ABS Removal and Stainless Brake Line Install

[sleepyvr4]

To start things off, you will need the following:
- a few bottles of brake fluid (high grade)
- non-abs proportioning valve from awd dsm
- non-abs brake lines (4 lines total)
- stainless brake line kit (8 line kit)
- 10mm line wrench - I used crapsman
- 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm, 18mm wrenches
- 10mm, 12mm sockets, ratchet
- pb blaster (you may need a torch, as I did)
- vise grips

I got my brake fluid off of ebay. BMW DOT4 fluid for $15 - and I got 8 bottles of the stuff. I also used it when I did my stainless clutch line, and it had great results.

The Non-ABS proportioning valve can come from a number of places. A galant gsx would probably be the best source, as it has the best distributon for the chassis. I didn't have access to one however, so mine came from an awd 1990 talon tsi. Here's a link to a post on this subject alone:
Non-ABS proportioning valve links

These are the new hard lines you will need to source from a 1g TEL with Non-ABS, or a galant gsx. Mine came a 91 fwd eclipse, and fit perfectly. You will need the two lines that run directly from the brake cylinder to the proportioning valve, and the two lines that run from the proportioning valve to the front calipers. You will use your stock rear brake lines (thank god

)

At the beginning I decided to remove the brake fluid reservoir, by first unbolting it from the firewall, and then undoing the feedlines to the brake cylinder. There is a sensor on the reservoir, so be sure to undo the clip. Take the feedlines off really quickly, having a towel (or plastic bag) handy to catch the spill. You won't need this for a while. The bracket holding the reservoir will probably look shitty, so take it off, sandblast it or wire brush it, and paint it black like the stones. Then spray the line fittings on the brake cylinder with pb blaster. Loosen them completely with a 10mm line wrench. (I had to heat one of these fittings with a torch)

Next, remove the coolant overflow reservoir, located directly over the abs motor unit. Also remove the bracket that holds it in place. Then un-bolt the power steering reservoir, leaving lines attached, and wedge it as far out of the way of the abs unit as you can (abs unit pulls straight up and out) This next picture shows the ps reservoir down, but you will move it around a bit.

Note the three red circles, as these are the three bolts holding the abs unit in place. The three electrical connectors at the bottom are for the abs unit, so unbolt the bracket they sit on. Then you have to pop each connector off the metal bracket. Discard the bracket. Before removing the mounting bolts for the abs unit, spray all the line fittings with pb blaster. Crack all the lines loose with a 10mm line wrench. I didn't need a torch for any of these lines.

Next, start removing all the lines that run to the abs unit and brake cylinder. These can all be discarded. The only original lines you will be using are your rear brake lines. All lines can be removed intact except for one in my case. It was the only line I cut to save time and aggrevation of removing a ton of sh*t.

The red arrows in the next picture point to the line that will need to be cut (in my case). The proportioning valve must be removed to get this line out. There is a bracket on the line that is held on by the same bolt that holds the proportioning valve. DO NOT REMOVE THE PROPORTIONING VALVE UNTIL ALL LINES ARE LOOSE. Hit this baby up with a ton of pb blaster. I did not need a torch for any of these fittings. Remove p-valve and do not mix it up with your new one (have the new one clean, so the abs one with fluid all over it will be obvious)

Here's some of the abs unit lines removed in the next picture.

Next, loosen the wheel nuts, jack the front end, and remove the wheels. You now need to undo the brake lines that run to the front calipers so you can get the front abs hard lines out. Now you should go ahead and hose down the fittings of the rubber brake lines with some pb, and undo the hard line that comes out of the engine bay. You will need a 10mm line wrench. I needed the torch to heat most of these fittings.

 

[sleepyvr4]

After loosening those lines, you can remove all the old hard lines from the car. Now comes the fun part: removing the abs unit. This is one heavy unit. Your front end will raise 6 inches once you pull this sucka out. You have to have all the connectors disconected, and the 3 bolts, and simply heave it out of there.

When my friend Mark glanced at this thing he first thought it was a lawnmower engine! Removal of this thing will shave 9/10ths of a second off your previous quarter mile time. (j/k - it may weigh 20-25lbs)

Since the car is up, remove the stock rubber brake lines using a 10mm box wrench (and torch), and you will need to keep the intermediate line stationary while trying to loosen the fittings, so put the vise grips to the fitting on the rubber lines. I believe the line entering the caliper is 17mm. Remove all this crap. You will need the intermediate lines.

