ABS Brakes in the SVX

[Duckie]

Well, it is 3:00am and I am bored so I decided I would post something on the board. Well, I don't really think I need ABS brakes ad was wondering what the weight savings would be if I took them out. As long as I have brakes that work well...who need abs? I wonder how much of a pain in the ass it would be to take it out, and how much weight it would save. This probably shouldn't be in tech...maybe just in the normal forum *shrugs*

PS I am such a car noob = )

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Do you drive this car in the winter? If so, probably not a good idea.

As for taking it out, you'd have to cut, re-route & re-flare all the brake hard lines which is indeed a pain in the ass.

[Duckie]

I drive it in the winter, but I will probably have alt. transportation. How long of a project do you think it would be? *evil looks in his eyes*

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Couldn't tell you since I don't have an SVX. When I plumbed in a manual proportioning valve in my rear line on the Mustang, it took a few hours between locating the correct flare fittings, cutting, bending lines, flaring, bleeding, etc.

That was working on one relatively short section of line, so maybe you can extrapolate from there...

[sperry]

Duckie, you can pull the ABS fuse on the car and drive around w/ it disabled for a bit to see what you think.

IMO, the Subaru ABS kinda sucks in the snow, at least at slow speeds. I know there have been several instances where if I had been able to lock the wheels up in the snow, it would have stopped much faster than the ABS let me. However, at any sort of speed, especially in slippery conditions, the ABS is *way* better than not. If you have to get on the binders hard at say 40 mph in the snow/ice, there's a good chance you'll lock the tires immediately and go balistic... no control until you hit something. The ABS will at least keep the car in line. It's just at like 5 mph that it really sucks.

As far as weight savings, the only weight you'll save the that of the ABD control block located in the front of the engine bay on the passenger side. I've never had one out so I don't know what they weigh, but I'd guess they're under 15-20 lbs. Not a lot of weight savings considering the overall weight of the car. The biggest reason people remove the ABS is for *space* under the hood, not weight. With the ABS gone, there's a lot more room for intake piping and turbo bits.

So, unless you're planning on making the car a dedicated track car, or really need the room for a turbo or something, I'd just leave the ABS alone. Or at the most, install a switch on the ABS fuse so you can kill it at will if you're crawling around in the snow somewhere.

[Duckie]

Well I would like to take the ABS out for future modifications(Side mounted intercoolers) in order to run more boost on my stage 3.

[Dean]

Unless you are building a pure drag car, or plan to run the car in a competition road race class that requires ABS removal, I would not reccomend removing it. With the exception of the rare low speed issue Scott described, ABS is a good thing.

Very few race car drivers can outperform the performance of most production ABS systems, and the general population doesn't stand a chance of beating it. By far the biggest advantage it offers is allowing you to continue to have steering control under heavy braking. This is extrmely valuable in every day driving, as well as it's maximizing straight line braking performance at the track.

I'd relocate it rather than removing it if at all possible.