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ok i'm bored. ABS time

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I'm obviously stuck with too much time on my hands. The "big brake" thread started me thinking.

Has anyone retrofitted an ABS system to an LBC? I know all the bits that you'd need to plumb in. I just wondered if anyone had actually done it.
 
Alan, have you ever heard the song "Lookin For Love In All The Wrong Places"?

I'll be following the project. I'm interested, but only as a casual observer. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I need to get out more. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I was working from home today. No commute gives me extra time to come up with stupid ideas. What can I say...
 
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I need to get out more. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif


/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
You need to find a Jensen FF and rip out the Dunlop system used in them. This way you will keep everything British and period correct. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thirsty.gif
 
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I'm interested, but only as a casual observer. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

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Me too! Over the years, I've disabled the ABS on most cars I've owned that had it. In fact, my Land Rover has it disabled right now (too finnicky and expensive to maintain, so to heck with it!).

The earlier versions of ABS weren't all that great, anyway, IMHO. With them, so long as I didn't panic (as in, lock up the brakes), stopping distances *without* ABS seemed consistently better.

Today's ABS functions pretty well. But I'd still be more inclined to put my $$$s into large diameter ventilated rotors and 4-piston calipers up front, a dual circuit braking system (which a TR4 lacks) and possibly even a rear disc brake conversion.

Racing school is also money well-spent to improve braking! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

But hey! I'm not trying to talk you out of it. It *would* be an interesting experiment, so I say "go for it" if you really want to. Be careful, though. I'm sure you know, messin' around with brakes is always dicier than most other systems on a car. Keep us posted!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
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Has anyone retrofitted an ABS system to an LBC?

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I recall reading of a systems that could be fit to cars that did not have it originally. This was many years ago (maybe the early 1970s?) when the systems were first introduced. I believe it was advertized in one of the car magazines (like Road & Track) and I phoned for a leaflet. The system seemed expensive, and reading between the lines implied that a lot of tinkering would be needed to get it right and suitably adjusted for any particular car. I've no idea now who made the system or what it was called.

I'd think that a modern, "homebrewed" system would be an interesting challenge... and a bit masochistic.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
 
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Racing school is also money well-spent to improve braking! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif


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/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif Plus threshold braking is a skill you can take from car to car. Then you can be your own ABS system.

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Alan (Alana), you are sick.
Bill

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Bill, coming from you I'm going to take that as a compliment...
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif
 
Ok I'll fess up.
I wasn't actually planning on doing it, not this year at least, just thinking about what it would take.

I already have toyota calipers on the front and a nissan diff at the back, so I thought it might not be impossible to jury-rig something of the japanese persuasion.

I saw a website where a guy took the booster from a Sentra. I thought it might be possible to take the abs controller and plumb the lot in in one hit. Installing the sensors for the front disks are probably the hardest part of the whole deal though.

Threshold braking is all well and good, but it relies on the driver.

I'm thinking about when I let someone else have a go. As an example, SWMBO can barely manage a stickshift - she plans her routes so there are no hillstarts when she's in the bug. The thought of her in a car with no PAS and no ABS makes me shudder...
 
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Threshold braking is all well and good, but it relies on the driver.

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Which is exactly why its called driving. Not steering and pushing pedals. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
I'm not exactly sure what you're doing with this project, but if it were mine, I'd fit a manually adjustable bias-valve so that you could limit rear lockup.
Preferably within reach of driver so you could monkey with it on-the-fly.
Most racer catalogues (like Pegasus, Summit and Racer Parts Wholesale have some version of these).
Wildwood makes one.
Not ABS, but quite useful.
 
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Not steering and pushing pedals.


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But its all steering and pedal pushing, and stick pushing, too, don't forget that... some people just do it a little better /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
... or not. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif
 
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Not steering and pushing pedals.


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But its all steering and pedal pushing, and stick pushing, too, don't forget that... some people just do it a little better /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
... or not. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif

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Yeah its all part of it but so is the feel of what your doing, the understanding of what the vehicle is doing from your inputs or lack there of. The whole idea of driving a sports car. The confidence of doing it right and the good feeling of getting it just right. The enthusiasm part of being a driving enthusiast. The difference between seeing a car as simply a utilitarian device to get from point A to B, even if its a 'cute' one, or point B being the destination with the journey being the main focus.

I enjoy driving cars, some people crochet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
Just curious Shawn, does that mean that a modern vehicle, lets take a 997, or a 430, for example aren't sportscars any more because they have ABS and you are thus just pushing the pedals? Shurely not?
 
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The difference between seeing a car as simply a utilitarian device to get from point A to B, even if its a 'cute' one, or point B being the destination with the journey being the main focus.

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Sometimes I want utility and to dawdle easily amongst the traffic, when it moves at all.... Maybe 97.5% of the time. Why race to work? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

I've a utilitarian car for utilitarian purposes. Sometimes I want things to be more interesting, like a sports car on a nice windy road.

I'd like to think I can drive the boring car better because I have an interesting one too; on the very infrequent occasions when the boring drive turns into something rather different.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif
 
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Just curious Shawn, does that mean that a modern vehicle, lets take a 997, or a 430, for example aren't sportscars any more because they have ABS and you are thus just pushing the pedals? Shurely not?

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ABS doesn't mean the difference between a sports car and not. However ABS does not exist to help you drive the car correctly. It's there to save your butt when you don't. Especially in modern sports cars.


Just keep in mind that the more 'modern tech' you want to keep adding to your TR6, the more it will weigh. The more it weighs the less the impact your new found horsepower will have. Every little bit adds up.

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