When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Good stuff orangeblossom.
I've idly been thinking about removing the ABS & 'downgrading' to a standard setup too - my accumulator was shot & I bought a new one, but can't even remove the old one! Interested to hear who it turns out.
But I prefer to think of the Vacuum Booster as being an Upgrade! (Lol)
As that Master Cylinder Actuator has caused nothing but problems on all my XJS's except one
Like suddenly pulling the Car to the right and nearly spinning me off the road or into the path of oncoming Traffic, where the Nine Lives that I started with are starting to run out and so even if I manage to fix the System for the umpteenth time, I think I'll fit the Vacuum Booster for the Hell of it, just so that I can compare the difference
In order to get the Accumulator Ball of 'Cherry Blossom' I had to use a pair of 10 inch Stilsons but you want to be really careful and make absolutely sure that there is no pressure left in the Brake Pump, by Pumping the Pedal at least 20 times as there is 2000 psi behind that ball that could take your head off your shoulders
Or Cover you Car in Brake Fluid, as it did with mine!
I've recently been watching a lot Custom Car programmes from across the Pond and the one thing that I've noticed most is they never fit ABS at least they didn't on the Camero with ZL1 Engine unless I was much too Gobsmacked by what they did to the Car to take all that in, as the Engine alone was $40,000!
So since I haven't won the Lottery yet I think that I will fit the Vacuum Booster, though having said that if my Numbers come up, then I might just treat myself to an Evolution 'e type' £600,000!
Yeah OB, most car builders over here never put ABS on a car, especially if it didn't come that way (Muscle Cars). ABS is a great thing, and most current OEM systems, are leap years from the 80's and 90's stuff. I myself very rarely find a situation where ABS is needed, and it can even get you into trouble, that is if you know how to drive, at a level well above the common novice. I've logged over a million miles in a Semi Truck, and probably near that, in every conceivable brand of car you can imagine. ABS is great for the common man, and woman, oh and don't forget the kids. There is no substitution for "seat time".
I've recently been watching a lot Custom Car programmes from across the Pond and the one thing that I've noticed most is they never fit ABS at least they didn't on the Camero with ZL1 Engine unless I was much too Gobsmacked by what they did to the Car to take all that in, as the Engine alone was $40,000!
So since I haven't won the Lottery yet I think that I will fit the Vacuum Booster, though having said that if my Numbers come up, then I might just treat myself to an Evolution 'e type' £600,000!
sound slike that car is going fast in a straight line lol.
Up here abs comes in handy during the winter months with ice and snow on the roads. Good snow tires are even better as well.
But for my xjs it will not see winter outside again so if it gives me trouble it will be bye bye abs.
Retro Fitting A 'Non ABS' Vacuum Brake Booster System
Back in the day fitting ABS on a Jaguar XJS V12 must have seemed State of the Art and it probably was but these Cars are getting old now and the ABS on my Car has really been nothing but trouble
From suddenly pulling the Car to the right and very nearly spinning me off the road, to having the Pedal go down to the floor at which point I suddenly found I had no Brakes at all and so in order to fix it as Spare Parts are NLA, I put on a New Valve Block that I bought at an Auto Jumble which seemed to solve the problem for a while
Though recently the ABS has started to give trouble once again, unlike my other XJS that has a Vacuum Booster, that up to now has never gone wrong in all the years that I have had that Car
And so with that thought in my mind, I suddenly has an obsession to Swap out the ABS in my favourite XJS which I call 'Cherry Blossom' and Retro Fit a 'Non ABS' Vacuum Booster'
'I mean how hard can it be!'
To tell you the Truth I was nervous! it seemed like a really big deal but having done quite a few jobs on my Car there was only one way to find out, so the first thing to do was to go out and try and find myself a Vacuum Booster
Which turned out to be easy as we have friends who build Kit Cars with Jaguar V12 Engines! so finding a Vacuum Booster only took one phone Call and they gifted it to me for free but only on condition that I removed it from one of their Scrap Cars
So loading up the Spanners and other assorted Tools, I figured that to remove it would only take me an hour though in the event removing the Booster did take me all of Two Days!
This was an absolute 'Nightmare' of epic proportions as the Bolts that held the Booster to the Firewall were completely rusted solid, which meant that they had to be hacksawed through, one at a time and slowly just using a bent hacksaw blade
Agony that seemed to last for ever, sawing all those bolts through with just a hacksaw blade which took me Two Days!
Having now got that out of the Car, the next job was removing the ABS Master Cylinder Actuator out of 'Cherry Blossom' and that only took me an hour, as with all the problems I have had, then you could say that I have had the practice
First Job open a Caliper and drain off the Brake Fluid!
As I couldn't drain all the Fluid out, I ended up sucking the rest out with a Syringe
In order to make the job easier than it otherwise might have been, I wanted to lift the Bonnet/Hood up as high in the Air as I could, where in order to do so I made up some Maintenance Struts, which held the Bonnet Hood up in the Air very nearly vertical
Next I removed the Sway Bar and then once having done so, there was no going back!
Taking out the ABS was easy as all of the Bolts were accessible so it only took me an hour
OMG! what have I done! it was much to late to change my mind
I only hope the Vacuum Booster fits, as if its any different that could really cause a major problem
Luckily it was a perfect fit and went in just as easy as the ABS came out
'Houston I think we've got a problem!' I've got to connect up those Brake Pipes and they are all different sizes!
Thinking out of the Box I had an idea! If I used the Face Plate from an Old ABS then this would convert the connections so that they were all the same size!
