HOW TO: 5 stud conversion for BA?
 

talk about it - what you'd need to go from 4 stud to 5 stud, what the benefits are, and what brake upgrades you could do.

Copied as requested.

Fine I'll move topics :p ... could you get it cheaper from a wrecker?

there is a maroon auto V6 at a wreckers in Cooroy, QLD. dunno details. but you'd be looking at $600 plus for the parts you require.

for the listed aboce item from japan, i'd throw away the strut/springs + arm. just keep the hub + caliper/rotors. would reduce shipping alot.

ryan

Ah the fronts have dropped in price to 5350yen ea.

with the ****e exchange rate at the moment you'd be looking at around 700 landed i reckon. Trouble is you're paying for the size/weight of the shocks and front suspension arms as well...so you'd possibly be better off getting a set from a wrecker for around the same price.

Is there much benefit by going to 5 stud? I'm having a google and not finding much.

And the ones from V6 fit on, no huge modifications needed? Brakes still work fine even though I wont have the ABS control unit thingy.

brakes are bigger - better heat control
pads are 33% bigger - better stoping power

rotors are 7mm bigger from memory

Rear brakes are teh same dimensionally....
Frotns are significantly larger in Pad size, and their Diameter does go up from 257mm to 274mm Not huge but enough.

Reasons you'd want to go tthe upgrade include:
5x114.3 stud pattern has a lot of wheel and offset choice.
You can get bigger brake rotors without having custom drilling done
Engineering Wheel size/offset/track/brake mods gets a little easier.
Front brake caliper mounts more flexible for brake changes

Why you wouldn't:
Cost, time, cost, time, minimal gains unless you really end up pushing boundries..

A.

Time? Not just get the parts and get some brakes/suspension place to fit?

Well I can't turbo my car or do anything like that, damn P-Plater laws, gotta mod somehow ;)

But on the other hand, I can probably get a set of mazdaspeed rims from Rupe for about the same as just the parts, which makes it seem very costly, as I also would need new rims and tyres (5 stud).

Thanks for the info Aaron.

If it's only the bigger brakes then you don't need to go 5-stud.
The axle and wheel hub from your car will fit into the V6 knuckle.
Most brake rotors can be bought without the holes being drilled for the wheel studs so you can get undrilled V6 rotors and have them drilled for the 4X100 PCD.
The back brakes shouldn't need to be touched but as a point of interest they are the same as the NA Mx-5 (that's the pop-up light one).

I'm looking around for a replacement front caliper set for my V6 ATM. If I find something good it'll be posted.

Time is still a factor. I rocked up with a full set of v6 knuckles and hubs brakes etc (cut off at the suspension arms basically) and it was still 7 hours of pro labour time to clean up, swap and align - however that included repacking the CVs, changing the front bearings, bleeding the crud outa the calipers and all that. It did cost a lot ($700 all up) but i do count it as worthwhile given what it is letting me do.

Cosmo is right about the bigger rotors however the caliper mounts on the 4 cylinder do not cope with swapping calipers like the v6 knuckles do.

Cosmo, you want twin pot subaru calipers using your original caliper bracket. Should bolt right on.

At the rear a Mazda6 caliper will bolt into the Astina mount bracket, but the brackets won't interchange as Mazda changed the bolt spacing for the mount to knuckle. Not to mentiont he Mazda6 runs a different hat height. But those problems are easily overcome.

A.

Interesting...
I'll talk more about models and such for the twin caliper on the weekend.

Dan,
Could you please copy this thread to the Suspension area, it's getting interesting and a topic that's comming up more often.

aaron why did they do the front bearings? or was it just something you had done at the same time?

It is common in the US to do a caliper swap to twin pot Subaru Legacy calipers, they will bolt straight on

Just to clarify, the CALIPER bolts into the MOUNT that's already on your car - this ONLY applies to the 5 stud cars.

Should be the Liberty Turbo calipers IIRC - will check it up...

A.

This is the Subaru Caliper in a Mazda mount..

http://www.teamunemployment.com/gavi...9-0970_IMG.JPG

Pic is taken from MX6.com where a guy worked all this out. He sourced the caliper froma 1996 2.5L Legacy GT AWD. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to work out what other Sube models used the same calipers.

A.

Mine look a little different.
I'll be test fitting on Saturday. If everything is OK I'll have them installed and the system bled next week.

Well I can say categoricaly that the RS Liberty calipers don't fit, much wider mounting points.

Cable ties fix all ;)