ABS brakes / upgrades

[Mikec10]

Has anyone added an ABS module to their brake system on their 73-87? I really don't like the performance of my stock brakes. Whats a decent upgrade? I know you can get bigger rotors and calipers, swap the rear drums over to disk, but realistically I'm not a race car driver, i'm pretty sure an ABS module is a lot better than I am when it come's to making sure the fronts don't lock up. So yeah are there any stock swaps that are possible? I'm switching over to a 5.3 and air ride slowly (front's bagged rear still on leaf springs) So right now, not having ABS is one of the main weakest links in my truck, I'm also not trying to spend 2k on brakes.. All input is welcome!


Irrelevant picture of my 5.3, cheers me up seeing it (:

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by Mikec10

Has anyone added an ABS module to their brake system on their 73-87? I really don't like the performance of my stock brakes. Whats a decent upgrade? I know you can get bigger rotors and calipers, swap the rear drums over to disk, but realistically I'm not a race car driver, i'm pretty sure an ABS module is a lot better than I am when it come's to making sure the fronts don't lock up. So yeah are there any stock swaps that are possible? I'm switching over to a 5.3 and air ride slowly (front's bagged rear still on leaf springs) So right now, not having ABS is one of the main weakest links in my truck, I'm also not trying to spend 2k on brakes.. All input is welcome!

Probably won't find too many folks jumping at this one. ABS is kinda like emissions equipment in the performance world. Sure it exists, but we don't have to like it.

It sounds like your saying your getting frequent problems with locking up the front brakes, which actually isn't (usually)the brakes fault. I expect a couple of things are happening;

-The 5.3 is lighter than a regular small block, and because of swap mounts and o/d trans, may be sitting slight for or aft of the stock position, which will change the weight distro and affect brake feel.

-Air Ride. If you can tell me more about what setup you have, I can explain more. The effective "Spring rate" of the airbags is dependant on the pressure in the bag. Low psi means the bag doesn't have any thing to "fight" the force of the road over bumps.

-When you combine this with no shocks, the wrong shocks, or badly relocated shocks it can cause wheel hop. Wheel hop under braking causes lockup when the wheel is in the air. Even a very weak stock braking system can lock a brake when no road force is applied to it.

If your on stock brakes right now, you probably are short on braking power for the 5.3 setup. An upgrade to the brakes like better rotor/caliper/pad combo would shorten stopping distance, but be just as, if not MORE, likely to lock up...unless you can fix the above problems.

Tell me more about the bag setup and what your stock brake setup is (2disc/2drum, power I assume?).

My general fix would be to look at your pressures at "usual ride height", see if manipulating that changes how the brakes react. Then look at a better shock, or possibly an adjustable to work on the dampening changes that the bags cause. I would also make sure you have an adjustable prop valve, so you can change the front and rear bias to help reduce the locking problem.

I really would upgrade those brakes from a performance standpoint as well with the 5.3 going in, but its not required to solve your current problem.

*about the actual ABS thing. Its a complicated block of brake lines that would require you to re-plum the whole braking system. In addition, I don't know if they play nice with old-style wheel cylinders...and depending on the vehicle, some may require input from the BCM, meaning a whole other mess of wiring.

[Mikec10]

For the front I am running cups and plates, stock control arms. I think i have 2.5" drop spindles (not positive on that), airlift d2600s. I run about 60psi in the front on them while driving. Porterbuilt front shock relocation brackets with the KYB shocks that they sell with those brackets. I considered buying the d52 wilwood caliper but not sure if its worth getting. Going to be running a 2wd nv3500 behind the 5.3 with an open diff for now unfortunately. Power brakes, rotors up front, stock 12 bolt rear drums in the rear. I completely forgot most abs modules require a lot of wiring as well as wheel speed sensors. (not sure how all of that slipped my mind?)

[andrewmp6]

For abs to work right you will have to pull the full system out of a truck that weights with in 10 lbs of your trucks finished weight.And you will have to use the brakes spindles and maybe the rear end out of that truck too.Only thing i seen a full abs swap on that almost worked perfectly was a early camaro in a magazine.He said it took him 3 years and its still not 100% prefect yet.

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by Mikec10

For the front I am running cups and plates, stock control arms. I think i have 2.5" drop spindles (not positive on that), airlift d2600s. I run about 60psi in the front on them while driving. Porterbuilt front shock relocation brackets with the KYB shocks that they sell with those brackets. I considered buying the d52 wilwood caliper but not sure if its worth getting. Going to be running a 2wd nv3500 behind the 5.3 with an open diff for now unfortunately. Power brakes, rotors up front, stock 12 bolt rear drums in the rear. I completely forgot most abs modules require a lot of wiring as well as wheel speed sensors. (not sure how all of that slipped my mind?)

The d52 are pretty nice for the money. I run then with hydro boost and the amount of stopping power is very nice.