Shooting for 1000 hp, page 3, no room for ABS

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I was having a hard time getting the car slowed down at the strip when the trap speeds were 140-ish.  Bumping that to 150 was going to make the problem worse.  Then there's the fact that the ys-trim discharge occupies the space where the ABS valve body normally resides.  Clearly a serious brake system revamping was called for

Fortunately for me, local f-bud and road racer Alan Blaine had upgraded his car from the Baer Track kit to C5 front brakes.  I snagged the Baer brackets and a pair of freshly turned rotors from him, and a pair of remanufactured calipers from Dal Slabaugh.  Alan also loaned me his reciprocating saw with a carbide blade.  A couple of mind-numbingly boring hours later I had removed the ears from the LT1 uprights.  Pain in the butt job!  There are online guides to this brake upgrade everywhere, so I'm going to get right into the new lines required after removing the ABS valve box.

The first pic shows the linelock and new Wilwood proportioning valve for the rear brakes.  I bent the inlets to both of those components with hunks of the original brake lines.  The original rear brake line was cut and re-bent to hook into the Wilwood valve.  A tee fitting with one pipe thread leg is screwed into the linelock to give me 2 outlets for the front brakes.  All the fittings came from Pegasus.  The flaring tool came from The Tool Warehouse. The next 2 pix show the new line for the left front.  A piece of 10 gauge solid core wire made a good template for the bends.

This is what it all looks like installed.  Looks like it clears everything, including the blower inlet tube when I get one.

I made new brackets to support the rubber lines to the new calipers. I'm happy with the way this all turned out.  There were no leaks, and the car stops much better.  There's still the lack of vacuum (the engine idles at 10"), so the pedal is hard, but I can actually lock a wheel now.  I couldn't ever get the ABS to kick in on a dry road with the old brakes.

I've taken some heat for buying new rubber brake lines instead of the vastly more sexy braided stainless teflon lines.  There is a reason!  I've never been as careful of brake lines as I should be (ask Alan).  Teflon crimps very easily, and you can't tell if it's crimped by looking at the stainless jacket.  The rubber lines are very tough and durable.  Yes, teflon lines don't expand as much as rubber lines, but this car is a street cruiser, not a road racer.  Pedal feel is not my biggest concern.  See http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Performance/brakelines.htm for more info on running teflon brake lines on the street.