ABS removal

July 21, 2006, 11:19:10 PM

got a good look at the ABS system on my car today. what a mess that is! also been doin some reseach on converting it to a sn95 master/booster setup.

for any of you guys who have taken out your ABS, i know theres at least one, what setup are you runnin? master, booster, brakes front and rear. what did you do about lines, did you hafta bend any up, or did all the stockers work out for you? prop valve? etc.

give me all your info!!!

ABS removal

Reply #1 – July 21, 2006, 11:51:12 PM

I pitched my ABS because the pump in the master cylinder stopped working.

This is a writeup I did on another site:
I used a '89 5.0 Mustang brake booster (and by the way, I had almost no problems getting this booster in without removing anything. Biggest problem is that some of the wire bundles like to fall behind it when you're trying to seat it against the firewall). I first used an '85 lincoln town car master cylinder (1" bore), but the pedal was too soft with the 73mm front calipers so I switched to an SVO master cylinder (1 1/4"? bore) and the pedal feel is much better.

Getting the old master cylinder out and the new booster in is honestly the hardest part. You can tee the lines off the rear port of the MC so you don't have to buy a proportioning valve. However, you have to get a metric tee and a metric female-female union for the tee. I found all my adapters but one at Napa, but I had to go to 2 different stores. The metric tee, I actually picked up part #7919, the metric fittings on this tee are the right size but it's only got a 3/16" inverted flare fitting on the side. Apparently they don't make a metric tee with a 1/4" fitting on it, as I was unable to find one, so you just have to use an adapter. Advance Auto parts carries the 3x16"x10-1.0 union that you need.

Now this is where things get a little complicated. For starters, the thunderbird's factory prop valve has a 3/16" inverted flare fitting on the rear and a 5/16" fitting on the front, so you'll need an adapter fitting for the front. Also, the early style MC's (ones without a plastic reservoir) have standard fittings on them, while the later model ones (with plastic reservoirs) have metric fittings. You can get metric-standard adapters but not the other way around, don't ask me why. Also you can get lines with metric "bubble" fittgs on one end and standed inverted flare fittings on the other end now, which would make plumbing in one of the newer MC's a lot easier. Anyway, you'll have to connect the "third" brake line (the one that runs to the driver's side front caliper) to one side of the tee, and the other port on it will be connected to the rear port on the proportioning valve. I happened to buy a complete '89 5.0 booster & MC with all the lines which provided me with a line to run from the tee to the prop valve. Otherwise, you'll have to get one of the aforementioned lines (metric on one end, standard on the other) and bend it up to fit here. The front port is easier, since you just run a line from the front port of the MC to the front port of the prop valve. On the Lincoln MC, the front port on it was 5/16" also so I ended up adapting it to 1/4" line and running that. I also ran a 1/4" line from the rear port to the tee. On The SVO master cylinder, the front port is regular 1/4" inverted flare. The rear port was some oddball size, I had to go to Autozone and dig through all of their brake fittings to find one that fit it, and I can't for the life of me remember exactly what it was. You'll just have to go and find the one that fits for yourself.

Finally, for the vac source for the booster, I just teed off that black plastic line that runs from the upper intake to the vac tree. A short length of 3/8" rubber hose and a 3/8" vacuum tee from Advance are all you need.

If you want to remove the wiring and such for the ABS, you're on your own. I decided I didn't feel like going through all the hassle required to pull out a couple pounds of wiring.

And finally, a picture to show you how I ran it all (note that these pictures show the lincoln master cylinder, the SVO master is very similar though). Any other questions, just lemme know.

ABS removal

Reply #2 – July 22, 2006, 08:55:12 AM

thats great! thank you
i was thinkin about ditchin the factory prop all together since i am gonna be runnin a 13"/11.65" combo. "T" the front lines, and add a adjustable prop in-line to the rear.
with what i have seen/read plus your writeup there, i would need a couple lines with metric on one end and standard on the other to run from a sn95 master to the front "T" and the rear prop. then the rest would jus be various fittings and gentle re-bendin of the factory lines. sound about right?

i also need to double check the sn95 master plumbin. i think the front port is the rear brakes and the rear port is the front brakes.

ABS removal

Reply #3 – July 23, 2006, 01:51:47 AM

If you want to run an adjustable prop valve, you'll have to find somewhere to mount it. The brake line that goes to the rear runs down and across the k-member to the passenger side, then down the pass. side subframe, making it hard to put a valve in (can't just do it on the firewall like mustangs).

As for doing the rest of the lines, yeah that's pretty much it. Some of the lines are tough to make because even with a tubing bender you can't always get real tight bends, so sometimes you have to compromise a bit (like how my lines are)