I would like to retro fit non abs brakes to my 1990 xjs. Anyone with any experience with this? What donor vehicles should i look for? Other than the brake light switch mod i read about in Kirby Palms, is there anything else that jumps out at you?

Steve

 

Never done it so I'm talking outta my hat. But, off the cuff, from the donor car you'd need, at minimum, the brake master cylinder and booster and all brake pipes, and probably the "pedal box"....the actual brake pedal and aluminum casting that the pedal is mounted on.

Others will chime in with better info

Cheers
DD

 

As Doug says, buying the pedal box and servo (booster) would be easiest. Four bolts and the pedal assembly lifts out from the body, complete with master cylinder and servo.

The non ABS setup has a dual line system, so if the rears fail the fronts will still work, and if the fronts fail the rears still work. Something like that anyway. Dual chamber master cylinder so the fronts are effectively a separate system from the rears.

The main runs of the brake lines will not be different, but you will need to get the exact schematic of the non-ABS line system so you can reproduce the non-ABS system exactly, and some connectors etc to plumb them into the new master cylinder, and I mean new, do not trust an old one!

Basically, with some good brake pipe, a decent flareing tool, and the correct connectors, it is not more than a day's work.

Greg

 

I called auto salvage yards today and they are telling me that ALL xjs's that came to the states had abs?! I think they are confused....does anyone have any idea on which jags may interchange?

Thanks
Steve

 

My 83 does not have ABS, and I'd be willing to guess they didn't have them up until around the late 80's.

 

ABS was intorduced for the (USA) 1989 model year....sometime during calendar year 1988


Cheers
DD