers as well. If I do this conversion, I'm thinking the current 14" wheels won't have enough clearance, but I have a set of 16" GT snowflakes that will go on it at some point.

You should have no trouble swapping to 2-piston front calipers so long as you have their matching caliper brackets, correct sized rotor, and large enough wheels:

To start, you can put almost any set of Subaru brakes on any other Subaru. If you want WRX brakes on your L or something you pretty much just have to buy some and bolt them on. There are some exceptions, however, mostly relating to the rear, which are explained later on.

Bump

Well here we are a few years down the line and it's finally time for me to change pads on my WRX Front/H6 Rear brake setup. It's got me thinking about doing a few other things that I never got around to as well.

- Master Cylinder Brace

- Brembo Ceramic Pads

- ATE Super Blue is no longer sold by my FLAPS but there are some new performance fluid options

- I plan to remove the cheap remanufactured calipers that constantly drag ever-so-slightly and appeared rusty shortly after installation, and change to Genuine OEM units that I paint and rebuild myself. Or, I could at least get remanufactured units that come already powdercoated (such as Power Stop brand: http://a.co/an0CYSe)

- I also plan to change the rear caliper style from 2000-2004 Legacy "H6" that I have now to 1993-2007 Impreza/2002-2005 WRX Calipers + "H6" rear caliper bracket in order to fit my existing 290x10mm EBC Slotted/Dimpled rear rotors. The "H6" Legacy calipers that I have now are not notched properly for the brake line hard fitting, but '93-'07 Impreza/'02-'05 WRX calipers on H6 brackets should allow the brake line to fit in their notch.

- I'm also investigating whether to ditch the H6 setup and upgrade to 2005-2009 Legacy GT 290x18mm Vented Rear rotors and matching 1-piston calipers. According to brakemath.xls, the '05-'09 1-pot rear pistons at 38.1mm are the same size as '00-'04 1-pot rear pistons that I have now. I think my 16x6.5 Factory Snowflake wheels may fit over this setup but I doubt that my space-saver donut spare tire would. If I can fit a 2005 Legacy GT space saver spare in my spare tire compartment I would seriously consider this rear setup. That also means adding the cost of a new pair of EBC 290x18mm Sport Vented Rear Rotors to the tally.

*As cool as it would be, The 4-Pot/2-Pot caliper upgrade is not an option as my factory Snowflake wheels will not fit over them.

The backside covers and headlight wire harness was missing. So I have all those pieces coming from Japan.

You know about these, right?:

http://sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=25573

Ive been reading up on your JDM headlight install on SLi. I will finally do mine correctly since I just got the pieces that were missing from my headlights when I bought them.

What was missing? Pigtail plugs? Backside covers?

Sounds like a good plan, and I will keep looking around and figure out what I would like to do. There is much to be done yet. Working on that elaborated brake upgrade post yet?

I am actually trying to figure out the suspension upgrade path I'd like to take. I sort of unintentionally threadjacked this suspension discussion. But I think my favored option is Koni inserts on WRX Wagon strut housings with Ground Control coilover conversion. Lowered 1" below stock in summer mode, raised 0.5" in winter mode. Appropriate alignments for each.

Since you have JDM bumpers, are you looking to get rid of the the US LGT bumpers? I am looking for some for the OB.

My plan is to keep the USDM bumpers and put them back on the car for winter mode. The JDM bumper beam is so flimsy it is a joke, so I'd like to have some extra impact protection on the car for the cold season.

I think you can still get brand new bumper covers from the dealer for surprisingly little money (unpainted, though). The impact beam is the expensive part.

Found some gently used 03 WRX fronts, gonna do those first and then worry about the rear since I have drums back there

Nice! Although I hear that you should use caution, as your brake bias will likely shift forward a fair amount.

For sure, sounds like a good plan. Something I personally want to change is the H6 rear brake lines to the 97 Leggy ones so the route correctly. Cant seem to find them in steel form, but maybe I didnt search that much either lol.

I THINK that the best way is like this:

If you want to keep your rear brake line the same style as factory 2nd-gen Legacy (1-piece-per-side), use instead a WRX rear caliper ('04-'07???) but WITH the same H6 rear brackets as used above. The brake line fitting is correctly angled on some WRX rear calipers, but is otherwise the same caliper design and does fit the brackets. Use a 4-peice stainless brake line kit that fits 2nd-gen Legacy. It might be that the WRX rear bracket is the same part as the H6, but I kinda doubt it (otherwise it would be called the WRX rear brake upgrade, lol).

Keep in mind that a suspension upgrade might change your brake line routing.

^^^The above is not confirmed 100% by me, but some of this is covered earlier in this thread.

There are a few photos in my googe plus photo album that I linked there.

 

I am going super wide, and the plan was to cut up and weld some wrx fender sections over the front wheel arches to make it wider. I will use 04 wrx fenders because they are pretty big flares. But this is for the future, for now I will roll them until the metal starts cracking lol.

 

I am turning the OB into a drift car. Already bought complete drivetrain from a 05 LGT, and I am building the N/A ej25 with high compression pistons, cams etc...

 

RWD conversion spool from PPG, and many more mods. I should have the engine back from the machine shop in a cple weeks and I will start posting build photos.

Sweet! Do you have a build thread already, or are you putting updates in the What Did You Do Today thread? Love to see more but we are starting to go off-topic here. lol

EDIT: Could be my browser but pics aren't working for me except your profile pic.

How ironic Cameron lol.

 

Hows thing been up there in WA? Weathers getting nice and warm here again in NorCal.

Going out to Sonoma raceway tonight for the Wednesday night drifts. OH and BTW, the OB I just did the brake upgrade on is going under the knife yet again.

Yeah Portland has seen a few nice days so far this spring, but it's been a little slow to really warm up. Oh well, it's only March! Once it gets really nice I'll be painting the JDM bumpers, folding mirrors, spats, and the flush door trims I just got the other day. Some of these parts I've had sitting around for two years, can't wait to be done.

You'll have to give us details on your OB project!

Hi mailman,

 

yes i installed them, and sorry for not updating anyone. I will create a post of my own showing the process, but to sum it up. Sofar the Centric calipers have worked out great, and no issues. Its possible Cameron had just had a fluke with that one caliper.

 

I definitely felt a big difference in the braking.

Funny that I complained about remanufactured calipers, but the factory calipers commonly get seized with age anyway, and a broken brake is a motivating factor for upgrading the brakes in the first place. lol