Once the lines are all off, lower the car a bit and start putting the new lines in. Sorry I do not have a good pic of this, but having a 1g non-abs car around is helpful for reference. There's really only one way for the lines to go on, but the orientation is the difficult part of it. The two smallest shortest lines go from the proportioning valve to the brake cylinder. The long ones go from the proportioning valve to the wheel wells.

This picture above is one new brake line. Make sure you run it behind everything possible. Starting out it lines up with the clutch line, then goes down under the fuel filter along the firewall. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO BEND THE HELL OUT THE LINES. These things are resilient, and can be bent back no problemo.

The line for the driver side runs right with the lines that go from the brake cylinder to the proportioning valve. This side is tricky, but I did the driver caliper hard line last, which went pretty well. Once lines are run, bolt in new p-valve (partially) and screw in the new lines. It is very important not to tighten the new p-valve to the firewall the whole way. All the new lines you just put in will be slightly bent out of shape. This makes it difficult for them to screw directly into the p-valve. It is very tight in here, and wrenches do not move a whole hell of a lot. If you leave the p-valve loose on its bolt, it will swivel on it enough to where you can hand tighten all the new lines once you bend them and line them up correctly. This will save you LOADS of time. Also, when hand tightening the fittings, pull the hard line out from the p-valve, and you will be able to further tighten the fitting with your fingers.

The above picture will orient you with the p-valve and where all the hard lines run. These are all the new non-abs lines installed. Make sure they are all tight.

 

[sleepyvr4]

The next thing you will want to remove is the abs sensors. It bolts in on the back of the hub assembly on the bottom.

This picture above is one of the front abs sensors (both donated to Ken Inn). The wires that run up the wheel well are held down by phillips head screws. They are probably old and crusty, or saved by undercoating. Some come out easy, the others do the following: take your vise grips, attach to the little screw bracket, and bend back and forth until it snaps in half.

Above is where the abs sensor clips in. Take one 10mm bolt out, fold back the plastic wheel well piece, and undo two more brackets with phillips screws. These were a PITA. Again, use the vise grips method.

Now the fun part. On to installing the stainless steel brake lines. I got mine from roadraceengineering for $115 shipped, for an 8 line kit. Link to site and more info on lines:
Stainless steel brake lines

Here's what you need to look for when you get your stainless steel line kit: make sure you have two (2) new lines that have female fittings at both ends. These go from the hard lines coming from the p-valve to the intermediate lines which are only on the front brakes. The rest of your lines (6) should all have male fittings on one end and female on the other.

My lines had 18mm and 14mm ends on them. Install them and tighten all fittings securely.

Put the wheels back on, put lug nuts on finger tight, lower the front end. Loosen rear lug nuts. Raise the driver's rear side. Remove the wheel. Repeat steps for the front. Lower driver's side rear. Raise passenger side rear. Again reapeat the same steps.

Now go ahead and reinstall your brake fluid reservoir w/ nice new bracket. Fill it with your new fluid. Return to the passenger rear caliper. Crack the bleeder loose, then tighten it. (two person job now) One person at the caliper, the other pumping the brake. Bleed passenger rear caliper very well, lower car and raise driver's rear side. Fill brake fluid reservoir. Bleed that caliper well. Lower car and raise the front end. Fill brake fluid reservoir. Bleed the passenger front caliper. Bleed the front driver's side caliper. Check fluid. You're done.

Read this post on info regarding removal of all the other abs sensors/ecu and various relays:
ABS removal info

All in all I'd like to thank my good friend and longtime dsm junkie Mark Roxbury aka "roxysdsm" - who gave me the garage space and got the biggest smile on his face each time I told him to fire up the torch

 

You f*9king OWN! That rocked as a VFAQ. I need the prop valve and lines ASAP to finish my removal. Anyone got them? Huh? I'll pay good money as I don't have time to go out to the junkyard very much.

 

[atc250r]

HOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTOHOWTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank You!! I wanted to do that but I didn't want to have the car laid up for days while I did it. I guess it's time for a trip to the junkyard soon.

John