real lateral link bolt
 

I am in the middle of a drum to disc conversion on my Impreza, but as expected, everything went nice and smooth until I tried to remove the big lateral link bolt. Searches on both RS25 and nasioc turned up very little helpful info other than everyone said it was a PITA to get out, and at least one person just gave up and cut the dang thing out. I don't have the tools to cut the bolt, so I was wondering if anyone here had any helpful suggestions for removing it withouth breaking things...thanks

PB blaster, heat, impact wrench? I'm sure I used at least one of the three when I did my conversion.

pb and impact wrench are in the plans for tomorrow, but no access to a torch. When you did yours did you notice if the bolt was stuck on the front or rear link, or both? I might end up pulling the links and the hub together and working on the bolt out of the car.

You probably need the rigid structure of the car to work against. Leave it in.

If it is in the right direction, you can use the weight of the car on a breaker bar/extension hitting the floor or blocks of wood. I've done that before.

And impact it tighter as well as looser. I know that sounds stupid, but first you are trying break whatever bonds are holding it, not really loosen it.

It's rusted into the knuckle, most likely. This happens often. I have seen them rusted into the lateral link bushings as well, but it's not as common.

A nice long soak in penetrating oil, and an impact gun that makes 1,100 pound/feet breakaway torque has always gotten them for me...

Careful if it is bound in the lateral links, as it's easy to damage the bushings twisting on it.

my crew chief got mine off with an air impact gun, not sure if it was 1100 pound/foot , but it took mine off no problem. I have a habor frieght impact gun listed at like 350 (if that's an upgrade for you) , seems to take off axle nuts just fine. i could stop by after work and we can try it out ... ??

.....

Sweeet!

Clean them up on the steel wire brush is usually fine as long as the threads and heads are good. No reason to replace.

I finally got the other bolt out, and the threads on both are iffy, so I just ordered new ones. Bushings and sleeves seem good. So now just wait for UPS to show up and I can put the other hubs in. I do have a question...while researching this swap i have read many opinions about whether or not to replace the proportioning valve due to the increased braking force in the rear, but since I had also upgraded the front with RS rotors and two-pot calipers (so now I'll have a complete RS brake setup, minus the ABS), would that balance things out enough to not need the new prop valve?

I'd think you're fine without swapping the prop valve. At least the front/rear balance should be good. I'd probably swap the master cylinder first if anything.