I installed the MRT master cylinder bracket yesterday, it is part of the brake upgrade I am doing which includes Wilwood front four piston calipers and SS lines front and rear, with carbon fibre pads in the rear and DOT 5.1 brake fluid.
Boy, from a sceptic to a believer, when I first looked at the bracket I thought well a fool and his money are soon parted, wrong! this thing works.
Now I will admit it is a royal PITA to install,to anyone contemplating fitting one, the best advice I can give is to get a round file and elongate all the mounting holes the holes in the bracket are off and this is what is causing folks misery when they installing it.
The instuctions say it is a 15 minute install all I can say to that is my [non-permissible content removed],maybe if you had an empty engine bay and no master cylinder fitted you could, the two bolts between the master cylinder and the strut tower are almost impossible to get started there is so little room.
You will read over in nasioc where guys have cobbled up spacers and longer bolts and wrung bolts off, if you elongate the holes like I say the thing will fit like it is supposed to.
In conclusion while you still will not think you have now got a single stage booster instead of a dual stage, there is enough of a difference in pedal feel to make this the best $75 CDN I have spent in a long while.
It is supposed to fit the Forester, now you will read about people who have installed them and found no difference, and then others like me who have found a difference.
The disappointment might be due to the way they have been installed, I have read some horror stories about cobbled up spacers and God knows what else.
As I described elongating the holes facilitated mounting the thing the way the manufacturer intended, and if anything I would suggest that MRT elongate the holes at manufacture and I think there would be a lot less complaints.
Would I suggest you fit one? The best thing I could tell you is that it has made enough of a difference in my car that if I bought another Subaru tomorrow I would go to the trouble of installing an MRT bracket on it.
Pat: you gotta do what Hutch does, put a quarter in the jar every time you curse. Then donate it or put it in a college fund for the grandkids.
Careful - the fenders and firewall on the Forester are not the same. The bracket might fit, but certain things don't, like the plug for the fender hole where the intake used to go, after my snork-ectomy.
Well the Wilwood kit is now installed, along with stainless steel brakelines all around, KVR carbon fibre pads in the rear and dot 5.1 brake fluid, and MRT master cylinder bracket.
I am impressed,no squishy pedal, and it stops like right now, now I can finally say I am happy with the brakes.
Well Colin, I remember you saying I would be very happy with this package, after one day that was an understatement, I would gladly pay a premium to have brakes like this from the factory.
I had thought previously that I might upgrade to the larger rotors, but based on what I have right now I feel I have enough brakes just as they are.
The pedal is hard with no sqishy feeling and the brakes are easy to modulate and when you get on them hard it is whoa right now, I am going to try post some pictures.
You can see that the swept area of the Wilwoods is slightly less than the subaru yet the braking is superior, so unless you went with six piston calipers larger rotors would be overkill.
Very considerate of you, Pat. I have a pair of C-clamps but I wonder if they are big enough for that job. Nice to have 2 cars - I can always run to the store to buy tools/parts while I work on the other!
Any particular reason you went with crossdrilled? From my research and discussions with racers they all seem to feel that crossdrilled rotors are not optimal since they are prone to cracking and there isn't the out-gassing with the new brake materials of the past 10 years.
Like juice said it is as much appearance as anything else, but I will say I have never had a problem with cross drilled either cracking or warping, but I have had several solid rotors warp.
So based on that experience I will stick with the crossdrilled.
Were the solid ones stock v. aftermarket crossdrilled? As for appearance I can't argue there, i'm just a go at all costs over show type. You'd probably only have problems with the crossdrilled if you were tracking the car.
It would be interesting to note what effect just the carbon fiber pads would have had on the braking feel. Also can you put up pics of the MRT Master cylinder Bracket and what mods to it you are referring too? Gene
I prefer the 98 99 RS rims in silver,I would probably fare better looking for them in the states but I do not want the hassles with customs and duties and all the rest of the nonsense that goes with it.
Besides we have been screwed twice dealing on the net so understandibly me wife more than me is gun shy about any net dealings again.
I bought a set of rims several years ago for a Honda, they were suppose to be mint, I was shown photos of a mint set of rims, the ones that I got were destroyed with salt pitting and curb rash so unless I can view them personally I would be real leary.
I doubt that the pads alone would have made any difference to brake feel, the difference has to be felt to be appreciated.
I grin now every time I have to brake, I now have a nice hard pedal wheras before it was like sticking your foot in a bowl of jello.
As for photos of the brake MC braket, I will try but it is pretty well buried now under the fuel filter and assorted hose so I do not know how clear a picture it will be, I will also try make a drawing and scan it, again it may not be too clear as my drawing skills leave a lot to be desired.
yeah, they finally have the bugs worked out. worthwhile product... I tried to get Kentaro to buy a set but he went for the stock header replacement. :-(
I've heard a car with a Borla header... make neat noises. ;-)
although the car is not exactly quiet now.....I wonder how much more intrusive it will be in the cabin with the headers. Tempting price over in vendor classifieds right now.
if your car has stock suspension you won't have any problems. if it's lowered or you plan on lowering it a 16x7 with 45mm offset will make the rear fender clearance a little dicey with some tires. (the 98-01 RS wheels are 16x7 +53, tucked 8mm inboard from what you're considering)
hmmm, sounds like I need to think about this mod too. Colin, any opinion on how much more cabin noise I will pick up with those headers? The exhaust already adds some drone on the highway and under load
I'm still a little leary of the CEL bugaboo. I get the sense that a few people are having it, even with gen. IV. Perhaps I should wait a while and let others shake this iteration down a bit first...... *shryg*
Comments
Boy, from a sceptic to a believer, when I first looked at the bracket I thought well a fool and his money are soon parted, wrong! this thing works.
