Ok, has anyone here ever taken the ABS out of their car? First off, I think that the Subaru ABS in my car blows, it freaks out every time I even slightly brake in the winter. Secondly, I want to put the air intake for my car right where the huge module is located (there's not too many other options on my car with the IC piping and what not) So can anyone point me in the right direction. Oh, and before you say my stock ecu wont like, I don't have a stock ecu. Also, what kind of issues will this give me with the law/insurance?
the easiest/best way is to remove the sensors on the axles and remove the wiring to the controller and the fuse. It shouldn't affect the law or insurance, there are plenty of non ABS cars out there.
Justin and I are both doing this. The brake line bending gets old. But it's pretty simple. You'll also need to source a non-abs master cylinder, or at least the 1 and 1/16 cylinder.
It will affect insurance- as the way that they decide how much to charge for a given car is based on it's accident rates and safety equipment. ABS is safety equipment that prevents accidents. If you don't believe me call your insurance agent and ask them, just don't be surprised if they won't give you insurance anymore.
however...if for example you have a car like my impreza and it comes standard then i'd doubt they even ask. i think all LX's have abs so they didnt even ask me.
DIY = rip out all the brakelines in your car. go buy a flare tool, bender, aluminum brake line, non-abs master cylinder, and patience. it 100% is not a project for a novice.
They won't ask, but if they find the wiring and sensors missing after you crash head-on into someone and total the car, you can be charged with negligence even if it's just an average accident. So- if you do it, don't crash. :biggrin:
Ok, so I have to get the non-abs mastercylinder and run all new lines. I kinda figured as much. It's something to think about, but I guess if I can figure out how to do my intake without getting rid of the ABS I wont pull it out. Unless it pisses me off this winter even more.
good point. But I only had the car for the last 2 weeks of winter, and I was on California "all seasons" which are basically summer tires. So now that I have nokians, I'll see how it is.
The thought had occured to to me, that my ABS probably doesn't work at all anymore, because I don't have a stock ECU anymore. Or am I wrong?
yea, I'm pretty sure ABS doesn't talk to the ECU. I'll have to check my diagrams (out in the car....too lazy tonight :biggrin: ) also, I don't think you'd have to re-plumb the whole car. couldn't you just make a few bypass lines to skip the big SOB in the engine bay?
Well I didn't think I needed to re-plumb the whole car. I guess I'm gonna try to put my intake right by my hoodscoop, and then see if I am ok with the ABS's function once I have snow tires on.
What car do you have? Does it still have rear drums? If so, I agree fully that ABS blows, really, really hard. I don't know what Subaru was thinking when they did it, but disk + drum + ABS = rolling death trap. I had a '02 Forester L with this configuration. Absolutely horrid behavior on any type of uneven, slippery surface, huge degradation of stopping force. Now if it's all disk, it works quite a bit better. The bias might be a little towards the front, but it's not bad. This is the way my '02 Forester S is. Add the brake force distribution of the newer models and it gets even better, enough so where it's not hindered by a poor bias. However, a neutrally biased non-ABS setup will stop just as good, and it's something to shoot for. So far WRX front and H6 rear feels pretty darn neutral to me and has a negligible difference in stopping ability. I'd still like to disable ABS without losing lights and cruise control. I know many of you can just pull the one solenoid fuse. I'm not sure if it's just me or Foresters or everyone with cruise control, but there's a second ABS fuse, labeled rear ABS/Cruise control. The downside is low beam, high beam, and fog lights are tied to this fuse too, so all go poof when pulled and you get to drive around with the half bright daytime running lights at night, lol. Basically if the ABS solinoid fuse is pulled, front ABS is lost, yeah only front. Pulling the rear ABS fuse diables rear only. I thought it was crazy too, but I tested this when I had my crash waiting to happen L. Now I've seen mention of people splicing into the speed sensor wires, basically wiring in a switch that gets mounted somewhere in the dash area. You flip the switch, the wires get cut off and the ECU/ABS sees nothing. ABS light turns on, but all runs normal. It's something I've considered doing at some piont. However, I don't know what the ECU uses. I know the ECU can read speed as well as engine rpm and even know what gear you're in. You can data log the ECU and all this info is there. I don't think it does anything specifically though, except maybe the cruise control if that's not just vacuum controlled, and it would sort of be nice to have cruise if possible. Now someone mentioned they had a wiring diagram? I'd like to see it if possible. I would prefer to place an inline switch with the fuses, well the ABS solenoid and the ABS part of whatever wiring that goes to the rear ABS/Cruise fuse. That way there's no lost readings via the ECU, and if the cruise uses it, that'd still work. To the ABS system it would be as if the fuses were pulled. To everything else, all is normal. I've just never come across a wiring diagram for it.
