Im in the process of building a dedicated time attack FD and wondering what those of you who track regularly have to say about ABS and power steering. I know ABS is a great tool on modern sports cars but considering the system on the FD was designed using 20 year old technology Im not sure if its up to the task or even safe for serious track use.

For depowering the rack Im talking about removing the internal seals and welding the quill...not just looping the line.

Your thoughts and insight are always appreciated.

Cheers.

 

Ive done the powersteering depowering thing. Opened the rack, removed valves etc. The feel is amazing! And since the car is so light and rwd, my 245 fronts doesnt feel like handling a truck, even on standstill. Once you are rolling, you can steer with one finger.

 

Thats good to hear, been thinking of going manual steering for a while now.

 

I've done both.

Depowering the rack was definitely the right move. I ran my car in a very tight autocross event without any issues.

As for deleting the abs, with only one event without it, I haven't had much chance to dial in the brake bias. As soon as I have a lil more seat time in the car and get things adjusted, I'm sure I will be happy.

My car is a JDM '92 FD and everything was in need of replace/repair when I got it 4 years ago. Just can't bring myself to deleting the AC just yet

 

I've found that the factory ABS is a liability when you're in a spin on-track or on the skidpad. The stopping distance with both feet in is much much higher when ABS kicks on than it is when the system is disabled. I haven't gotten around to it yet but I plan on removing the system completely, even if it means fabbing up all the required hard lines to do it. There are kits available to buy that are braided lines but I'm not a fan of that idea.

 

Definitely de-power the rack. I can honestly say I prefer driving without power steering in these cars.

ABS.. Someone local was telling me that deleting it gave much better stopping distances but ate through tires much faster. Seems obvious but might be something that could be easily overlooked

 

I prefer to have both on a dual duty car.

Personally, I'd leave it until you notice that it is a liability on track. I've known a few people from the older club days that wound up adding the PS back later on. ABS is helpful in the wet.

 

^^ I added PS back after I had installed a Maval depowered rack. It was fine on the track, but it was a pain in the **** around town. I have some unresolved caster issues on the D-F side that in conjunction with wider tires and a smaller steering wheel may have added to the low speed steering effort. Gotta sort that out with some new bushings/eccentric bolts this season I think.

 

Thanks for your input. I haven't run into those situations with ABS on my track car, but I'll keep an eye out for it. I run NT-01s and DTC-60 pads (aftermarket front brakes) and have found that the ABS isn't very intrusive and will allow a very slight amount of lockup. Could also be the 20yr old ABS just can't keep up, but I haven't found a need to get rid of it yet other than I'd like to be able to dial in more rear bias.

I've tracked my car with a looped line steering rack for a number of years. Like Matthew, I considered going back to P/S a while back since I run a 330mm wheel to give me as much leg room as possible. I decided against it, but will be doing the full manual conversion later this year to hopefully reach a compromise.

 

qft

 

Thank you for the great input guys. As usual, it seems much of the decision boils down to personal preference. However, ABS issues in a spin situation are interesting and something to consider. It seems most are quite happy with manual steering on the track, so I am leaning towards depowering the rack.
Still undecided on the ABS...Im running Stoptech 4 pot with 13" rotors up front and stock rear.

 

I run Wilwood 4-piston front calipers on 13" rotors up front and stock rear all pushed by a 929 M/C. I've found that the stock ABS is still pretty "loose" with regard to kicking in and will allow me to have some slight lockup.