65silververt

I just wanted to say how incredibly pleased I am with the ABS Power brake system I installed in the latest restomod. I've never had brakes like this in an antique car...they literally perform just like a new car!
If anybody is thinking of upgraded to a newer, better system, i highly recommend this one. It's a pain finding a place to hide the heavy electric booster, but it's worth it! I'll never use a vacuum booster or hydroboost system again!

richscorvettes

We've sure seen many Vette-Rods with that system since we did ours. There were several in Carlisle this year. Hard to believe it was seven years ago.

Rich

John McGraw

Yea, a little pricey, but I am putting one in the 56 Belair that I am building now. Sure takes up a lot less real estate than the hydroboost or vacuum system.



Regards, John McGraw

65silververt

I was concerned about the noise from the pump initially, but I haven't heard it once while the car is running. The only time i hear it is when the engine is off and it kicks on right when i turn to the key to the on position, but that is only about 1/4 of the time, if that.

Mastr Fab

I've had the ABS on a Restomod that's under construction. I found that the master cylinder was leaking between the body and the upper cover. I contacted ABS and they told me to return the cover for machining. They returned a new cover with a totally different design, which made me think it was a common problem that they were aware of and had fixed. I had the car at the alignment shop last week and the mechanic pointed out that my master cylinder was leaking fluid. Sure enough it was leaking between the body and the new top cover. Anyone else run into this problem? Solutions?

richscorvettes

Our unit was one of the earliest they had made and we had no problems with it either in how it worked or any leaks. I did speak with another fellow in Carlisle who said he had a leak from a later unit which was caused by the gasket under the top cover shrinking. I believe he had them send a new gasket which corrected the problem.

Our unit had a different shaped master than the later models I've seen. Here is what it looked like:





Rich

Rzepka_r

Hello guys,

My master cylinder looks like this...



Although I think all you guys have read my build post and I talk about the unit some there, I'll address the question asked about the leak, because I'm not sure if I fully explained in my build post...

Although the front bolt boss was not level with the surrounding material, I don't think that was ever my leak issue now that I look back - I did fix that however, so maybe it was a leak as well...

What I learned however, in the end, is the real leak was something that took a while to create each time.. The cover has two rubber seals held in by snap rings, this doesn't hold them really perfectly sealed however. Under those seals there is a hole drilled that meets up with a cross drilled hole that exits the cover - look close and you will see those two holes.. Those rubber seals have slits in them, when I told them about those slits, they told me they had to be there, because the volume change was larger than the rubber seals could breathe. What happened with mine, both seals, is over time fluid would splash on the seals and get pulled up because of the slits. The slits are on the highest point of the seal and fluid would settle in the low points until the whole seal was filled with fluid. At this point the same breathing that caused the fluid to wick into the seal would then start to push that fluid out the vent hole...

Remove your cover and push on the seals and see if something comes out those vent holes.. If it does, you have the same issue as I had - I can't see how everyone wouldn't have the same issue...

When the cover is on, fluid leaks out the vent holes and into the seam of the cover and makes you think the cover itself is leaking at the main seal, but it's not...

My "fix" was to punch a very small hole in the lowest part of those seals, so anything that was pulled up into it would drain back out..

I pulled a picture of the seals off a Google search and they are shown up side down, but hopefully you can see what I'm trying to explain...



I'm still not impressed with a non-sealed system, but it now works fine, without any leaks, REGARDLESS of time... Again, it takes some time to fill up, maybe 20 miles or more...

The correct solution is a seal that can breathe as much as the fluid moves so the system is sealed completely - as it should be...

From a stopping standpoint, I do like the brakes very much, but there are some issues, like this one..

Hope this helps,
Rich

Poorhousenext

ABS has had issues with gasket material used. The gasket material they used would swrink over time due to reaction between it and brake fluid that would cause the pump to fail due to running on trying to pressurerize system. They tried several fixes, one that has worked best so far is top with "O" used to seal system.

Due to problems I've had units that or sold now should have an in-line fuse installed in wiring so you can get home without burning up pump. If yours doesn't have inline fuse in wiring from them, I suggest you install one.

If you drive like a woman and lay your foot on brake pedal just enough to make brake lights come on, or have brake light switch failure that will cause a hard pedal condition due to system over pressurizing. If it's foot pressure not to bad of a problem, just lift your foot and hard pedal condition will go away, so you can stop or slow car down. Not sure why pressure relief valve doesn't prevent this condition.

I reported condition to them when I had it first occured, but not gotten back with them when I found what caused it the frist time, and then when my tuner was driving car and told me pedal when hard, I found how they could duplicate condition with just enough foot pressure to cause brake light switch to make contact.

That said, My next project will run ABS system too. I'll keep doing real world testing for them. I'll use a small LED light to tell me when pump kicks on, so I can take it off line if it keeps on running. I can do this with Lydia too as I have an LED light in her Tach I can use to inform me if there is a pump run-on problem.

tuxnharley

So - does the "ABS" name here mean that it's really an "Antilock Brake System", or is that just the manufacturer's initials on a power brake upgrade?

If it is a true ABS, how are the speed/rotation sensors incorporated?

Thanks!

Poorhousenext

No!

Name of the company is "ABS Power Brake Inc" check out their web site.

http://www.abspowerbrake.com/index.html

Mastr Fab

Here's the replacement cover on my unit. It has an o-ring around the perimeter of the cover and O-rings on each of the screws. Still leaks.

Poorhousenext

Had two of those sent to me couple of years ago, your right.

One I have now is another design that does not have the cap. So far so good on not leaking.