ABS ? Power Steering?

[iDriver]

Hi Guy's,

Ok, here is where I m at, I recently bought a part built venom GT2 kit which has all Granada breaks and hubs front and rear installed. It has a ford v6 installed as is the Gearbox, diff, powersteering rack, wiring loom and steering column.

The frame is made from box section of about 40mm sq.

It was bought for the right price as a donor vehicle and I would be quids in even if I only use the 4 corners, Diff and shafts.

I have even looked at chopping the chassis so it is more or less the same shape as a haynes roadster, all be it the steelwork would be heavier, there would be less of it. Still thinking on that aspect of it..

Anyway, my questions are these at present, do you lot who use don parts from vehicles that had ABS actually reinstall the ABS on your kits or just bin it and stick with good old standard brake systems?

Do any of you use power steering?

Cheers

Mark

[K4KEV]

Hi Mark....I do not know of any roadsters that have utilized any ABS or PS it just does not warrant it

[iDriver]

Hi Mark....I do not know of any roadsters that have utilized any ABS or PS it just does not warrant it

Cheers Kev, thats good news on the ABS front, I hated the thought of messing with all that wiring and sensors, not ideal news on the PS front as it means I need to source a rack but adain, looking on the positive side I can ditch the PS pipework and pump :-)

[BORNXenon]

It's all unnecessary weight in a car the size of a Roadster, it's also more to go wrong!

Personally, I hate ABS. If I want to brake, I want to brake. I don't want the car to stop braking because it thinks I'm braking too hard!

[Not Anumber]

If I was building from scratch i probably would fit ABS but only if all the parts were just sitting there on the donor car ready to be transplanted. I could see it might be a benefit in the wet and on icy roads. That said Ive found the braking quite adequate without it and must admit ive not taken it out in the snow.

[snapper]

ABS is vehicle specific and will not necessarily work correctly in a much lighter vehicle, a mate in Fords chassis engineering and dynamics have me this info when I mentioned it
Power steering, you can remove the pump and just fill the pipes with fluid and join
The power rack is close to a quick rack ratio

[iDriver]

ABS is vehicle specific and will not necessarily work correctly in a much lighter vehicle, a mate in Fords chassis engineering and dynamics have me this info when I mentioned it
Power steering, you can remove the pump and just fill the pipes with fluid and join
The power rack is close to a quick rack ratio

That vehicle specific point is one of those things that is obvious when you think about it I guess :confused: so I will remove all the wiring and sensors making the wiring a lot simpler.

I will have to look at the rack and pipe work to get my head around the steering advice. Cheers.

[flyerncle]

Could be wrong ,if you fill the pas pipes on the rack and join them together the rack may not turn as there would be hydraulic pressure on both sides of the ram.

[Stot]

Hi,

First post. :D

You can join the tubes but you are still going to be pumping fluid so the steering will still be hard.

You would need to de-power the rack by removing the piston on the rack which requires a full strip down but this would leave you with a properly de-powered quick rack.

Here's how its done on the MX5 rack (http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/depower.php?x=1), it would be the same on most power steering racks.

Cheers
Stot

[iDriver]

Thanks Stot, I have bookmarked that link. I will enjoy stripping the rack ang doing it properly. Clearly the Ford rack will be different but. Now now the basic idea.

[flyerncle]

Might be a good idea to read 2.3 of the mot testers manual as it is a reason for refusal/VT 30 for parts of power steering being removed so its possibly an iva fail too.

[snapper]

Beg to differ on the power steering with no power
Yes may be an MOT falier if the car was fitted with it in the first place
There is no resistance in the rack any more than the fact the rack is quicker than standard
The fluid just moves round as you turn
However the quick rack internals for a standard rack are cheap enough but require a standard rack and a strip down to fit
Something I am now doing

[flyerncle]

Interesting thoughts,one way valves,and pressure on a ram inside the rack are usually the way power steering works.

I would have thought if the rack was filled with fluid and blanked off,liquid not being compressable would lock the rack as one side would work against the other.

It does say "if fitted to the vehicle" so it is a moot point if it could lead to a fail.

It is a cheap way of getting a quick rack !

[snapper]

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx141/snapperpaul/DA25AEA4-E70B-4DA6-A1AE-F9FABDC0E1C4-758-00000125A9A31546.jpg

All the valves are around the pinion
Rack is just a piston and two feed tubes