Now I will admit it is a royal PITA to install,to anyone contemplating fitting one, the best advice I can give is to get a round file and elongate all the mounting holes the holes in the bracket are off and this is what is causing folks misery when they installing it.
The instuctions say it is a 15 minute install all I can say to that is my [non-permissible content removed],maybe if you had an empty engine bay and no master cylinder fitted you could, the two bolts between the master cylinder and the strut tower are almost impossible to get started there is so little room.
You will read over in nasioc where guys have cobbled up spacers and longer bolts and wrung bolts off, if you elongate the holes like I say the thing will fit like it is supposed to.
In conclusion while you still will not think you have now got a single stage booster instead of a dual stage, there is enough of a difference in pedal feel to make this the best $75 CDN I have spent in a long while.
Cheers Pat.
hope your knuckles aren't skinned up to much! ;-)
-Colin
I was really sceptical about this, so much so in fact I was going to chuck it, I am glad I persevered.
Cheers Pat.
Turns out, the popular opinion that it's faster and easier to just pull the engine is popular for good reason.
-Colin
IdahoDoug
Ken
The disappointment might be due to the way they have been installed, I have read some horror stories about cobbled up spacers and God knows what else.
As I described elongating the holes facilitated mounting the thing the way the manufacturer intended, and if anything I would suggest that MRT elongate the holes at manufacture and I think there would be a lot less complaints.
Would I suggest you fit one? The best thing I could tell you is that it has made enough of a difference in my car that if I bought another Subaru tomorrow I would go to the trouble of installing an MRT bracket on it.
Cheers Pat.
Careful - the fenders and firewall on the Forester are not the same. The bracket might fit, but certain things don't, like the plug for the fender hole where the intake used to go, after my snork-ectomy.
-juice
Cheers Pat.
I am impressed,no squishy pedal, and it stops like right now, now I can finally say I am happy with the brakes.
I took some pics. and will get them up soon.
Cheers Pat.
-juice
I had thought previously that I might upgrade to the larger rotors, but based on what I have right now I feel I have enough brakes just as they are.
The pedal is hard with no sqishy feeling and the brakes are easy to modulate and when you get on them hard it is whoa right now, I am going to try post some pictures.
Cheers Pat.
I have shown for the benifit of juice how I compress the pistons works for me but I guess other folks have different ways of doing it.
Cheers Pat.
Cheers Pat.
The rotors look positively evil! :-)
-juice
-mike
Looks like a 911, except smaller wheels and rotors.
-juice
So based on that experience I will stick with the crossdrilled.
Cheers Pat.
-mike
Cheers Pat.
I am hoping to find a set of RS rims in the Ottawa area at a reasonable price,I do not want to be bothered with shipping or any other PITA.
Failing that hopefully I will find some aftermarket rims also at reasonable cost.
Cheers Pat.
-Colin
Having been Caught twice on net scams my wife is dead set against buying anything more that we cannot see and take home with us.
Cheers Pat.
Also can you put up pics of the MRT Master cylinder Bracket and what mods to it you are referring too?
Gene
-Dave
-juice
Besides we have been screwed twice dealing on the net so understandibly me wife more than me is gun shy about any net dealings again.
I bought a set of rims several years ago for a Honda, they were suppose to be mint, I was shown photos of a mint set of rims, the ones that I got were destroyed with salt pitting and curb rash so unless I can view them personally I would be real leary.
Hense the desire for something local.
Cheers Pat.
I'll keep an eye out for a good or mint set, and transport it across the border on a Canada trip.
-Dave
Cheers Pat.
I grin now every time I have to brake, I now have a nice hard pedal wheras before it was like sticking your foot in a bowl of jello.
As for photos of the brake MC braket, I will try but it is pretty well buried now under the fuel filter and assorted hose so I do not know how clear a picture it will be, I will also try make a drawing and scan it, again it may not be too clear as my drawing skills leave a lot to be desired.
Cheers Pat.
I've heard a car with a Borla header... make neat noises. ;-)
-Colin
Cheers Pat.
if your car has stock suspension you won't have any problems. if it's lowered or you plan on lowering it a 16x7 with 45mm offset will make the rear fender clearance a little dicey with some tires. (the 98-01 RS wheels are 16x7 +53, tucked 8mm inboard from what you're considering)
-Colin
Thanks again for the quick response.
BTW. RS rims are pretty thin on the ground and the odd ones that do come up the owmers seem to think they are made of gold.
Cheers Pat.
Also as promised I made a sketch of the mods I alluded to, but as I said my drawing skills are poor at best.
I hope this is clear enough for you.
Cheers Pat.
hmmm, sounds like I need to think about this mod too. Colin, any opinion on how much more cabin noise I will pick up with those headers? The exhaust already adds some drone on the highway and under load
it'll sound different but shouldn't be much louder. most of the SPL comes from the muffler itself, and you're not changing that...
-Colin
Ken
-Colin
hey, who you callin' old? =8^D