Has anyone done either of these things? I am sort of (in other words not actively but did remove the rear seat) in the process of losing some weight off of the SVX. The stolen parts sure helped. :x Anywho, I was wondering if anyone has any actual helpful knowledge on relocating the battery to the trunk? Also, does anyone know if the ABS actually helps on the track or just adds braking distance. If the latter is the case I would like to ditch it and was wondering if anyone has any experience with this? Thanks!
Don't ditch your ABS. It wont make the car faster, and it definitely wont make it lighter. It will cause you to lock you brakes more often, especially on a track. With the stock brakes your going to be running dome pretty high brake temps on a track anyways, the abs is probably safer. Most top drivers who drive ABS cars know how to use the ABS to their advantage, its not a handicap at all on track.
I'm not sure how it is on the SVX but the ABS in my RS is so god damned interfering it is more of a weakness than a blissful piece of automotive engineering. I want to bury it under a tree.
beej... i completely agree. I almost get INTO accidents because my abs kicks in when it shouldnt. ei, kickin in when you are coming up to a stop sign where there are bumps in the road...and almost hittnig the car in front of me. i hate abs.
I disagree. What you are encountering is the bump affliction of the subaru ABS system which can cause it to activate on choppy pavement, which is a bit different than the average car. Although somewhat intrusive, that's essentially a non issue if you're not driving on the street. Add to that the fact that the brakes are downright unpredictable, locky, and that good drivers can actually drive through abs and corner faster and there is no reason whatsoever to disable it oter than that street myth that somehow taking ABS off makes the car race better. I personally witnessed several top drivers attest to the fact that they use their cars ABS system to bring thrm though turns easier and more smoothly, relying on the ABS to do some of the work rather than just locking them up and pushing through. You also don't tend to flat spot your soft street tires or R comps with ABS, it can be a problem without. You can brake fast or predictably. The predictability of your brakes not running ABs is going to be horrible. It will be difficult to be consistent without practicing a lot on them, and even then, still very touchy and still prone to locking. There are quite a few racing studies out there that show that even thogh people think its faster, the same driver gets through the track faster with the ABS on than off. And the one time it's off and you really need to use it (on the street) you're basically screwed. This is of course not to mention the accidents i have personally seen caused directly by people intentonally disabling ABS. And yes, i have driven my car with and without ABS. It sucks without ABS. It may not have the best ABS in the world, but its better than none. ESPECIALLY if you're talking about putting the car on a track.
Thanks. I know when I watch the indy guys on the track the announcers talk about how the drivers are really good at using the ABS and that's' why I didn't want to just ditch it. The ABS setup on my car isn't as sensitive as on my other two. I heard that it's "performance tuned ABS." I assume that means it won't interfere as much but will be there when you actually need it. I have had it kick in on one particular occasion in the rain braking hard on the highway and it seriously saved me. The times I had the car on the track I wasn't pushing it hard enough to need it so I don't know when it would've kicked in. I also was concerned about flat spotting and thought it would be stupid to spend a bunch of money on tires that I'm going to flat spot. On the other hand, I was taught not to rely on the brakes and to focus on setting yourself up for the curve more by backing off the throttle early than mashing on the brakes late. Also, if you have major fade in the brakes, they won't be able to lock up and cause flat spotting right? haha. That is a whole other can of worms to discuss though.
I am more than likely going to use this car for both. With an emphasis on track use. I figure, it's my car baby and I'll want drive it whenever it's nice out. In reality, I want to keep daily driven miles off of it and will probably mod it to the point that it's not comfortable enough to use as a daily driver. Already the exhaust, tire, and general road noise is a bit loud without the back seat.
I should get back to homework but I'll throw this out there. I don't know if I should start a new thread for this since it's on pretty much the same subject. ? I said I'm taking some weight off of the car. I would like to strip alot since it's essentially free power however, I am concerned about weight transfer. There's alot of weight to lose in the back but not as much to lose in the front proportionally. Since it's a front mount engine (a good sized one) it seems that most of the weight will be in the front. I know a 50/50 weight transfer is ideal but how will stripping the car effect that? Will it only be marginal in terms of chassis balance and overall handling performance? I will also be lowering the car too, therefore lowering the center of gravity and as I've read it puts less stress on the wheels/tires during turns.
For those ditching ABS....have fun, but stay away from me. I have 5yrs of AutoX and track days in my RS so I think I have a pretty good understanding of the car's behavior. With that being said, I think I locked up my tires a grand total of 3 times all season (AutoX), so that really throws out the theory of it being intrusive...learn how to drive. :twisted: Granted, there is a somewhat scary occurance that happens under very specific bumpy conditions (from my experience, it is worse on the WRX than my car, but I have not driven a new body style RS) in which the ABS goes haywire. Unlike some, I have never had more than a skipped heart beat when this happened. It didn't cause me to crash or have to avoid one, but YMMV. Outside of that rare occasion and in near zero traction situations (snow/gravel), there are no negatives to ABS. (In near zero traction conitions, the best way to stop is by "piling up" the loose surface in front of the tire, like a wedge) I have never read anywhere, from a reliable source, that ABS aids in shorter stopping distances in high grip situations, but it makes a skid more controllable. Most accidents occur because you cannot steer when your front tires are locked up, but ABS brought a new problem to the table...people steer in the direction they are looking (instinct) and guess where they are looking when trying to avoid an accident? Yep, the car is too controllable and they steer right into the accident. I guess it is better, at this point, to ask; why would anyone want to remove the ABS (outside of rally)? What are the perceived gains? There is no weight advantage, there is no braking advantage (it is not functioning until the tire is locked up), and I cannot think of any other advantages... You want the fastest way around the track? Practice! It is threshold braking that is the quickest way to bring the speed down, not locking up the tires. Once you learn the limits of grip, you will not even induce ABS unless you are in the wrong place, but I would rather still have the ability to steer the car in the direction I should be in rather than skid off the track! Bring on the comments.... :idea:
ABS=good. But if you want to disable it anyway (for stopping faster on gravel by locking up the wheels, or just to experiment), I'm pretty sure it's as easy as removing the fuse for the circuit that controls it.
It is as easy as removing the fuse to it. I ran my RS without it most of the time. And before I get jumped on by the lot of you the reason I disabled it was because I drive on washboard gravel roads almost every day. I flew through a particular stop sign twice in two days because of the ABS going crazy, pedal just went to the floor and you could hear it clicking away. After the second time I was so mad at it that I almost went in and cut the entire thing out but instead just kept it to taking out the fuse. Your ABS light will stay on to the duration of this but I took that bulb out (it's back in there now if Patrick is reading this ). The ABS in the GT doesn't seem to be afflicted with the same problems as the old RS did though. At least it stops like it should on the rough roads. I was really pleased with the ABS in the Evo as well FWIW. As for weight reduction I'd just go to town on tearing things out. Speakers are an easy one, so is a lot of the dash. The glove box has a big slab of metal in it that weighs alot so maybe replace it with a rally computer for fun. I mean just how serious are you about losing weight from the car? I stripped down my old 96 Impreza L to less than 2500 lbs. which was over 200 lbs. of reduction.
I've had some scary moments with the crappy anti-locks on my 02 RS. But I still wouldn't remove them. They are REALLY crappy over bumps (which is every street in Duluth) and in the snow i've had them act funny a few times. But every time I didn't hit anything. I've learned when they will act up and when they wont so I can react accordingly.
