Brembo install with kns adapters, with pics. The truth

So prior to me doing it myself, people had said that the kns adapters are not a direct bolt on to our cars and need to be modified to fit the rear brembo calipers. This is wrong buy some modifications are needed that i will show you later on. This may not be applicable to cars with steel knuckles/swing arms in the rear.

 

First, the front brakes are a direct bolt on, that is meaning only the rotors and calipers are needed, and pads of course. And the stock dust sheilds on the front need a slight trim as it looked like the last owner of my car had once had brembos on the car. If you buy brembos with the hubs/ The knuckles, you could bolt the whole assembly, but the abs sensors are different, and you may be downgrading to a "press in" wheel bearing vice a bolt on style that the newer subarus use, your choice.

 

Back to the rears!

The only way to mount rear brembo is to buy a adapter bracket (kns, ect) that allows you to bolt the calipers to the new style rear end that came on the 4th gen legacy, the knuckles ARE NOT the same as most older gens and 07 and lower imprezas.

 

You'll also need to decide if you want to buy larger ebrake pads or custom size rotors from kns. I personally just got larger pads because one, i had brembo size rotors with my purchase already, and i needed new pads for the ebrake anyway.

 

So, on to the install. This is on the port, aft, corner of me car if you cant tell Via pics.... All ready did the other side.

 

First jack and stand the wheel or wheels to come off, and take tire off...

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/05/145bffccd94cc6725253899b8bc30f20.jpg

 

Now unbolt the old caliper, do not unbolt the brake line yet. Fuild will slowly drip from it if its not plugged. I just set it on my lat links..

 

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/05/244992105389b987b30a084fff6092e8.jpg

 

Beat the rotor off if your in mood to beat something, ensure parking brake is not engaged.... Self corrected problem..

 

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/05/44932921c68c4d061cf6fb806dcccc3e.jpg

 

After working up that sweat, take a brake and cooldown. Your about to break out the power tools

 

My local gas station sells 64 oz tap beer, so i picked up a bottle of dogfish head, the 90min type.

 

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/05/9d8e3eb67db5dde2b5999f6e6a225dd1.jpg

 

Now this is the problem,

 

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/05/44d6a15d384b5bb52210bb8b68e15b0a.jpg

 

 

Here is where the grinding takes place. Or if your like me, all you had was a jig saw...

 

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/05/168144a76b48c91dd55728ff63019831.jpg

 

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/05/f2dc55c27e2fbecb0b24cfdeaa6befe9.jpg

 

After you remove that interference, it will bolt right up. After that i basically just changed my ebrake shoes for the larger ones.

 

One last thing you gotta do. Again its your choice. You can bend your dust shield to clear the rotors. Or grind the pinch welds and take it off, again i didnt have a grinder. But i did have a hammer. So i beat with the hammer one last time till it came off.

 

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/05/4b76f8c916e1e9808ed8d05be3f36b7e.jpg

 

Didnt have much pictures after that, i forgot the growler was 9 %, but thats the biggest inconvenience with the install, plus the brake line will not line up perfectly between the little posts, just bolt it on with the line going the way it wants to naturally . Would be easier to explain with pictures..

Finished pictures,

 

 

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/06/87ef6410ae44f90b32bf6f478a494b50.jpg

 

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/06/c2391e14ee96e63befe186d1a3a603f6.jpg

Anyone else confirm that the steel swing arm legacy does not have this problem?

no finished pics?

 

thanks for a good write up with plenty of great pictures!

What year STI did you get the Brembos from?

 

And is there a "going rate" for buying a used set of Brembo calipers?

Finished pics added

The steel arms have to be ground as well. The upper bolt will not clear other wise. Nothing a grinder and flap disc can't take care of though. If it was me I'd use a grinder and smooth out all those jagged cuts. A flap disc will make short work of the aluminum.

Both need to be ground down, but the aluminum SpecB arms need a little more.

I approve of brembos and dogfish 90 minute.

 

Mine had to be grinded as well for those brackets...

I wish my local gas station sold dogfish 90 minute in growlers!!

Yea. Im still working on it. Pretty strong shitm

Im not a huge fan of the 120 min. Maybe it needs to really be aged more, but personally if I want some high octane IPA I'll go for the six point Resin or even the High-Res.

Great job and nice write up!! I was able to get the rear brackets on without any grinding. I bought the setup used so maybe the previous owner modified the bracket.

 

Here's a few pictures of mine. http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/06/ee09980a2998155fba4c5fc712e2b675.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/06/ffde5582594bdec2de92ede04dfe9b92.jpg

 

P.S. I like the gold setup.

 

 

Sent from a controlling box in my pocket

What year STI did you get the Brembos from?

 

And is there a "going rate" for buying a used set of Brembo calipers?

 

It's like 04-08 STI brembos, I think.

 

Decent ones go for ~$800 for just calipers. Plus everything else.

It's like 04-08 STI brembos, I think.

 

Decent ones go for ~$800 for just calipers. Plus everything else.

 

For the rears its 04-07 USDM STi or JDM STi Bugeye.

 

http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv87/JoshEAllen/49447B13-FC6E-466B-9413-4FDBC84D8C83.jpg

Mine on my 09 OBXT with SpecB trailing arms and KNS brackets and KNS shortened brake line (for Brembo conversions, http://www.knsbrakes.com/c/caliper-item/2286_Subaru+V1+Rear+STI+Brembo+Caliper+Upgrade+w%2F+DBA+Adapter+Rotor/53553_Rear+Stainless+Steel+Brake+Lines+-+For+Legacy)

SpecBamf41, what is the pink stuff in the bottle next to the beer.

It looks like liquid for his vapor set up.

 

 

Sent from a controlling box in my pocket

it is the vape juice indeed..

 

 

question, can i buy the sti brake cylinder and mount it to my brake booster? or do i need the whole assemble

Need the whole assembly. They are under $100 on eBay. Just make sure you do a good bench bleed.

So I had a couple problems this weekend with my Brembo install, specifically the rear KNS parts. Ive already contacted Ken at KNS and let him know and he acknowledged the issue. He said I was the second one with this problem. He is already working on correcting the issue. Im posting incase someone else runs into it before the problem is taken care of.

 

My Ebrake adapter shoes had their "hold down pin" hole about a 1/4-1/2" off. Im talking about the thin spear like pin that runs thru a wide spring. The extra distance caused the shoe to sit too high. My car was already apart and it was friday night, knowing any replacements were gonna take a few days, I made the executive decision to re drill it in the correct spot. If you look at the picture the smaller of the two holes is the one I drilled. If you encounter this problem just drill it. This pin simply holds the shoe against the backing plate, it is not a pivot so it doesnt have to be perfect, just somewhat lined up. I matched up the old and new shoes and put a center punch through the old pad to mark the new one. I had to do this on all 4 shoes.

 

http://imgur.com/uJNQPB5.jpg

I did not have this problem. I did how ever have to exchange something from one to the other as it appeared in had a set if pads for one side of the car only.

I think I had the same issue as ^^^^ had to pull pins from my old shoes and put in the new ones cuz they came without pins