The only thing that was missing now were the Brake Pipes which I custom made with a kit which was very easy and satisfying to do
Making Brake Pipes was easy with this £30 kit
An obvious Talent going to waste! (Lol) as the Brake Pipes I made looked plenty good enough to do the job
Brake Pipes in place and looking good but its not over yet!
To be Continued...........
Last edited by orangeblossom; 06-05-2020 at 01:05 AM.
Hay OB - great job... looks scary as hell.
So your 88 car has NO ABS and your 90 car does.
I have a 89 car with ABS but has Lucas... how long should the brake pump run when turning on the car?
I am changing the fluid every year ... hoping that helps.
Also looks to have a new ball.
looks good. I've been watching some car rebuild shows on Netflix lately and one shop they replace every steel line and most rubber hoses with copper pipes. Really looks cool seeing an engine with copper everywhere. And you just did the same thing these guys get paid tonnes for by making your own.
Also I was reading the other day that the abs system has valves in it so you can loose the brake fluid out of part of the system but not all of the system. Like say rear brake lines blows. All the fluid going to the rear will leak out but once it hits a point it will stop and to protect the front. Hence why you couldn't drain all the fluid out by just opening the front bleeder. And I know it works cause when I removed the rear brake hose I had cut weeks ago to do my thang my plug failed and I came out the next morning and lost a lot of fluid but the res still had enough in it to save the front. Good thing anyways as it was old fluid and needed to be flushed anyways lol. Just a messy way haha
Got it all together and even filled the Reservoir with DOT4 but I cant get any Brake Fluid to come through!
Not sure what I'm doing wrong but hopefully someone will know
So at the moment I've got no idea whether it is better than the ABS or not and am putting this down to a Technical Hitch for the moment! (Lol)
Alex
Proceed as follows:
get GF into driver's seat.
Remove the two outlet fittings from the M/C
Ask her to press pedal to floor hard and fast and hold it there,
As soon as pedal down put your fingers over the two m/c outlets, so they are sealed off
Ask GF to let pedal up.
repeat until fluid comes out, then put back fittings and bleed brakes, back passenger side first
What is happening is that your m/c is not primed with fluid and when the pedal returns it sucks air back into the cylinder from the pipes rather than fluid from the reservoir.
My 89 has ABS but my 1990 does not, as I have taken it out and replaced it with the Vacuum Booster, which has to be the most fun job that I have done so far!
As for your ABS Pump, I'm told the recommended Time is no more than 15 Seconds between Key Activation's on and off and while I would not advise doing so, as it is my own Car I sometimes let it run for a bit longer but no more than 30 Seconds or I could burn out the Pump
But if the Brake Booster works as well as I hope, then I won't have that problem any more
Retro Fitting A 'Non ABS' Retro Brake Booster System in my 1990 XJS V12
Now the Brake Pipes were in place the next job would be to connect the Vacuum Pipes to the Vacuum Booster and then connect the Reservoir to the Master Cylinder where in order to do this, a special fitting was required to take the Vacuum off the Inlet Manifold, although some Cars already have this fitted
Where more by luck than judgement, I noticed my Car didn't have that Special Vacuum Fitting and so in order to fix that I took the one from the Scrap Car along with the Brake Booster
My Car didn't have that Special Vacuum Fitting and so I took the one that did off the Scrap Car that had the Brake Booster
Just a straight swap over which was Plug and Play
At which point I encountered a small problem, as the Reservoir was a bit too near to the Throttle Linkage and though it wasn't touching, with the MOT on the Horizon I didn't want to take a chance that She might fail on that, so I just 'Fabbed Up a Bracket' from a piece of Scrap I had laying around
New Reservoir Bracket took minutes to make from a piece of Scrap I had laying around
That's it all done and dusted! The only question now is will it work?
OB,
That looks very smart indeed. A couple of points:
Is the m/c new or re-sealed? (if neither you know what i am going to say next!)
The vac tube from the servo to the manifold takeoff OEM rubber pipe: this does not look like it will withstand vacuum when things get hot. If it collapses, no servo! You must use thick pipe that will not deform under vacuum. OEM has a metal pipe and short joiners, for example; but a proper rubber thick-walled pipe will do, e.g.:https://www.wrightsautosupplies.co.u...ke-servo-hose/
The lovely copper pipes on and around the m/c. The T piece MUST be fixed to something (fab up a bracket to the wing for example) as The T piece is too heavy relative to the pipe strength for the pipes to safely support it. Also, where the pipes go over the top of the m/cylinder, they need a bit of something round then as anti-chafe, if not you risk a pipe fracture after a bit of vibration etc.
Last edited by Greg in France; 06-06-2020 at 03:44 AM.
Alex
Another point, do you have the non-return valve on the OEM pipe from the manifold fitting? if not, get one from the scrapper, or else at WOT the vac in the servo leaks away so no vacuum so no servo assistance when you brake for the next corner! The thing is circled here (I have just learned how to do this!):
Last edited by Greg in France; 06-06-2020 at 03:39 AM.
Still the Original Master Cylinder at the moment, even though you did advise me to change it but I want to first see if it works before splashing out £200 on a new one
As for the Vacuum Booster Tube, this is made of Silicone and is the same as they used on my Merc and as Supplied by that Car place that you told me about, although again I just want to try it first by driving her round and round the Grounds of 'Orange Blossom Towers' as this is a very easy thing to change
Also the Non Return Valve is in the Line
At the moment having a problem Bleeding the Master Cylinder but will no doubt get there or you could be getting a First Class Ticket on the Eurostar!
05-31-2020, 01:47 AM
